It’s a lesson so often learned the hard way in politics. When you proclaim yourself to be a reformer, you must be sure that you and everyone you surround yourself with are strictly adhering to the letter and the spirit of the law. As the self-proclaimed ethics and campaign finance reformer, Governor Jodi Rell has found herself in hot water. She came in after John Rowland went to prison for corruption and she promised to reform state government. Now she is under scrutiny for using state funds for personal political purposes.
The Connecticut news media is all over this story but it was originally broken by the New London Day’s Ted Mann. As a result of his discoveries, the Governor and her staff are being investigated by state auditors. And now a complaint has been filed with the State Elections Enforcement Commission to see if campaign finance laws have been violated. Naturally, politics is playing a part but we can’t be surprised by that. The Governor put herself in that position when she used taxpayer funds for research that she used for political reasons.
I think Ken Dixon’s article today in the Post points out the irony here. Governor Rell started her administration by pushing with the power of the gubernatorial pulpit for ethics reform. She made it the centerpiece of her agenda. Transparency of state contracts was her mantra. Now she must wait, along with the public, to see what these various investigations will bring.
