Task forces, study committees and commissions have been a hallmark of outgoing Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s six-year tenure leading Connecticut.
An Associated Press review of the Republican governor’s executive orders, as well as task force reports obtained through a public records request, shows that Rell created more than two dozen such panels to report back to her on everything from the state’s 375th anniversary celebration to unfunded pension obligations.
The groups yielded mixed results.
The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council, for example, has been credited with helping to make Connecticut a marketplace for the first wave of mass-produced electric vehicles. But the groups’ recommendations didn’t necessarily lead to new laws and, in several cases, no reports were provided at all by Rell’s administration.
“There were some good ones. But other ones, we just didn’t pay much attention to,” House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, said.
“I think she kind of missed being a legislator,” Donovan added. “It’s kind of like she’s forming committees. Well, that’s what the legislature is for. I wish she had tried less to have her own separate legislature and worked with us.”
Wednesday will mark Rell’s final day as governor, as Democratic Gov.-elect Dan Malloy is sworn into office. Looking back, Rell’s office says she is proud of the work performed by the task forces and commissions.
“People take shots when they really don’t know the true story. And really, she has used the talents and the abilities of a lot of people in this state, in and out of state government, to help solve some of the challenges,” Rell spokeswoman Donna Tommelleo said.
Besides the electric vehicle council, Tommelleo pointed to the Connecticut Health Care Reform Advisory Board as an example of a successful task force. That board was charged with examining the federal health care reform law and making recommendations on ways to help tailor the new legislation to the state’s needs.
She also referred to the Connecticut Commission on Educational Achievement, which was charged with recommending ways to help close the achievement gap between low-income and higher-income students. The group produced a 24-page report that included ideas such as “let the new governor lead the charge” for accountability in public schools and increasing student access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.
Matt O’Connor, the communications director for CSEA/SEIU Local 2001, a union that represents thousands of state employees, doesn’t take much stock in Rell’s task forces.
“Is there a pattern of the governor responding to a crisis by forming a commission to put forward recommendations that are either shelved, ignored or trumpeted in a press conference before they are shelved or ignored? Yes,” he said.
