Dems’ Party Chief Requests

All Files On Rell’s Prof Study

By Jon Lender
on October 14, 2009

Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said Wednesday that she has filed freedom
of information requests for “any and all material ... related to University of Connecticut Professor Kenneth
Dautrich’s $220,000 contract” to study streamlining of government. In a statement Wednesday, Dinardo said
that letters requesting the information were hand-delivered to the offices of Rell’s legal counsel, Anna Ficeto
and Office of Policy and Management deputy Jeffrey Beckham, who also is a lawyer.

DiNardo said that the taxpayer-financed, no-bid contract, “which was funded under the auspices of
‘streamlining’ state government, also included at least one focus group with political tinges, and several email
correspondences have surfaced which call into question the legitimacy of the arrangement. Yesterday, e-mails
from UConn officials surfaced directly contradicting Governor Rell’s timeline about when her office abandoned
a plan to use public funds to poll voters on budget issues.”

“If the official line from Governor Rell and her spokespeople is ‘no comment’ then we’ll simply have to get to
the bottom of this in a different way,” said DiNardo. “Governor Rell can say this is not political until she’s blue
in the face, but it’s clear from the myriad of stories by several different media outlets over the last week that
she is being less than forthright in her explanation of why taxpayer dollars were used in a seemingly political
project. I fully anticipate this FOI request to be a long and painful process, with her lawyers doing everything
they can to stall and decline to release specific information, but as we’ve learned from [Reoo Chief of Staff]
Lisa Moody’s emails, the truth has a way of getting out, whether they like it or not.”

DiNardo added: “Many people have likened Rell and her Administration to Teflon, because over the years,
nothing has seemed to stick. But with the near-daily news stories about Rell’s involvement in and knowledge of
this questionable arrangement, it looks like she has egg on her face.”

Rell’s office had no immediate reaction Wednesday morning. She and Dautrich have denied that there was any
misuse if the study or public funds for political purposes.