Bridgeport Battle At Bond Commission

From Ken Dixon, CT Post:

The normally placid State Bond Commission boiled over in controversy on Friday when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy defended an earlier action that quietly stalled a $2.8 million award for renovations to the North End Boys & Girls Club of Bridgeport.

State Sen. Andrew W. Roraback, R-Goshen, charged that Malloy failed to be transparent on June 4, when he withdrew the item from the commission’s agenda without a public announcement.

Malloy, in retaliation, accused Roraback of failing to pay attention during the meeting.

An hour later, Roy Occhiogrosso, the governor’s senior adviser, said Roraback, a GOP candidate for the party’s 5th Congressional District primary, was playing politics.

At the start of Friday’s commission meeting, in which more than $86 million in projects–including the Boys & Girls Club–were approved for long-term bonding, Roraback complained that the governor failed to announce that the club funding was abruptly withdrawn, without an announcement on June 4.

“I was at the last meeting and I have a copy of the agenda from the last meeting,” Roraback said, noting the inclusion of a $2.8 million allocation to the Cardinal Shehan Center to perform the work. “I had received emails from the Boys & Girls Club of Bridgeport which raised questions about this item on the agenda and I voted no because of the questions that had been raised.”

The item was taken off that agenda, without public comment on June 4, in response to criticism from Kenneth Bruno, director of the Boys and Girls Club, which is involved in a lawsuit with the city of Bridgeport over the club’s Madison Avenue property.

There were other items on that agenda item–No. 21–as well, including a grant to Ann’s Place cancer-support center in Danbury, the Steeping Stones Museum in Norwalk and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

“Governor, I voted ‘no’ because of my apprehensive about the Cardinal Sheehan grant and the questions raised,” said Roraback, who had reviewed a video recording of the meeting prior to Friday’s meeting. “There was no recital, or revelation that the amount that we were funding under item 21 was less than the amount that appeared on the agenda.”

Noting that Benjamin Barnes, the secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, later apologized for not making an announcement at the time, Roraback said he was disappointed that there was no public disclosure at the time.

“I think that all of us deserve better, quite frankly, particularly when an item is as controversial as this,” Roraback said, noting that the usual pace of commission meetings is fast. “What transpired I think was not consistent with what I view to be the highest standards of this body and this institution.”

Malloy responded that at the June 4 meeting, the total amount for that particular multi-part item was reduced by $2.8 million and could have elicited questions from the 10-member commission.

“The motion was less and that was reflected in the minutes?” Malloy said. “So what you’re saying is that either someone should have made an announcement to you or if you had time you would have asked the question?”

“I wish that we had been advised of that because I think we would have made a more-informed decision and quite frankly, I would have voted yes on the item, had I known that the Cardinal Shehan Center had been omitted,” Roraback said. Malloy then asked commission staff members to make sure in the future, omissions are announced.

Barnes, in an interview after the meeting, said that giving the money to the Shehan Center will get the work done sooner than if it were allocated directly to the Boys’ & Girls’ Club. The funding was first approved in the year 2000.

“The money is still going to be used for renovating the Boys & Girls Club,” Barnes said. “The city has said they want to step in and see the project gets done more quickly and we’re willing to give them a shot at doing it because we’d like to get the project done.”

Speaking to reporters after the commission meeting, Malloy, who controls its agenda, said since the amount announced for the item did not match the total including the $2.8 million, it was incumbent on commission members to pursue questions.

“If they’re not paying attention, it’s not my obligation to read to them everything that’s happened,” said Malloy, who has said that transparency would be a hallmark of his administration. “Having said that, understanding that they obviously weren’t paying attention, I have directed those people who work for me, when those changes are made, to make those announcements.”

Roraback, who stood nearby during Malloy’s post-commission news conference, then told reporters that during his four years on the panel, it is “unprecedented” for an item to be “surreptitiously removed” from an agenda without an announcement.

“In the absence of the governor or Secretary Barnes calling to the attention of the press, the public and most importantly, fellow bond commission members that there had been a material change in the composition of the agenda, that was an affront to everyone in the state of Connecticut,” Roraback said. “It’s never happened before and I hope it never happens again. It was a sleight of hand that left everyone wondering what had happened.”

Occhiogrosso, speaking with reporters a short time later in the Capitol Press Room, said that Roraback’s congressional candidacy colors his criticism of the governor.

“Let’s talk about what this is really about: He’s running for Congress,” he said, acknowledging that the item’s withdrawal should have been announced during the June 4 meeting. “We make mistakes,” Occhiogrosso said. “We’re not perfect. At some point this just became political theater. He should run for Congress outside the building.”