Yelmini and Rell- No Innocents (VERY LONG AND VERY IMPORTANT TO THE OTHER 49 STATES)
Usenet Supreme Loser ChuckWorth
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Subject:
Yelmini and Rell- No Innocents (VERY LONG AND VERY IMPORTANT TO
THE OTHER 49 STATES)
Date:
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:19:48 AM
I see there are a couple of big ta-does with these two, Rell and
Yelmini,
although they
appear to be independent activities. There are three Courant articles
copied
here,
and I apologize for including them all instead of linking them, but I
will need
the full text of them later, and the Courant archives are not
available
indefinitely
(although in a state with this much white collar crime you would think
they
would
make the archives available).
Kevin Rennie is questioning Rell's Fund Raising Activities, and
Yelmini
thinks she has to defend herself as per her new role with the State
Police
(She does need to defend herself. By moving far away from us, like to
a Muslim
country where they don't allow sleaze, hopefully.)
The Third in this Triad of crazies involved here is
Daniel Dilzer, Republican Town Chairman in the Town of Berlin, CT.
Berlin is
next to New Britain, where a lot of Republican Cronies and Crazies
hang out..
Call
them the Neauveau Riche of the Party; they have no class to go with
their
upper class if you know what I mean.
Someone called Dilzer on the afternoon of Sep 29, 2005 named "Rell."
The call
was put through. This was during a visit, with a witness, with the
physical
evidence
that ** every single thing** Jessica Gauvin said to the Berlin Police
re my
false arrest **was false.** Statement by statement, word by word.
Dilzer rejected the data. Would not look at it. I have a witness.
Dilzer was
given to me as a "Special Defender," after I had a real defender, Beth
Hogan,
because Beth Hogan was defending me, and Karen Forschner of the Lyme
Foundation was working with Beth. www.lyme.org
The Public Defenders Office later told me Beth Hogan is not a public
defender
which is a complete and total lie, like usual. Dilzer was given to me
to
specifically
lose my case, since what the State really wanted to do was commit me
indefinitely
since I know so much, and my kids undeniably have congenital Lyme
Disease.
Rell was in on the deal where the State bagged me permanently because
my
kids have congenital Lyme:
http://www.actionlyme.org/Schoen.htm The entire Republican Party in
this
State,
were in on it, because the effect that knowledge would have on real
estate
values.
You can give Lyme to your kids, and not know it, because the testing
for Lyme is
bogus- misses the vast majority of cases on purpose. I tested
positive for Lyme
a long
time, but then I have high functioning autism and have always had the
relatedf
screwed
up immune system- that's part of autism (the *real* kind, which is
not
Asperger's and is
not the dementia from brain damage or encephalitis).
[Autism and Neurofibromatosis are "NERVE OVERGROWTH SYNDROMES," and
that
is related to a reversed duplication of a B cell lymphoma molecule
which
inhibits
apoptosis of programmed cell death. It's part of the mechanism of
the
co-expression
of autism and neurofibromatosis. It is related to incompetent B
cells
(lymphocytes).]
After we walked out of the depositions of my DCF "case" and we had
just found out
my sister and mother were lying their crazy faces off, since they
admitted it,
my children's
ad litem walked up to me and said, "The State is watching this case
very
closely."
I was like, "What do I care? We just found out none of this bullshit
is true,
and that
my mother and sister are insane for making it all up." They should
have been
arrested
since it is illegal to file false allegations to DCF. (They still
have not been
arrested.)
This sounds too complicated when the reader cannot associate a name to
a face,
I realize. I am talking about the network of Republican sleaze still
in place
after
Rowlandgate and how they operate, and what their goals are. They want
to keep
the federal money coming in, by defrauding Uncle Sam over the State's
needs.
I am talking about all the Republican lying whores, among them are
Rell, Dilzer
and Yelmini, and they are tight party affiliates who do very illegal
things, as
are
Jessica Gauvin and Kristine Ragaglia. Ripping off kids illegally is
both a power
tool and a means to bring millions of free money into the State from
Uncle Sam.
