Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

By Jim Powell, Contributor, Forbes, August 1, 2013� Excerpts:� Connecticut has so many advantages that it might be hard to understand how it became one of America�s worst-performing state economies. ��Despite these attractions, during the past two decades some 300,000 more Connecticut residents have moved out of the state than have moved in. This compares with the current population of about 3.5 million.� Why the exodus?� Dismal performance� Perhaps with the complacency of old money, Connecticut policymakers came to believe they didn�t need to compete for investors and entrepreneurs � the key people who make prosperity happen. Keep in mind that government basically doesn�t have any money other than what it extracts from the private sector via taxation.�� Continue reading this multi-page article at the following web link where you will find some interesting stats�.. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimpowell/2013/08/01/how-did-rich-connecticut-morph-into-one-of-americas-worst-performing-economies/

August 5, 2013

From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com

Telephone:� 860-841-8032

Auditors: State agency doled out $37M while violating public notice law

Two State Quasi Public Agencies are Referenced

Connecticut Development Authority (CDA)

Connecticut Innovations (CI)

Check out CDA and CI Salaries and Benefits at

http://www.ctact.org\upload\home\CDA CT INNOVATION SALARIES.xls

From The Federation��State Auditors recently disclosed that The Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) gave $37 Million Public Dollars in Aid to Businesses but didn�t bother to inform the public of their meetings � a violation of State Freedom of Information laws.� (Refer to CTMirror.org article below)

You can access the State�s Audit of the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) at ��. http://cga.ct.gov/apa/reports/Connecticut%20Development%20Authority_20130731_FY2011,2012.pdf

As noted by the following CTMirror.org article � The legislature merged the CDA with a second quasi-public state development group, Connecticut Innovations Inc., in 2012, even as the meeting notice violations were happening.

But maybe CDA or CI didn�t have the necessary staff to keep the public informed because in a headlined article captioned - Congressman John Larson's wife picked over 199 applicants for job ... October 18, 2012|Kevin Rennie, NOW YOU KNOW - the following is noted: �When Connecticut Innovations Inc., a quasi-public state agency, sought an executive assistant to its executive director and CEO in the spring, 199 hopefuls applied. �The winner: Leslie Larson, wife of seven-term U.S. Rep. John Larson. �The documents Mrs. Larson submitted with her application stretch our faith in fairness�. The article continues at �http://articles.courant.com/2012-10-18/news/hc-op-rennie-congressman-larsons-wife-gets-job-101-20121018_1_application-claire-job

A recent Hartford Courant article captioned�� Jon Lender: Officials' Children Get Plum Summer Jobs At State Agency notes that �Rosemary Bove, the $101,000-a-year state official who manages Connecticut's five "Welcome Centers" on interstate highways, didn't have to look very far for at least a couple of the young people who were hired in May to work in 13 highly-coveted summer jobs.� �One of them is Bove's 23-year-old daughter � who's been paid $12 an hour since being hired May 17 in a job eligible to last through Nov. 2.�� She makes $960 every two weeks.

�Another is the son of Rhonda Olisky, a $74,800-a-year official in the same state agency as Bove: the Department of Economic and Community Development.�� Jon Olisky-Veneziano, 20, is making $14 an hour, as a returning summer worker, and makes $1,120 every two weeks; the state paid him $12,376 last year, comptroller's records show.�

In a follow up article, Lender wrote on July 27, 2013 DOT's Summer Payroll Full Of Employees' Kids, Adding To Questions; NYC Uses 'Jobs Lottery'� noting: �Twenty-nine of the 56 summer workers at the state Department of Transportation this year have the same last name as a full-time DOT worker or official � increasing the appearance that, despite denials, family connections and favoritism play a role in seasonal hirings at state agencies.�� That information surfaces two weeks after it was reported here that Department of Economic and Community Development officials' young relatives got three of the agency's 17 summer jobs, all unadvertised. �The DECD's manager of highway "Welcome Centers" helped to interview her own daughter for a job involving the welcome centers, a job that pays $960 every two weeks.�� None of this makes a good impression on the public, despite government spokesmen's assurances that hiring officials' sons, daughters, nieces and nephews isn't illegal or wrong.� Continue reading at �. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lender-column-summer-jobs-0728-20130727,0,7915910.column

While the public�s access to jobs at quasi public agencies and local, state and federal government political fiefdoms are frequently questioned, the Governor is addressing the �all in the family� concept of State job awards as noted within the recent article captioned Malloy Orders Review Of Summer Hiring At State Agencies.

