Connecticut Post

Connecticut Post Scrutiny of governor’s use of funds continues By Ken Dixon STAFF WRITER Updated: 10/13/2009 HARTFORD -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell apparently was on solid legal ground when she ignored normal competitive bidding procedures in awarding a $223,406 contract to a University of Connecticut professor, a state auditor said Tuesday. But Rell, who made ethics the hallmark of her administration following the resignation of her predecessor on corruption charges, also finds herself the target of a complaint filed by a former lawmaker that her actions are “serious and significant violations of Connecticut’s campaign finance laws.” The twin developments come as the furor continues over last week’s disclosure that Rell or her staff may have used for partisan political purposes some of the findings of the contract awarded by her office for a 30-month study of government efficiency. Rell has denounced criticism of the contract as “politics at its worst.” While Rell did not use normal bidding procedures for the contract, she apparently didn’t have to, according to a state auditor who has embarked on a joint investigation of the contract with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Even though the state Department of Administrative Services requires

extensive bidding processes on projects worth $50,000 or more, Rell’s Office of Policy and Management was able to give the project to the university because state law allows for interagency contracts without competitive bidding. “This was actually a memorandum of understanding between OPM and UConn,” said Robert G. Jaekle, of Stratford, one of the two state auditors, noting that bids may be waived in cases of contracts between agencies. “There is no bidding between agencies that I can think of,” Jaekle said in a Tuesday interview. “There are MOUs between state agencies that don’t go through the normal bidding. I hate to call it ‘left pocket, right pocket’ but it’s true. As this review with the attorney general’s office gets going, it’ll get nailed down.” Rell’s Capitol office on Tuesday, citing the investigation into the contract with Kenneth Dautrich, a public-policy professor at the University of Connecticut, declined comment on the process that led to awarding the contract for the study of government efficiency that is now about half over and has spent $100,000. Speaker of the House Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, said Tuesday the UConn study Dautrich was working on -- and which Rell said has already saved the state millions of dollars -- appears to have been

for use by her office “and in some ways for her personal use.” Donovan said the discretionary funds for legislative leaders are for local public works projects or to help fund local nonprofit agencies throughout the state that often depend on the extra help from the Legislature. “The money’s not supposed to be spent on yourself, not that there are any rules,” Donovan said. “It’s supposed to be spent on projects that would come up across the state.” Donovan’s immediate predecessor, James A. Amann, of Milford, the former speaker of the House who iscampaigning for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, recalled Tuesday that in 2005 leaders cut their contingency accounts from $3 million a year to $2 million a year as a way to close a gap in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. The money, he said, was used to support a variety of programs within the leaders’ districts or within the districts of caucus members. Rell came under fire last week amid reports that Dautrich may have contributed political advice to the governor and M. Lisa Moody, the governor’s chief of staff. Rell has asked her exploratory-campaign treasurer to request an opinion from the State Elections Enforcement Commission on whether Dautrich’s advice and about $2,000 spent on a focus group, might amount to an unpaid, in-kind contribution that might violate state regulations.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Pelto, a former Democratic lawmaker who is a political consultant, on Tuesday filed a formal complaint on charges of “what appear to be serious and significant violations of Connecticut’s campaign finance laws” by Rell and her exploratory committee.

“She’s in the middle of a situation,” Caruso said. “Here she’s communicating with the University of Connecticut professor and the professor is using public money for campaign purposes. Sooner or later she has to realize her chief of staff is out of control.”

Pelto, citing findings that first appeared in The Day newspaper of New London, asked the SEEC to look into Rell’s failure to report inkind contributions and campaign spending; accepting potentially illegal in-kind contributions; and accepting services from state employees on state time.

Moody did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

“As is evident, these violations are extremely serious in nature and require immediate investigation and action by the State Elections Enforcement Commission,” Pelto wrote. Rep. Christopher L. Caruso, DBridgeport, former chairman of the legislative Government Administration & Elections Committee, on Tuesday called for Moody to resign or for Rell to fire her. Caruso recalled an incident early in Rell’s tenure as governor, in which Moody was suspended without pay after she solicited top state commissioners for campaign contributions during a business meeting in the Capitol. “During our investigation we found there were problems with the governor’s campaign fundraising,” Caruso said in a phone interview. “We found the center of the problem was Lisa Moody and we recommended changes and the Legislature was not inclined to pass it.” Caruso said the current issue, in which state funds may have been used to help Rell’s exploratory committee, is “unacceptable” and Rell should fire Moody.

Rell’s budget office, responding to a request under the state Freedom of Information act, on Tuesday released a record of a discretionary account agreed upon by Democrats and Republicans during the bipartisan budget negotiations in 2007 that was used to fund the UConn contract. Unlike the two top Democratic leaders, who each had $2 million a year or a total of $4 million over the biennium, Rell shared her fund with Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, and House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk. Also unlike Democrats, Rell last year turned over the Republicans’ second-year total to the General Fund to help deal with the state’s growing, recession-driven deficit. In addition to the $223,406 for UConn, Rell provided relatively small grants around the state and in her district, including $50,000 for the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, and $25,000 for the library in her hometown of Brookfield. The state Commission on Culture and Tourism got the biggest grant of the year: $250,000. Rell took office in July 2004, following the resignation of John G. Rowland, for whom she was lieutenant governor for nine-and-ahalf years. Rowland left in the face of an impeachment inquiry and in December 2004 pleaded guilty to federal felony charges that landed

him in a federal prison for 10 months. Around the time Rowland pleaded guilty, Rell issued her third executive order, in which she stressed that “the state government contracting process and procedures must be open, honest, fair and accessible at all times.” In that order, she required all state agencies under the executive branch and all higher-education entities to “post all bids, requests for proposals and all resulting contracts and agreements” on a state Web page for public scrutiny. Gov. M. Jodi Rell turned back her $2 million budget contingency account to help balance the one-year budget that ended June 30. But in the previous year she used about $1.9 million for a variety of local projects. She shared the account with House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield. In addition to $223,406 for a UConn professor to study government efficiencies, the account gave: $50,000 to the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford. $50,000 for the Governor’s Teen Driving Awareness program. $25,000 to the Friends of the Arts in Rell’s hometown of Brookfield. $25,000 to the Brookfield Library. $250,000 to the Commission on Culture & Tourism $50,000 to Special Olympics. $25,000 to Operation Fuel.