diff --git a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/cli/Cli.scala b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/cli/Cli.scala
index 0b189df..305bb7a 100644
--- a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/cli/Cli.scala
+++ b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/cli/Cli.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import java.io._
 import java.net.{HttpURLConnection, URL, URLEncoder}
 import java.util
 import java.util.Properties
+import com.google.common.io.CharStreams
 import joptsimple.{BuiltinHelpFormatter, OptionException, OptionParser, OptionSet}
 import ly.stealth.mesos.kafka._
 import net.elodina.mesos.util.Strings
@@ -126,9 +127,13 @@ trait CliUtils
 
       try { response = Source.fromInputStream(connection.getInputStream).getLines().mkString}
       catch {
-        case e: IOException =>
-          if (connection.getResponseCode != 200) throw new IOException(connection.getResponseCode + " - " + connection.getResponseMessage)
+        case e: IOException => {
+          if (connection.getResponseCode != 200) {
+            val errorMessage:String = CharStreams.toString(new InputStreamReader(connection.getErrorStream()))
+            throw new IOException(connection.getResponseCode + " - " + errorMessage)
+          }
           else throw e
+        }
       }
     } finally {
       connection.disconnect()
diff --git a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/BrokerApi.scala b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/BrokerApi.scala
index c814d9b..526f127 100644
--- a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/BrokerApi.scala
+++ b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/BrokerApi.scala
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ trait BrokerApiComponentImpl extends BrokerApiComponent {
           Response.ok(BrokerStatusResponse(brokerNodes))
             .build()
         case Failure(e) =>
-          Response.status(Response.Status.BAD_REQUEST).build()
+          return Status.BadRequest(e.getMessage)
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/Model.scala b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/Model.scala
index a056c95..f9b563f 100644
--- a/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/Model.scala
+++ b/src/scala/main/ly/stealth/mesos/kafka/scheduler/http/api/Model.scala
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package ly.stealth.mesos.kafka.scheduler.http.api
 
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response.StatusType
+import ly.stealth.mesos.kafka.HttpErrorResponse
 import net.elodina.mesos.util.{Constraint, Strings}
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 import scala.collection.mutable
@@ -37,6 +38,6 @@ object Status {
     override def getFamily: Response.Status.Family = Response.Status.BAD_REQUEST.getFamily
   }
   object BadRequest {
-    def apply(reason: String) = Response.status(new BadRequest(reason)).build()
+    def apply(reason: String) = Response.status(new BadRequest(reason)).entity(HttpErrorResponse(400, reason)).build()
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file