DeStefano: Rell broke campaign law

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DeStefano: Rell broke campaign law

October 13, 2006

Connecticut Post: KEN DIXON Staff writer

HARTFORD - New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. on Thursday charged that Gov. M. Jodi Rell violated campaign-finance law by "hiding" contributions from employees of state contractors.

Rell's campaign confirmed that mistakes were made in the 302-page quarterly campaign-finance report filed this week with the secretary of the state, but they were inadvertent and clerical.

Rich Harris, Rell's campaign spokesman, said that a revised campaign finance report will be filed by noon today. The State Election Enforcement Commission confirmed Thursday that DeStefano, the Democratic gubernatorial challenger, filed a complaint on several contributions from people who work for state contractors and should have been listed as such.

Joan Andrews, an attorney who is director of legal affairs and enforcement for the SEEC, said Thursday that it's unlikely an investigation can be completed before the Nov. 7 election.

Penalties can be $2,000 per violation, or twice the amount of a contribution, whichever is higher.

She said the state has a long-standing law that restricts candidates from cashing checks of more than $1,000 until a contributor's employer is either confirmed to be a state contractor that makes more than $5,000 in state money, or not.

"It's pretty cut and dried," said Derek Slap, spokesman for DeStefano.

"Since starting her campaign, Gov. Rell has maintained that she will not take money from state contractors," Slap said in an early afternoon statement.

"Gov. Rell has consistently broken that promise. Now, with her recent filing, it's apparent the governor has crossed a line: she and her campaign are breaking the law by hiding the fact that she is taking money from state contractors." Slap said that three to six alleged instances were found in Rell's filing where employees of state contractors were not identified, even though they contributed in excess of $1,000.

The people are employed by law firms, hospitals and health-care providers listed by the state Department of Administrative Services as having state contracts.

In fact, of the thousands of individual contributors listed in Rell's latest financial summary, only one person is confirmed as having a state contract and that contributor, a lumber dealer in the Higganum section of Haddam, wrote only a $50 check. In all, Rell raised more than a million dollars last quarter from individuals.

"It appears we had a data-entry error," Harris said. "We appreciate the mayor pointing it out and we're going to file an amended report by noon tomorrow."

Harris said there was "confusion" in the campaign office over the governor's self-imposed higher standard of rejecting contributions from lobbyists and corporate employees who negotiate contracts with the state.

"The governor set a far higher standard for herself, one that's not only higher than the law requires now, but higher even than the law will require in the 2010 election," Harris said. Under the state's landmark 2005 campaign finance law, state contractors will be prohibited from contributing to the gubernatorial campaigns beginning in 2010.

The problems with Rell's reports, DeStefano's staff noted, was that an "N" for no was typed into the space under state contractors. Those individuals pointed out by DeStefano's staff should have had a "Y" for yes, Harris conceded, stressing that every potential contributor is asked whether they negotiate with state contracting officials and is rejected if they answer yes.

"You can answer yes to the state question and no to the negotiation question and still meet the governor's higher standards," Harris said. "We're in the process of reviewing every single contribution."

In an apparent instance of political tit-for-tat, George Gallo, chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, filed a similar complaint Thursday against the DeStefano campaign, alleging that the mayor's new filing omits the occupation and employers of several contributors.

Last year, DeStefano's campaign paid $4,000 in fines to the SEEC for similar filing deficiencies.