It always helps if the person slated for destruction assists
in the operation. In this regard, Speaker of the State House of Representatives
Chris Donovan has been an obliging subject.
Mr. Donovan missed his all-important curtain call – a
non-negotiable demand from Connecticut’s left of center media that he present
himself instantly to answer some nagging questions -- instead sending the director of the
Connecticut Citizens Action Group (CCAG), Tom Swan, to catch the flack coming
his way after the finance director for Mr. Donovan’s now faltering campaign for
the U.S. House in the 5th District was arrested in what appears to
be a successful FBI sting operation.
Mr. Donovan has hired two lawyers to help him weather the
coming storm, the resourceful Stan Twardy, a political operative in the
administration of then Governor Lowell Weicker, and a stand-by criminal lawyer.
Mr. Donovan fired his corrupted finance director and
replaced his campaign manager, Josh Nassi, with Mr. Swan, who for many years
has been at the helm of CCAG, trying his best to turn what had been a consumer
oriented organization into an annex of the left wing of the state’s Democratic
Party. Mr. Swan has been largely successful. When he floated from CCAG to chief
flack catcher in the Donovan caravan, the transition was effortless.
Mr. Twardy, a past contributor to the campaigns of former
U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, has
been around the corrupt finance manager block before. The former U.S. Attorney
was hired by Mr. Shays, now running for the same U.S. House seat coveted by Mr.
Donovan, when Mr. Shays’ campaign manager, Michael Sohn,
was imprisoned for a little more than three years after having pled guilty on a
12-count indictment charging him with having embezzled about $250,000 in campaign
funds.
Due to be released from prison in 2013 and poorer than a church mouse,
Mr. Sohn finds himself unable to pay off the creditors who had invested in Mr.
Shays’ failed congressional campaign. For his part, Mr. Shays has said the
creditors should apply to the indigent Mr. Sohn – not him – for payment of
bills due.
Doubtless, one of Mr. Donovan’s two lawyers have told the
beleaguered Speaker of the State House that he should put a brick on his tongue
until they are able to peek at the cards prosecutors are holding close to their
chests. Better to incur the disfavor of a dyspeptic media than to say something
publically that may lead to unwanted legal misfortune, eh?
The horns of the dilemma upon which Mr. Donovan finds
himself tossed are usual in such cases: Either Mr. Donovan knew what his finance
chairman was up to and therefore is legally complicit, or he was not watching
the campaign store and therefore is incompetent; in either case he is not fit
to represent the people of the 5th District in Congress.
One of Mr. Donovan’s Republican opponents, Mark Greenberg,
made the point tellingly in a press release following a media sidewalk
interview during which Mr. Donovan planted himself firmly on one of the two
horns.
"Let me be very clear about this,” Mr. Donovan said.
“At no time did I know that anyone might have been trying to funnel illegal
contributions to my campaign. No one ever made a deal with me as a quid pro
quo."
Mr. Donovan, who as Speaker of the state House steers bills
though the legislative process, said he was unaware of the bill, which would
have raised $3.4 million a year from about 15 roll-your-own cigarette machines
in the state. The campaign contribution accepted by Mr. Donovan’s fired
campaign finance chairmen was supposed to have resulted in the bill’s dismissal,
ultimately a casualty of an end of session legislative pile-up.
Reading from a statement that possibly passed under the nose of his criminal defense attorney, Mr. Donovan said of the bill during his
sidewalk interview, “I did not know about it at any point during the
legislative session." At the same time, Mr. Donovan adamantly refused – on
advice of counsel? – to discuss the corruption investigation that led to the
arrest of his campaign finance director, giving Mr. Greenberg an opportunity to
launch the standard rejoinder:
"By refusing to discuss the corruption investigation
into his campaign, Chris Donovan raised more questions than he answered. Two days ago, I called on Chris Donovan to
resign as Speaker and suspend his campaign for Congress and I continue to
maintain that he should step down.
Donovan either knew or should have known that this illegal activity was
occurring in his campaign. Whether this is a gross violation of the public
trust or gross mismanagement, the people of Connecticut deserve better."
Mr. Greenberg was not alone in calling upon Mr. Donovan to
resign as Speaker. In a Sunday editorial, the Hartford Courant reminded everyone
that it had called upon Mr. Donovan to resign his position as Speaker when he
had opened his 5th District campaign: “Mr. Donovan should have
stepped down as speaker the minute his campaign for Congress began in order to
avoid the inevitable conflicts of interest or appearances of conflict that this
fund-raising scandal has brought to the fore.”
The score so far? Mr. Donovan is not stepping down as
Speaker; he has temporarily shifted the responsibilities of his office to his
handpicked successor, Brendan Sharkey. Mr. Donovan will not in future talk
about the corruption issue under litigation; and he is soldiering on in his bid
for the U.S. Congress.
That’s three strikes.
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