The following editorial as written by Susan Kniep, President of FCTO, appeared in the January 30, 2004 edition of the Waterbury Republican Newspaper.

 

 

CONNECTICUT’S CULTURE OF CORRUPTION

 

By Susan Kniep, President 

The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.

 

Connecticut’s culture of corruption is systematically being unraveled by the Federal government.  Emerging is a surreptitious system of quid-pro-quo politics and pay-to-play schemes where taxpayers are the ultimate victims in a government void of ethics. 

 

As Connecticut’s taxes and state debt continue to soar, the pirates at our State Capital have been looting Connecticut’s Treasurer Island and burying the gold in their backyards.   A mutiny on Long John Rowland’s sinking ship is definitely looming but, ahoy mates, extend the gang blank, others should also be taking the plunge. 

 

In these shark infested waters, Democrats smell Republican blood and are poised for the kill.   Yet, State Democrats are not without culpability.  Today, Democrats control the State legislature, as they have for years.  During their reign, they never  initiated a credible inquiry into corruption in Connecticut’s government.  They also failed to develop strong Ethic and Conflict of Interest Laws or to instill a system of checks and balances to protect the taxpayers’ money as evidenced by our loss of $220 million in the Enron-CRRA debacle. 

The Democratically controlled state legislature also empowered the Governor’s appointees to Fast Track multi-million dollar projects, but they never bothered to adopt any formal regulations to govern these multi-million dollar, no bid contract awards.  Connecticut’s $12 billion bonded debt is driven by such contracts.  Democratic State Chairman George Jepsen was the Senate majority leader when the General Assembly approved most of the fast tracking legislation.   Jepsen claims the Rowland administration “abused the system because the system really requires people to act with judgment and discretion and good faith.”   Few taxpayers have “good faith” in their government. They expect their State legislators to safeguard their money through strictly enforced regulations.    Corruption is the ultimate byproduct of an unregulated government.    

 

Senator Roraback got it right when referring to Fast Tracking:  “in many respects I think that we (the legislature) have ourselves, created the system which has now given rise to the questions, the allegations, and the, my guess is, the need for some reforms in our system.” 

 

Connecticut’s government is in need of immediate reform.    It is apparent that the fuel of Connecticut’s political engine has been and remains a combination of public tax dollars, lobbying fees, employee pension funds, and lucrative campaign contributions from special interests fused by conflicts of interest. 

A visit to the website of the politically influential and well connected law/lobbying firm of Updike, Kelly and Spellacy reveals that …“Seldom do things happen by accident in government”….  “We are an aggressive lobbying group that anticipates problems and develops strategies to achieve our clients' objectives.  Whether our representation is to pass, modify or stop legislation….” “As a premiere lobbying firm, we have strong ties with both houses of the General Assembly and both political parties.”  Wow!  Nothing like spelling out the “ties that bind” system for John Q Public who gets stuck with the tax bills which fund these “things” which   “seldom happen by accident.”

 

In fact, it was former Democrat Party bosses Peter Kelly of Updike, Kelly and Spellacy, and John Droney who simply picked up a telephone, made a call, and were successful in as they put it, Opening the Door, for a private investment house to capture millions of public State pension fund dollars.    When put under the microscope, they asked the judge to file their case under a John Doe status.  The judge, to his credit, declared that the embarrassment of their case did not trump the public’s right to know.  For their trouble, Democrats Kelly and Droney received millions of dollars, while former State Treasurer Sylvester is left to contemplate his crimes while in prison.     

 

Governor Rowland may ultimately be forced to pay the highest penalty for steering his ship of state off course, but much more needs to be done to protect the taxpayers’ money.   State lawmakers must safeguard our treasury by installing a sound system of checks and balances.  Systematic departmental financial, operational and procedural audits must be conducted to detect corruption.  Lobbyists who boast of connections must be immediately disconnected. The strong Ethic Laws which State Democrats recently rejected, must be resurrected and passed.  Otherwise, as State elected officials begin their walk on the gang plank to the next election, they may find the waters filled with sharks, which, on a closer look, resemble angry and overtaxed taxpayers.