Now back to the issue of CDA which again danced with auditors in 2010 as noted within the article Auditors Hit CDA On Disclosures - Hartford Courant. Jon Lender of the Courant wrote: �It's a bureaucratic slow-dance that has lasted for several years. State auditors say that the Connecticut Development Authority isn't following a law requiring it to disclose the revenue, wages and benefits at companies it lends money to. �They recommend that the CDA either get legislators to change the law or obey it. �CDA tries to get the law changed and fails, but still doesn't improve its disclosures. �Then the dance starts again the following year, and the year after that, and so on. �Why doesn't it ever end?� http://articles.courant.com/2010-10-31/news/hc-lender-column-cda-disclosure-1031-20101031-20_1_annual-report-disclosure-law-audit-report

On Oct 22, 2010, Don Michak of the Journal Inquirer addressed this issue in an article captioned �Auditors say CDA still hiding info; Malloy decries secrecy.�� The article notes �Malloy, citing the auditors� latest report, charged that the CDA and a second quasi-public development agency, Connecticut Innovations, Inc., had broken the law �by refusing to make public critical information that taxpayers have a right to see.��

That transparency should also apply for the benefit of local property taxpayers who are paying off CDA loans for private businesses in their towns.� For example: East Hartford taxpayers paying approximately $270,000 a year for a CDA Loan for Goodwin College.�

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As it relates to Transparency of taxpayer dollars to private business, we have a champion in our corner.�� State Comptroller Kevin Lembo� is attempting to �establish greater transparency surrounding the hundreds of millions in dollars invested every year in economic assistance programs� as noted within his March 8, 2013 press release captioned� COMPTROLLER LEMBO: IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY IN ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.�

According to the Press Release �..The bill would establish at least three new mechanisms to improve transparency in state finances - starting with a publicly accessible online database for all state tax credit and economic assistance programs. The bill would also require regular "tax incidence analysis" reports to determine the distribution of the state's tax burden, and it would improve public access to vital stat financial documents -- building on Lembo's transparency efforts on "Open Connecticut" (www.osc.ct.gov/openct), a website he recently launched to make state financial documents more publicly accessible.� "As a state, we provide hundreds of millions of dollars in business assistance every year - in the form of loans, grants, tax credits and abatements," Lembo said. "Meanwhile, the state's economy continues to struggle, unemployment remains stubbornly high and we face significant budget challenges." � Continue reading at �.. http://www.osc.ct.gov/public/news/releases/20130308.html

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Regrettably although Lembo�s success was realized as� �The House of Representatives unanimously adopted a bill raised to implement the comptroller�s proposal�, the bill never received a vote by the� Senate which �adjourned 17 minutes earlier than the mandatory midnight deadline� of the session as noted in the� June 7, 2013 article captioned Lembo hopeful incentive transparency effort can be revived | The CT Mirror.org.

Taxpayers concerned for Transparency� might consider contacting their state representatives requesting they support Mr. Lembo�s efforts to initiated the transparency of private corporations receiving public money!��

It should also be disclosed how corporations looking for taxpayer money get their foot in the door.� Is there an application process?� Are they represented by Lobbyists?� We are looking for the answer and will report back.��

Although Mr. Lembo efforts were unsuccessful in looking for transparency relating to corporations receiving public dollars, he is to be commended for launching the searchable data base entitled�. Open Connecticut :: State Comptroller Kevin Lembo.� and emphasizing �.� It�s your money. You have a right to know.

Another State website� Connecticut Transparency Website ��provided information on both Connecticut Innovations (CI) and the Connecticut Development Authority CDA) Wages and Benefits paid to their employees during fiscal year 2012 which ranges from July 31, 2011 to June 30, 2012.� You can access this information at the following web link.� http://www.ctact.org\upload\home\CDA CT INNOVATION SALARIES.xls

Mrs. Larson�s salary, now employed by Connecticut Innovations, is not posted due to her date of hire but the article captioned Congressman Larson's Wife Gets A Job which made its way to the Baltimore Sun notes �That $70,000 a year job was for Leslie Larson�.� The article continues at the web link http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-congressman-larsons-wife-gets-job-101-20121018,0,4685884.column.

As State Quasi Public Agencies are audited and State Employees are justifiably criticized for hiring their children, Partisan Jobs for Republican and Democrat State Legislators seem to get little attention or concern from auditors or the news media!��

Click the following caption to learn more about these State Jobs for Party Loyalists Which Taxpayers and Not the Political Parties are Funding �some of which are paying well over $100,000 and up to $230,000 to which the general public is locked out from applying.

