Journal Inquirer
Rell tapped ‘slush funds’ to cover political research
By Keith M. Phaneuf
Journal Inquirer
Friday, October 9, 2009
HARTFORD — Gov. M. Jodi
Rell used contingency accounts in
the state budget — funds she has
decried as inappropriate — to pay
for political research about herself
and a potential gubernatorial rival.
The governor’s budget agency, the
Office of Policy and Management,
confirmed Thursday that $223,000
from a $2 million contingency
fund reserved for the governor in
the 2007-08 fiscal year paid for the
project headed by University of
Connecticut professor and polling
expert Kenneth Dautrich.
The administration has noted that
most of the $223,000 spent on the
Dautrich project was dedicated
not for political research but for a
detailed review of commissioners
and other top agency heads in
2008 to find ways to make state
operations more cost efficient.
But about $2,000 of those funds
reportedly covered the cost of focus
group research into public opinion
on budget-related issues, as well as
on the governor and one political
rival.
The Rell administration announced
in May 2006, one year into the first
biennial budget crafted under the
governor’s tenure, that it no longer
would allow use of contingency
accounts, commonly called “slush
funds.”
Office of Policy and Management
Secretary Robert L. Genuario, Rell’s
budget director, said at the time that
the governor was uncomfortable
with this budgeting practice, which
typically commits millions of dollars
for projects never mentioned in the
state budget.
“It’s not consistent with her belief
on how things should be handled,”
Genuario said.
Technically, this contingency
account involves one nondescript
line item, referring to other grants
to be issued by OPM. In actuality,
though, they aren’t grants, according
to past reports by the state auditors.
Rather, OPM disburses the funds
to pet projects identified by top
legislative leaders or other officials.
But despite the initial pledge to
avoid contingency accounts, the
administration later relented.
First, it allowed leaders of the
Democratic majority to tap those
accounts it had built into the budget
for use by the House speaker and
Senate president pro tem.
And then, despite still saying it
wouldn’t use contingency funds
reserved by lawmakers for the
governor, the administration did so
in October 2006, releasing $20,000
from the account to help purchase
emergency fire equipment for
Suffield — even though the town
already had budgeted local funds for
that acquisition. The move was seen
as an effort to assist then-state Rep.
Ruth Fahrbach, R-Windsor, in her
re-election bid.
The administration last year again
tapped the funds, drawing $223,000
for the Dautrich project from a $2
million contingency fund lawmakers
had built into the 2007-08 budget for
Rell. Lawmakers also had added $2
million funds for each of the top two
legislative leaders.
Auditors Kevin P. Johnston and
Robert G. Jaekle in a 2002 report
challenged these contingency funds
on several grounds, calling the
system “inequitable.”
They wrote that money allocated
shouldn’t be referred to as “grants,”
as no formal application rules are
drafted and there is no competition
for these resources.
The auditors also said the system
doesn’t guarantee that the recipients
of the money are evaluated, before
or afterward, to ensure public
resources are used properly.
Ironically, it was Democratic
legislative leaders who
complained this week that the Rell
administration’s contract with
UConn to hire Dautrich refers only
to a project to streamline state
government, and makes no mention
of political research.
Had that purpose been spelled out
as a specific line item in the state
budget, they said, it would have
been stripped out before the budget
had been approved.