E-mail Contradicts Governor On Proposed Political Poll

E-Mail Contradicts Governor On Proposed Political Poll POLITICS By JON LENDER The Hartford Courant October 14, 2009 A public document released Tuesday contradicts Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s claim that her office last year rejected the idea of doing a publicly funded poll as part of a now-controversial study by a UConn professor. The study is under attack for producing political advice for Rell at taxpayer expense. The document — an e-mail between two University of Connecticut officials — directly contradicts what Rell said Friday in seeking to quell controversy about a $223,406 study that UConn professor and polling expert Kenneth Dautrich has been performing under a no-bid contract for Rell’s budget office since June 2008. That study, although ostensibly about streamlining government, has produced advice for Rell on subjects such as how to tailor her stances to suit voters. Rell had told reporters Friday that although Dautrich had originally proposed doing a poll in June 2008, “we never agreed to that — never said we wanted to do a poll. In fact, [we] said we’re not going to do a poll.” But Tuesday afternoon, in response to a freedom of information request, UConn released a Jan. 21 e-mail between two university officials that said: “[O]ne of our faculty members has been approached by the Governor’s office to conduct a statewide survey of 500 Connecticut adults to gather their views of the state budget situation and opinions about how the problem should be solved. “The project would begin shortly (as soon as you approve it). ... In addition to the faculty member (Ken Dautrich), a couple of our current Master of Survey Research students would be hired to work on the project.” In that e-mail, Amy Donahue, who heads the UConn Department of Public Policy, where Dautrich works, told Jeremy

Teitelbaum, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, that the poll would be paid from state funds. The poll was never done. But the UConn message released Tuesday indicates that a poll, the idea of which Rell said had been dismissed as of January, was still under consideration after a UConn faculty member had been “approached by the Governor’s office.” A spokesman for the Republican governor’s office, Rich Harris, said late Tuesday: “The idea of doing a poll was rejected early in the process by the governor’s office and the simple fact is that no polling using state dollars ever occurred — period. Our response is not changing because the timeline and the truth of the matter have not changed.” “I do not know why the idea was still being discussed at UConn in January,” Harris said, “because it certainly was not being discussed at the request of anyone in the governor’s office.” The contradictory statements further complicated a political and legal situation that has already prompted two official investigations — one by UConn, to see if an ethics policy was violated, and the other a joint probe by state auditors and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to see if taxpayer funds were misused for political purposes. In addition, Democratic political activist Jonathan Pelto filed a complaint Tuesday with the State Elections Enforcement Commission, seeking an investigation based on his claims that Rell and her exploratory campaign committee for the 2010 election violated state election laws. When Rell addressed the issue for the first time with reporters Friday at an appearance in Torrington, she was already facing criticism over disclosures that Dautrich’s study had involved a Dec. 16, 2008, “focus group” in Wethersfield that, among other subjects, compared public attitudes about the leadership ability of

both Rell and Blumenthal. Blumenthal was then considered a potential 2010 election opponent of Rell’s, although he since has taken himself out of the race. Rell has not declared whether she will seek re-election next year. In Torrington, Rell said that Dautrich’s June 2008 proposal for a poll “had ... been dismissed” and ultimately the decision was made in December 2008 to do the “focus group” on state budget issues and other matters. Rell said no poll was under consideration after that — even though an e-mail had surfaced from Jan. 19, 2009, in which her chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, said she was planning to talk to Dautrich about subjects including “polling [on] budget messages, specific cuts, etc.” Rell explained Moody’s use of the term Friday by saying there was an “interchange” in references to polling and the focus group. “Polling was the focus group,” the governor said. Although Rell and her lieutenants have said no poll was ever done as part of the study, Moody initially responded positively to Dautrich’s June 2008 suggestion to do one, writing, “I agree — got some money” in an e-mail. Dautrich and Rell denied last week that the study had been misused for political purposes. Among the issues in Pelto’s complaint, filed Tuesday with the elections agency, is one involving a private poll done last spring by Rell’s exploratory campaign committee for 2010. Dautrich has acknowledged looking over the questions and results before and after it was performed by a New Jersey firm that he has used in his own past polling research. Pelto said that Dautrich’s actions amounted to an illegal “in-kind,” or non-cash, campaign contribution to Rell. Dautrich has said his discussion of the partisan poll — with someone he will not identify — was unrelated to his state study. Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant