State Sen. Douglas McCrory had a powerful voice over how one of the city’s leading nonprofit agencies distributed state grant money, including decisions directing millions of dollars to a new and relatively untested charitable organization created by a close personal friend, according to a variety of sources.

Almost immediately, McCrory’s relationship with Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin raised a red flag. The relationship, combined with decisions by Hartford’s Blue Hill’s Civic Association to send her $1.7 million in grants and consulting fees, became a subject of concern among the association board at the venerable north Hartford nonprofit.

Notes from a July 2024 Blue Hills board meeting warn of a “conflict of interest” because Cicero-Hamlin “is his girlfriend.” By early August, Blue Hills

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