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Auditors: State agency doled out $37M while violating public notice law

By Keith M. Phaneuf� Wednesday, July 31, 2013� CTMirror.org

A state economic development agency that approved nearly $37 million in total aid to businesses in 2011 and 2012 failed to give public notice of its meetings during that time as required by law, the state auditors disclosed Wednesday.

The quasi-public Connecticut Development Authority also did not submit an annual schedule of its meetings with the Secretary of the State�s Office � another violation of Connecticut�s right-to-know laws.

The legislature merged the CDA with a second quasi-public state development group, Connecticut Innovations Inc., in 2012, even as the meeting notice violations were happening.

And while the new merged entity retains the name Connecticut Innovations Inc., its 17-member Board of Directors includes several officials who served on the CDA oversight panel.

State Auditors John C. Geragosian and Robert M. Ward reported that the former authority failed to meet two of its meeting notice obligations under Connecticut's Freedom of Information statutes:

Meeting agendas were not filed with the Secretary of the State�s Office in 2011 and 2012.
An annual schedule of meetings was not filed with the secretary�s office in 2012.

�Members of the public wishing to attend meetings may not have been aware of the meetings and the business to be discussed,� the auditors wrote.

Armed with public funding, the CDA made and guaranteed business loans and provided other forms of financing for business projects.

During the two-year audit period, the CDA approved a wide range of business assistance including:

$15.2 million in loans and $750,000 in loan guarantees for manufacturing projects that add jobs, enhance exports and support new uses for defense technology;
$8 million to insure loans to help companies acquire industrial land, buildings, machinery and equipment;
$5.6 million in loans to businesses to add machinery and equipment;
$1 million in guarantees for business loans deemed riskier than convention business financing.

Read complete article at �� http://www.ctmirror.org/story/2013/07/31/auditors-state-agency-doled-out-37m-while-violating-public-notice-law

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A Message from the Connecticut Policy Institute: Home � We hope you saw the Hearst Connecticut Media CT Politics Blog this weekend, which included an article on the CPI's recently released Connecticut Economic Scorecard.

In case you missed it, you can read the article here.� ��One result in the scorecard, reproduced in the chart below, is that Connecticut's job growth has lagged both the country as a whole and our neighbors in the northeast.

On Tuesday, August 6 we are hosting a lunch briefing and policy discussion in Trumbull with Connecticut Business & Industry Association CEO John Rathgeber on What It Will Take to Get Connecticut Employers Hiring. We hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be an engaging presentation and discussion. You can register for the forum here.

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Report: State Budget Is Full of 'Gimmicks'

by Christine Stuart, CTNewsJunkie.com, �Aug 2, 2013

Excerpts:� The report took issue with several areas of the budget including the nearly $600 million in borrowing, more than $400 million in temporary fund transfers, and $500 million in one-time revenues to pay for operating expenses. It warned that because these funding sources will dry up at the end of the two-year budget, there is currently a projected state deficit of $712 million in fiscal year 2016 and comparable holes in 2017 to 2018.

If state lawmakers had instead used recurring revenues rather than one-shot revenues and borrowing, the long-term budget would be nearly balanced in these years, the report concludes.

But Deputy Undersecretary at the Office of Policy and Management Gian-Carl Casa pointed to state Comptroller Kevin Lembo�s certification Thursday of a $359.6 million budget surplus for fiscal year 2013 as a sign that things are being managed properly.

�There is still work to be done as Connecticut continues to dig out after decades of ignoring our problems, but it�s clear that Governor Malloy�s fiscal management is steadily improving Connecticut�s budget and financial footing,� Casa said.

But Conneticut Voices for Children pointed out that the state continues to kick the can down the road by delaying payments on things like the Economic Recovery Notes it borrowed in 2009 to balance the budget. By delaying the repayment of the notes another two years to 2018, the state will incur an additional $45 million in interest on the debt. Read entire article at http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/report_state_budget_is_full_of_gimmicks

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Fitch Rates Connecticut�s $500MM GO Bonds �AA�; Outlook Negative

CT Borrowing for Road Expansion Like There�s No Tomorrow

Looks like Connecticut still has�t extricated itself from the �growth ponzi scheme� � you know, gambling on a few road widenings while the bulk of its existing assets slide into disrepair.� According to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Connecticut recently approved a $537 million spending package for transportation. And while the spending plan includes some good items for transit, the state has decided to spend a very large share of it widening a single road.

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