Yelmini also worked with Marc S. Ryan, Office of Policy and
Management,
who worked with Ragaglia to write the bills to "increase the DCF
spending:"
Rip off more kids to get money to rip off even more kids. Uncle Sam,
the other
49 states' taxpayers, pay for it. This was a racket.
Rell just announced yesterday a scheme to get more money in from the
federal
government under the Rowlandgate Criteria- Rell will spend $400,000 to
get
matching
grants from Uncle Sam for the CT Department of Transportation. The
same
principal
was applied in DCF- Rowlandgate.
Here is what two of the DCF-Rowlandgate Bills said:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.diseases.lyme/browse_frm/thread/65162fcaafe653f8/e47e40ab9a57145c?hl=en#e47e40ab9a57145c
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.flame.psychiatry/browse_frm/thread/8f9fd674954961a0/565abd39c148a278?q=bingo+pay+for+play+rowland&rnum=1#565abd39c148a278
=====================================================
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Michael W. Kozlowski, Secretary and Marc S. Ryan, Deputy Secretary,
Office
of Policy and Management - testified in
support of the Governor's proposal. ****The proposed increases in
spending are
attributed to higher than expected spending
requirements in federal entitlement programs (Medicaid and Temporary
Family
Assistance), **** lower than budgeted savings from the
Early Retirement Incentive Plan, the carryover effect of current
year
deficiencies and the Governor's new initiatives. These
intitiatives are in the areas of education, children's health, child
protection, public safety, elderly services, the environment, and
economic development.
INREASED PETITIONS FOR TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS:
http://www.cga.state.ct.us/2001/jfr/h/2001HB-06669-R00APP-JFR.htm
==================================================================
The DCF ripped off more kids to get the free US DHHS ACF Temporary Aid
to Needy Families (TANF) grants, but then they never gave this money
to the
poor families. Instead they used it to take the kids away from poor
families.
Tomasso was also going to build State Psych Klinks for kids, because
they were
going to take as many kids as possible, under any circumstances,
because all
they had to do was get a psychiatrist to lie to the court about the
reason the
kid
should be removed from their parents, if they have no valid read to
do so,
which
was the case in my case:
http://www.actionlyme.org/LEEBENS_DEFRAUDING_THE_COURT.htm
I never met Lebeens, yet I was down at the Yale Child Study Center a
full
6 days with Diane, that same fall, right before my kids were ripped
off anyway,
even though all all of the allegations against me were false.
The depositions were Nov 20, 2003, but my kids were ripped off the day
before
Thanksgiving anyway, from their schools, on Nov 6:
http://www.actionlyme.org/WHAT_IT_FEELS_LIKE_TO_BE_KIDNAPPED_BY_DCF.htm
Severely traumatizing them.
It was a Republican racket. It was how DCF-Rowlandgate got their
start up money
for their jails enterprise. Yelmini worked with that gang.
Yelmini is no innocent- she is big-time Rowlandgate-Rell insider and
always has
been. She is a henchman for the Republican Party. A liar, a sleaze,
like
everyone
else associated with the Old Money Party, who is not old money.
The Republicans *ARE* "working" the psychopaths of the State Police
and DCF.
All you have to do to confirm is to compare the Spada-Rowland
executive order
to bag everyone on welfare (black people) to the State Trooper Fags on
Parade
Video and listen to the psycho cop and the things he was saying
(YELLING):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRS7lCfPTw&mode=related&search=
http://www.ct.gov/governorrowland/cwp/view.asp?A=1328&Q=255954
Anyone who is poor or sick is going to jail and their kids are going
to be
taken away. That's the Republicans' way of getting rid of all the
poor people
and not having a state income tax.
The other 49 states are going to pay for the bagging of our poor
people with
their federal income tax. That's how Connecticut "works."
Thew Republicans are "working" these moron union members, as in
training
them to be lying criminal psychopaths.
They *ARE* using the DCF and the cops to produce income for the State.
