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.”
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 one-
way mirror.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.”
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