Ted Mann: Rell Used Taxpayer Money On Political Pollster

by: tparty

Thu Oct 08, 2009 at 11:14:20 AM EDT

Hartford - Gov. M. Jodi Rell's administration has publicly committed more than $220,000 for a University of Connecticut professor's 30-month project to study ways to streamline state government.

But in that project, Dr. Kenneth Dautrich, a polling expert and confidant of Rell's chief of staff, has also been studying something else:

How best to frame the Republican governor's positions to win approval from state voters.

Ted Mann's must-read investigative report today on Rell's use of $220,000 in taxpayer money for political purposes reveals that the Office of Policy and Management compensated UConn for the services provided by Ken Dautrich, a professor and former head of UConn's polling outfit.

The political services Dautrich has provided to Rell's administration and which were funded by taxpayers include a December 2008 focus group in Wethersfield on budget messaging, which resulted in a memo sent to Lisa Moody that warned of the popularity of Attorney General Blumenthal (then a potential gubernatorial challenger). They also include a January 2009 memo addressing the governor's political standing - including a draft introduction of Rell's budget speech - which was sent to Moody.

A PDF file of the focus group memo has been made available here by The Day.

Mann also reports that Rell's administration has not been forthcoming about their relationship with Dautrich - they did not make the documents available easily, and have kept Dautrich's involvement with Rell "a closely guarded secret":

Dautrich's efforts to gauge and manage public sentiment - on everything from income taxes to leadership qualities to the public's opinion of a potential political rival - have been a closely guarded secret in the Rell administration, presumably to avoid criticism that the governor has employed the professor to provide political guidance on the public dime.

But The Day obtained correspondence and documents related to the project this week, after a monthslong effort to obtain more information about Dautrich's work under state open records laws.

Colin McEnroe's as-always spot-on take:

If Connecticut-under-Rell were not, effectively, the Bizzarro planet, this would be a scandal of huge proportions.

Perhaps, thanks to other recent scandals that have hit the Rell administration and a parallel unprecedented decline in her polling numbers, Connecticut is finally leaving Bizarro world.

Update: Dan Malloy has a few questions for Rell (via press release):

"It certainly appears that Governor Rell used taxpayer money for her own political benefit, which, at the very least, raises serious ethical concerns. If true, it means she paid to find out what people wanted to hear, and then she told them exactly that - knowing it wasn't true, but that it might work for her politically. This may very well explain her bizarre behavior in the budget debacle over the past eight months.  What's needed here is a full accounting. Exactly how was the $220,000 spent? Was other research done? If so, what type of research? And, what is a professor known for his expertise in polling and research doing trying to streamline state government? Isn't that the job of people at OPM and in the Governor's office? The Governor needs to answer these questions immediately - and if she won't, legislators need to begin asking questions."

Update 2: Nancy DiNardo calls for an investigation (via press release):

"It's beyond outrageous that Governor M. Jodi Rell used more than $200,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund what was, in essence, a focus group to gauge support for her possible re-election bid next year," said State Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo. "At the very least this looks as though it violates state ethics guidelines, and possibly even the law. ... Once again, Governor Rell needs to come clean and tell the people of Connecticut why they are paying for her re-election campaign, and I also feel strongly that the appropriate body - perhaps State Ethics, the State Auditor, or the Attorney General - must look into this matter, as well."