Yelmini was DEFINITELY put inside the State Police to assure we get no
investigation by the likes of a REAL US Attorney, like Patrick
Fitzgerald.
The Nora Dannehy investigation of DCF-Rowlandgate was inhibited by the
fact
that the current US Attorney, Kevin O'Connor, who was friends and
Bantam Lake
neighbors with Rowland, was appointed to that position to keep the
federal
government - the REAL USDOJ (meaning the entity we had before we had
Chertoff and Gonzales) out of the CT Republican Party shenanigans,
which is to
include suppressing information about the seriousness of Lyme Disease.
I know for sure: Not everyone in the Rotary was fond of the idea of
helping
people who have Lyme disease back in 1998. In fact, some Rotary
members
in the meeting argued against helping us, and produced material from
GUESS
WHO? JOHN J. CONNOLLY, head of CastleConnolly.com and the former
head
of the ALDF (The Mortimer Zuckerman, Hank Greenberg anti-Lyme Disease
Foundation; the central RICO entity).
That's from whom I got some of this information about the racketeering
crime
of Lyme which I later gave to the US Attorney:
http://www.actionlyme.org/USDOJ_COMPLAINT_RICO.htm From one of the
Rotary members arguing against helping us in 1998.
The current US Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor was promoted to Washington,
as you
will recall, for not doing his job re White Collar Republican Party
Crime in
Corrupticut.
O'Connor's wife worked in John Rowland's legal office during all the
DCF-Rowlandgate
Party and Screw Ragaglia for the Pediatric Jails Contracts
Enterprise.
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/curryinterview.htm
Another Yelmini element, is that while I was incarcerated for being a
Unibomber
Chemist, my friend in Europe asked me who was "DAS"- What department
was
DAS? I said, Department of Administrative Services. Yelmini was
the head
of it at the time. DAS gives out all the contracts, including an
illegal
contract to
Laura Lustig of "The New Learning Center," Westport, to train the DCF
lying
morons
to be lying morons. Lustig knew ABSOLUTE ZERO about brains. I had to
explain it all to her.
DAS was the CT dot guv entity which hit the website this *was posted
at
originally* the most (posted in Europe):
http://newswire.indymedia.org/en/2005/10/825416.shtml
Health Campaigner Faces Jail for "Criticizing the Government"
Kathleen Dickson Defense 04 Oct 2005 10:05 GMT
A Connecticut woman, Lyme Disease campaigner and whistleblower,
faces a hearing today,
Oct 4, 2005 that may cost her her freedom. Kathleen Dickson stands
accused of
breaking a condition of her probation. Her crime? Posting material to
the
internet "critical of Government".
Kathleen Dickson, Lyme Disease whistleblower, faces Jail for
"Criticizing the
government" Kathleen Dickson is a Connecticut mother with Lyme disease
and
high-functioning autism. She is also a scientist who has worked for
years as an
advocate for the Lyme patient community. Some years ago Kathleen
became too
disabled by Lyme disease to care for her children on her own. They too
were
(congenitally) infected with the Lyme bacteria, and she fought in vain
to obtain
the special 504 education plan her daughter needed. When she could no
longer
cope, she asked the state agencies for help. She received none. She
came into
conflict with the Dept. of Children and Families (DCF) for publicly
criticizing
them over this. This was not the only issue Kathleen was speaking out
about publicly. A former Pfizer analytical chemist, Kathleen's
knowledge about Lyme Disease testing procedures, as well as her
outrage at
injustice, led her to become prominent in exposing the corruption at
the heart
of the c
ontroversy over treating this disease, now acknowledged to be
overtaking AIDS as
the fastest-growing infectious disease. Kathleen's testimony and
activism helped
to force the removal of Glaxo's dangerous LymeRix vaccine from the
market, and
forced Rhode Island legislators to take the issue of Lyme bio-markers
seriously.
She publicly named several doctors, scientists and government
officials whom she
believed were guilty of corrupting Lyme science for financial motives.
