One of the hottest Connecticut political news items these days is the showdown between the state Democratic Party and the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC). The SEEC is examining the Democrats’ spending practices during the 2014 gubernatorial campaign. Memorably, the Democrats used cash from their federal account to pay for mailers that sang the praises of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The move proved controversial because the federal account contained contributions from executives at companies with state contracts, and at least some of these executives donated to the federal account to covertly help Gov. Malloy. A state law enacted in 2005 prohibits contractors from contributing directly to candidates for state office and party accounts for state races. They can, however, donate to federal candidates and accounts.
Last week, reporters asked Gov. Malloy for his take on the SEEC/Democrats fight. According to an Aug. 6 Republican-American report, the governor was reluctant to talk about the situation, referring questions on the matter to the Democrats and the SEEC. He did, however, say he doesn’t believe Republicans will use the controversy to discredit him during his 2016 stint as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
Obviously, it is too early to tell whether the GOP will wield “Mailergate” against Gov. Malloy, but the saga is fair game. It raises valid questions about the governor’s integrity.
From the get-go, the mailer move stank to high heaven, but Gov. Malloy didn’t have a problem with it. Infamously, during an October debate with Republican challenger Tom Foley, the governor said, “Right now, we’re in a pretty tight race, and (petitioning candidate Joe Visconti) appears to be coming on. And we need to spend money.” As we wrote in a Jan. 27 editorial, “that was a despicable thing to say, and it was unbecoming of Connecticut’s chief executive.”
Near as I can tell, Gov. Malloy hasn’t encouraged the state Democratic Party – of which he is titular head – to comply with a subpoena the SEEC issued May 29. The SEEC sought records of meetings former Democratic Executive Director Jonathan Harris may have had about the mailers with Gov. Malloy and others in the governor’s political inner circle. Democrats’ justification for the non-compliance is beyond ridiculous, and if Gov. Malloy isn’t pushing his party to do the right thing, it fairly can be surmised that he has something to hide.
Gov. Malloy’s conduct is unsettling, and at odds with candidate Malloy’s denunciations of Hartford’s “closed insider game” culture. Indeed, it is wholly worthy of criticism from people inside and outside of Connecticut.