A watchdog group is raising questions about millions of dollars in discretionary funds controlled by Governor M. Jodi Rell and leaders of the state Senate and House of Representatives.
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations asked state Auditor Robert Jaekle this month to review the accounts in which Rell, state House Speaker James Amann and state Senate President Donald Williams Jr. each control $2 million. Those discretionary accounts, which are in the state budget through 2009, contain money that each leader can disperse as he or she sees fit without a public hearing.
Susan Kniep, a former East Hartford mayor and president of the statewide taxpayer organizations group, said its members learned about the accounts last week and consider them little more than slush funds. “This is outrageously bad,” she said. “This is unbeknownst to the public.”
Jaekle says that because no one has claimed the money is being spent illegally, an audit is not likely to occur. Although he is aware some people believe the funds are “pork-barrel spending that does not have the necessary controls,” he said that sentiment does not trigger an audit.
Amann, Democrat of Milford, and Williams, Democrat of Brooklyn, say there are appropriate checks and balances on the accounts, which the state Office of Policy and Management oversees and disseminates.
Amann has allocated about half of the $2 million he controls during the current fiscal year, contributing to community groups, school projects, nonprofit organizations and other recipients. Many were in or near his hometown of Milford.
Rell spent last year’s allocation on a dairy farm initiative and funding for the State Contracting Standards Board, intended to reform the contracting process in light of ethics and corruption concerns.
Rell spokesman Christopher Cooper said the governor supports eliminating the contingency dollars, but believes enough safeguards exist to ensure the money is properly spent.
Some of Williams’s allocations last year included money for libraries, fire departments, police technology, and other projects in communities statewide.
“We think it’s important that legislative leaders have the ability to address constituent needs as needs arise and help with some of these valuable projects,” said Williams’s spokesman, Derek Slap. “The senators and representatives are the ones on the ground and are very tuned into the needs of the community.”