She
published evidence of links they had with the insurance industry and
multinational biotech companies. For this she became the target of a
campaign of
intense harassment. Anonymous individuals, some pretending to be Lyme
sufferers,
lambasted and threatened her on the Internet. One man even called her
regularly at her home, pretending to be seeking her advice. Kathleen
was hounded
with hundreds of defamatory and abusive messages on the internet,
always by the
same few anonymous individuals, always with the same aim
- of discrediting her and the allegations she was making regarding
scientific
fraud. Undeterred by the harassment, Kathleen continued her advocacy
for Lyme
patients. Shortly afterwards she was accused by the local DCF of
improper
parenting of her children. Kathleen, who was felt by all who knew her
to be an
extremely devoted mother, and who had engaged in Lyme activism largely
in order
to help her children, was shocked. No evidence of any harm to the
children was
provided. Nevertheless the case against her escalated and she was
threatened
with removal of her children. This deeply traumatized the children,
who began
having nightmares that they would be taken away from their mother. In
late
autumn 2003 their nightmare came true. Kathleen had filed a complaint
with the
US Dept. of Justice, alleging that fraudulent scientific practice had
led to thousands of patients being
denied diagnosis and/or treatment for Lyme disease. One of the
individuals named
in that complaint, who had haras
sed Kathleen online for years, suddenly announced on the Internet that
she was
capable of drowning her children. A few days later, Kathleen was told
at a DCF
hearing that she had been heard to say that she would do this, which
was not
true. Her children were taken from school while she was in court and
were put
into foster care. Kathleen was stunned. By now, with her children
gone,
suffering the effects of worsening neurological Lyme as well as autism
and with
no help in sight, Kathleen became distraught. She mailed out hundreds
of letters
protesting at her fate and naming those officials she felt
responsible. A short
time later she was told by her lawyer that the authorities would be
seeking her
commitment to a psychiatric institution. While this did not happen,
she was
arrested a few weeks later, and charged with harassment of a senior
official in the Connecticut Attorney General's office. In
April 2004 Kathleen Dickson was sent to the York women's prison in
Connecticut,
where a
huge bail was put on her which she could not raise. She was
subsequently
transferred to a prison psychiatric wing at Connecticut Valley
Hospital. At five
foot eight, her weight dropped to only 108 pounds due to the poor diet
she
received in York prison, and her hair began to fall out. Even while
imprisoned
the tirade of libel against Kathleen by the same few, anonymous
individuals,
continued unabated. One had tried to befriend her sister in order to
harm her,
and wrote publicly that he hoped she would be sexually abused in
jail.
Nevertheless, the psychiatrists in charge of her care denied that she
had Lyme
disease and refused her any treatment, despite the fact that she has
positive
test results and SPECT (type of brain scan) and has been treated for
it for
years by one of the country's top specialists. They ignored letters
from her
doctor and other Lyme specialists who wrote in on her behalf. Instead
she was labeled
mentally ill. The prison psychiatrists told Kathleen that she was
imagining the harassment from associates of the Steere camp of
doctors and
researchers, despite the hundreds of their internet messages which
were out in
the public domain for all to see. And despite the fact that those
individuals
associated with the Steere camp's activities had been publicly angry
that
Kathleen had complained of their corruption to the FDA. She was told
she was
paranoid to believe they wished her harm, and would therefore need
psychiatric
medication. Lyme is an extremely debilitating disease whose huge range
of
symptoms can often lead to misdiagnosis. The spectrum can sometimes
include
neuropsychiatric symptoms, just as in AIDS dementia, cerebral tumor,
and many
other physical brain diseases. Specialist Lyme psychiatrists have
written
extensively on this. However a Lyme disease patient suffering from
such symptoms
must be treated with appropriate antibiotic or other therapy under the
guidance of a knowledgeable professional. They
do not belong in a psychiatric u
nit anymore than a brain tumor patient does. It is clear that those
Kathleen
named for their role in scientific fraud would benefit greatly if her
accusations against them were forgotten, and if she was dismissed as
mentally
