| Cross post from Jon Pelto's Wait, What?
In his first budget, Governor Malloy went a long way toward undermining the effectiveness of Connecticut's landmark Freedom of Information Commission, Office of State Ethics, State Elections Enforcement Commission and Connecticut's other watch dog and good government agencies by merging them into a single agency, reducing their resources and giving financial control to a political appointee.
Although he somehow forgot to mention it during his speech last week, Malloy's new state budget plan takes another giant leap forward in his effort to destroy Connecticut's once stellar standing as having one of the best good government programs in the nation.
The CTMirror has the details in an article entitled "Howls as Malloy tries to shorten leash on watchdogs," but the quote of the day goes to Malloy's Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Ben Barnes, who says of the proposal to destroy the remaining independence of the watchdog agencies, "There is nothing insidious about this."
As quoted in the CTMirror article, James H. Smith, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information explains, "These proposals can only be explained as an effort to gain control over the guarantors of transparency and integrity in government...We ask why the Malloy administration is determined to emasculate the independent watchdogs?"
As the CTMirror explains, "Malloy's plan would give a gubernatorial appointee, the executive director of the Office of Government Accountability, the authority to assign and discipline lawyers whose duties could include investigating Malloy or some future governor."
The CTMirror summarizes the situation noting, "The change would remove a layer of political insulation that protects the agencies and the governor: The watchdogs are free of executive influence, real or perceived; and the governor's office is protected against accusations of protecting friends or punishing enemies."
Imagine what the Democrats would be saying if a Republican governor made such an outrageous proposal.
I bet if we listen carefully, we can hear John Rowland laughing... |
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