Turning Up The Heat On Rell

Turning up the heat on Rell October 13, 2009 The heat under Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration was cranked up another notch Tuesday when a complaint was filed with the state Elections Enforcement Commission demanding it investigate whether a $220,000 state study was used to help Rell’s GOP reelection campaign. Rell and her controversial chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, are now facing multiple investigations into their use of state money to hire University of Connecticut Professor Kenneth Dautrich to conduct a study of ways to make state government more efficient. Jonathan Pelto, a former state representative and former political director for state Democrats, filed the elections complaint. He argued that the study ordered by Rell involved violations of state election laws that are “extremely serious in nature.”

But Dautrich, a former UConn pollster, told The Day that he did help Rell’s exploratory campaign committee formulate questions for a poll Rell’s campaign financed. Rell has insisted that none of the money for the study was used for political purposes. “Zero of that was political,” the Republican governor said during an appearance in Torrington. The governor said that, if any of Dautrich’s work amounted to an “in-kind” or non-monetary contribution to her campaign, she will file an amended state campaign report. But her protestations failed to prevent two other investigations from being launched. Blumenthal’s office and the bipartisan Auditors of Public Accounts are investigating whether “state tax dollars have been used for other than strictly state purposes.”

The scandal over the Dautrich study, first reported by Ted Mann in the New London Day last week, was triggered by revelations that Dautrich conducted a focus group that included discussions of Rell’s leadership and that of a potential gubernatorial rival, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Moody and another Rell aide watched the focus groups from behind a oneway mirror.

The University of Connecticut has ordered a probe by its Office of Audit Compliance and Ethics to find out if Dautrich’s research violated UConn’s code of ethics.

Also, emails between Dautrich and Moody discussed a possible voter poll of Rell’s budget options and other emails concerned various political issues. The poll was never actually conducted as part of the state-funded study.

Pelto claims in his complaint that the December 2008 focus groups conducted by Dautrich, which was estimated to cost $4,000 to $5,000 in state money, was “utilized for political purposes.”

A spokesman for Rell said the governor was declining to comment Tuesday on the request to the Elections Enforcement Commission because of the ongoing investigations.

He also argued that the overall benefit to Rell’s campaign from Dautrich’s activities was worth $20,000 to $30,000. The various investigations into possible ethical and campaign violations are coming at a time when Rell’s public approval ratings have begun to slip for the first time since she took over as governor in 2004 after the resignation of John G. Rowland. Her popularity was founded on public relief to have someone they considered honest in the governor’s office. Rowland’s regime was marred by corruption scandals and he served 10 months in federal prison for a felony conviction. Rell is expected to announce sometime after the November municipal elections whether she will seek reelection next year to another term. She won a commanding reelection victory in 2006, but many Democrats are hoping the prospect of four more years of budget craziness will convince her not to run. The prospect of this new scandal dragging on for months could also play a role in her decision about another gubernatorial run. © 2009 New Haven Advocate