ill. It is not only Kathleen Dickson who has suffered because of her
stand
against them. Virtually all those who have had the courage to speak
out were
rewarded with serious threats and repression. Doctors (such as Joseph
Burrascano) , and lab scientists who acknowledge the problem of
chronic Lyme
disease or the need for long term antibiotic treatment have come
under
tremendous pressure to shut down operations. Some have buckled under
this
pressure; some have been forced to help patients in secret; some have
had their
licenses removed and two doctors have committed suicide. In those
areas where
Lyme is not officially acknowledged to be endemic (much of the US as
well as
western Europe) unreliable blood testing procedures maintain
artificially low
statistics. De
spite a congressional ruling in 2001, doctors, encouraged by insurance
companies
and government officials responsible for financing health care,
continue to
inform their patients that Lyme cannot be diagnosed in the absence of
a positive
blood test. Patients who challenge this "norm" are accused of
hypochondria, and
parents who claim their children may have Lyme disease and need
antibiotic
treatment have had their children removed under allegations of
Munchausen's-by-proxy. Kathleen Dickson accused the then Governor of
Connecticut, John Rowland, (who has since been removed in the wake of
other huge
scandals) and top officers of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
and National
Institutes of Health of complicity in the Lyme cover-up. According to
Kathleen,
corrupt scientists suppressed their own findings that could have
provided more
reliable diagnostic tests. Her accusations regarding their approach to
Lyme
disease were potentially politically damaging. On her release under
the Ac
celerated Rehabilitation act, Kathleen was forced to sign an agreement
that
characterized her as a mental patient rather than a sufferer of Lyme
disease,
and - incredibly - required to pledge that she would not publish or
distribute
any material "critical of government" without first submitting it to
the
Probation officer for approval. There was no stipulation about
material
criticizing others - only the government. Such a condition is in
direct
contravention to the US Constitution, which provides for freedom of
speech, and
is reminiscent of the worst of dictatorships. In September 2005,
Kathleen was
granted a hearing to review the validity of the proceedings against
her, as she
requested. However, she subsequently learned from her attorney that
the hearing,
which will be held at New Britain Court , Connecticut, on Tuesday 4
October
2005, is likely to be used to launch a fresh accusation that she has
broken her
terms of release by criticizing the government in internet posts. If
fo
und guilty of "criticizing the government" without permission, she
will be sent
back to jail. Please protest this disgraceful attack on the freedom
of
expression of a scientist, mother and whistleblower, whose only crime
was to
advocate for her family and for other Lyme disease patients. Raise the
issue
with your congressman, in the media, in the health advocacy and civil
liberties
movement. For more information about how you can help Kathleen, please
email the
Kathleen Dickson Defense campaign at defe...@yahoo.com Where can I
find more
information about Lyme Disease? Sadly, the information available at
"official"
sites, such as those run by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in
USA are
carrying misinformation due to the influence of the doctors and
researchers with
conflicts of interest. For a more truthful view, based on the work of
doctors
from ILADS, a professional association of Lyme specialists without the
enormous
conflicts of interest charcterizing the CDC, NIH and othe
r Steere camp Lyme spokesmen, try one of these sites: www.lyme.org
www.lyme.info
www.lyme.net www.lymetruth.org
e-mail:: defe...@yahoo.com homepage:: http://lyme-rage.info/
kathoct05.html
========================
Yelmini's co-bitch in the Alan Plofsky case where the three ladies who
conspired
to trash Plofsky in the ethics department, did so by illegally meeting
about him
and
conspiring how to trash him, was Maureen Regula, who replaced Sarah
Gibson as
principal attorney of DCF in New Haven. (I got Gibson fired. )
http://www.actionlyme.org/POOR_PLOFSKY_AND_THE_CT_PSYCHO_STATE_LAWYERS.htm
Regula and Yelmini were the backstabbers. Yelmini is a neurotic liar,
like
Beth Cjevanovich- the one who's kid with Aspergers' became Eagle Scout
with everyone's help, and is on the Statewide Bar Council in the New
Britain
area. Cjevanovich was the bitch who sent me a letter saying if I
complained to
the Statewide Bar Council, I would be arrested for harassment.
I kid you not. It was like the letter from the Capitol Police telling
me if I tried
to contact my elected representatives I would be arrested for
harassment.
Same type of letter.
Complain to the proper agencies, get arrested for harassment. Which I
was.
The evidence of my false arrest- that it was indeed false, is still in
the US
Attorney's office in that 5 boxes of RICO data.
Blumenthal refuses to go get it and discover that I am right, and that
I was
falsely arrested.
- - -
Here are the three articles. One is by Yelmini, defending herself,
and the
others
are by Kevin Rennie about Rell's Campaign, and today's update to it.
=====================
courant.com
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-commentaryyelmini0204.artfeb04,0,3758810.story
Honestly, I Am Not That Interesting
Appointee: No Reason For Uproar Over State Police Post
By LINDA J. YELMINI
February 4 2007
My name has been popping up a lot lately. Most of the time, it's from
state Rep.
Chris Caruso's mouth. He thinks that my removal from the Connecticut
State Police would be a panacea for
the department and the state. He and a few others are wrong on a
number of
points.
First, I am not political, despite reports to the contrary. The first
and last
political fundraiser I ever attended was the now infamous Marco Polo
event. Gov.
M. Jodi Rell was the first and last candidate to whom I ever
contributed. Having
never met Courant columnist Kevin Rennie, I would like to assure him
that I am
not an "operator," and it's a long time since I played basketball, so
my elbows
are far from "sharp," but my tongue can be when falsely accused.
Second, I had nothing to do with the decision of Commissioner Leonard
Boyle to
leave the Department of Public Safety. Len is a quality individual who
came to
that decision more than six months ago, well before the New York State
Police
report on problems in Connecticut's internal affairs division was
released.
Third, the governor asked me to go to the Department of Public Safety
because of the New York report. She thought I could make a positive
difference. I did
not ask for the assignment and, in fact, implored the governor to
allow me to
stay at the Department of Administrative Services.
Fourth, I have not spoken to chief of staff M. Lisa Moody since I
arrived at the
Department of Public Safety. Therefore, she is not running the
Department of
Public Safety through me, as critics have said. Please feel free to
check my
office, cell and home phone records.
For the record, I have worked for the state for nearly 20 years. I am
a member
of the Connecticut bar and have a master's degree in business
administration. I
was in a good state job in labor relations when the governor asked me
to serve
as the commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services,
which I did
with distinction.
My only mistake was to comply with a request from the governor's chief
of staff
to pass on fundraising invitations to two people she selected. I
received these
invitations after working hours, in a restaurant. I did as requested
and said to those individuals, "Lisa asked me to
give this to you."
There were ensuing investigations. I paid a $500 fine with the
acknowledgment
that I did nothing wrong. I was then subpoenaed to a hearing, and I
had the
temerity to stand up for myself when falsely accused of breaking the
law. I did
not solicit campaign contributions, which the law would have
prohibited me from
doing. I simply passed along an invitation.
It is quite obvious that certain legislators remain intimidated by my
integrity.
In fact, the legislature changed the ethics law after I delivered the
invitations - to define in the law, for the first time, what "solicit"
means,
including "forwarding tickets to potential contributors." Therefore,
it could
not have been a violation at the time. I never lied.
The other thing I was tagged with was the case of Alan S. Plofsky, who
was fired
in 2004 as head of the State Ethics Commission. I was counsel to the
commission
at the time because Attorney General Blumenthal had declined to
represent it and the commission was not allowed to hire
outside counsel. The ethics commission made the decision to terminate
Mr.
Plofsky; I did not.
Quite honestly, I am not that interesting. I work hard and try to do a
good job.
I am working on revised rules to present to the internal affairs
commission that
the governor appointed to reform the state police. However, the rules
will not
be enough. The next commissioner will have to have the intestinal
fortitude to
enforce those rules and apply appropriate discipline.
Internal affairs is not the problem at the Connecticut State Police.
Maj. Robert
Duffy and his staff do an excellent job investigating the voluminous
complaints
now being reported to internal affairs. The new staff arrived in July
2006, and
although their numbers need to be increased, they are up to the task.
Most state police officers are hardworking employees who try to do the
right
thing and are a credit to themselves, their families and the state.
However, there is a pervasive attitude among some employees that the
rules do not apply to
them. Conduct that would result in job termination in any other state
agency is
tolerated at the Department of Public Safety.
Discipline must be decided centrally by the commissioner; the union
must not be
allowed to negotiate with different parties and get different results.
Labor
relations should report directly to the commissioner and be run by a
labor
relations professional in order to ensure fair and consistent
treatment. The
honest, hardworking state police officers and non-sworn employees of
the
department deserve no less. The next commissioner should make sure
that occurs.
Linda J. Yelmini is deputy commissioner of internal affairs at the
Department of
Public Safety. She is former commissioner of the Department of
Administrative
Services and former director of labor relations at the Office of
Policy and
Management.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant
=======================
RELL AND HER CAMPAIGN - TWO ARTICLES, NEWEST FIRST
courant.com
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctrellfundraising0207.artfeb07,0,1589234.st
ory?coll=hc-headlines-local
Rell Campaign Under Fire
Auditors, Blumenthal Urged To Probe Whether Lists Misused For
Fundraising
By JON LENDER
Courant Staff Writer
February 7 2007
State auditors and the attorney general Tuesday received a request to
look into
whether Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office improperly used state resources
last year to
obtain addresses for use by Rell's campaign in soliciting financial
contributions by mail.
An investigation appeared imminent after Democratic State Chairwoman
Nancy
DiNardo faxed a letter to State Auditors Robert G. Jaekle and Kevin P.
Johnson,
asking that they "investigate the use of state employees' time and
state
resources for the sole purpose of raising campaign funds for Gov.
Rell's
political campaign."
DiNardo based Tuesday's letter on what she said were troubling
disclosures in
Sunday's Courant by columnist Kevin Rennie. Even though DiNardo
released a copy of her letter to The Courant, Jaekle said he could
not
confirm that the auditors had received it because of restrictions in
the state's
"whistleblower's law," under which the auditors and attorney general
investigate
allegations of waste, fraud and abuse in state government.
But he did say, without reference to DiNardo, that if the bipartisan
auditors
receive a letter alleging misuse of state resources, then "we have an
obligation
to investigate it" under the whistleblower's law. The auditors then
would submit
a report on their investigation to the attorney general, who can
conduct his own
probe.
DiNardo sent a copy of the letter to Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal, who
said he already was reviewing the matter - and, "if there's a letter
alleging
some misuse of state resources or other impropriety, we might well
have to
regard it as a whistleblower complaint and consult with the auditors."
Rennie wrote in his column Sunday that last August, a lawyer in Rell's
office,
Philip L. Dukes, asked the state's Commission on Culture and Tourism
for the lists it
maintains for mailing announcements to people in arts and tourism
groups. After
the agency sent Dukes the lists, Dukes turned them over to Rell's
chief of
staff, M. Lisa Moody, and not long after that, people on the lists
received
letters from the Rell campaign soliciting contributions up to $2,500,
Rennie
wrote.
Rell's office said it had no knowledge of any campaign activities
involving the
mailing lists - which, it said, were used for "official business" to
inform the
arts committee of a new $10-million-a-year "Cultural Treasures"
program Rell
announced Aug. 16.
Rell and Moody, Republicans, spent much of 2006 in a scandal over a
Dec. 7,
2005, Rell fund-raising event at the Marco Polo Restaurant in East
Hartford - a
scandal that led to months of investigation as well as $500 fines for
16 top
Rell-administration appointees who obeyed Moody's instructions to hand
out
fundraiser invitations to subordinates. Rell suspended Moody for two
weeks, saying she insisted that her staff maintain high ethical
standards.
Contact Jon Lender at jle...@courant.com.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant
==============================================
courant.com
http://www.courant.com/hc-commentaryrennie0204.artfeb04,0,6366296.story
How Arts Backers Got Hit Up By Rell Campaign
By KEVIN RENNIE
February 4 2007
Gov. M. Jodi Rell made a lot of noise last year about refusing
campaign
contributions from people who want state business. She had no
compunction,
however, about putting the squeeze on arts people who apply for state
grants.
Her staff was busy last summer gathering mailing lists from the
Commission on
Culture and Tourism. Those lists may have made their way to the
campaign's
fundraising operation.
It would be a puzzle if a candidate with a steady 30-point lead
through the
campaign couldn't or wouldn't keep her office staff from wandering
into the
forbidden territory of campaign work.
Here are the pieces of the puzzle:
On Aug. 16, 2006, the governor announced a "Cultural Treasures"
program. The
press release of that day touts Rell's creation of "an annual pool of
$10
million to significantly increase support of Connecticut's arts
community, grow
jobs, and diversify the state's economy." Rell presented the details
of the
program later that day at a reception at the New Britain Museum of
American Art.
The program provides funding to the wide swath of arts and cultural
programs
that Connecticut sustains through public and private financing. An
extra $10
million a year was happy news indeed. You can imagine the hurrahs in
Volvos and
Priuses headed for New Britain that afternoon.
Governors running for re-election need more than applause and crudités
in
exchange for fat new grant programs. They want some of the green stuff
from
grateful grant writers. Nine days after the announcement of the
Cultural
Treasures program, the state's Commission on Culture and Tourism
received an
e-mail request for its mailing lists from Philip Dukes, a lawyer in
Rell's office.
Just before 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, a secretary at the commission
sent Dukes
an e-mail with the mailing lists attached. She included the astringent
note, "I
am not sure if these meet your needs, since we are not aware of how
you will use
the lists."
She sent another list to Dukes, who is also a member of the Republican
State
Central Committee, on the following Monday morning. At 8:36 that
morning, Dukes
forwarded the lists to Rell chief of staff M. Lisa Moody with the
notation, "The
rest of the lists from Tourism."
Those e-mails come from a Freedom of Information request I filed with
Rell's
office on Jan. 11. Computers are the eighth deadly sin. Add a request
for
records under the Freedom of Information Act and gluttony may lose its
place in
the top seven.
Dukes has complied with the request. Moody is still searching.
Shortly after Moody got the mailing lists, people on them received
solicitation
letters from the Rell campaign. The letter, dated "September 2006,"
was about the Cultural Treasures program. The choice presented
in the letter was between her program and cultural darkness: Please
send a
contribution of $750 to $2,500, artsy people.
The letter caused some discussion in the arts and tourism communities,
villages
of more solicitors than donors. As voters, they are far more
Democratic than
Republican.
Some wondered how they could have gotten on a Republican candidate's
mailing
list. A couple noticed that their names, titles and addresses had the
same
quirks that appeared on mailings they regularly received from the
Commission on
Culture and Tourism. One Democrat says it was the first Republican
fundraising
letter he's ever received.
Rell's office said last week that it had no knowledge of such
campaign
activities. The governor's counsel said that the lists were obtained
to inform
the arts community of the program.
Dukes, Rell's office says, did not talk to the governor about the
lists, nor
does he remember his conversation with the agency. They declined to
say if the governor knew about the lists, though the
solicitation letter says "Approved by Jodi Rell."
This fundraising gambit has the look of coordination, not
coincidence,
particularly since it took place during the fevered days of the
general-election
campaign.
Last week, Republicans in the legislature were roiled by the
revelation that two
Democratic staffers were caught on tape rifling through a Republican
staffer's
desk. Republicans justly called on the accused miscreants to be fired.
Democrats
in the legislature resisted, though they called for Moody to be fired
last year
over political fundraising she conducted from her office.
Look to see if outrage at the flouting of rules is determined by
partisan
affiliation or if both parties share respect for the rule of law.
Possessing
power shouldn't be mistaken for a license to abuse the office.
Kevin Rennie is a lawyer, a former Republican state lawmaker, and a
columnist
for The Courant.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant