Republican Senate Minority Leader John McKinney
called upon Democratic Speaker of the House Chris Donovan to relinquish his
position as Speaker following the arrest of his former finance chairman, Robert
Braddock, for having concealed the identity of a donor, likely an FBI plant,
who wanted to kill tax legislation on “roll your own” cigarette businesses in
Connecticut.
Pointing to an affidavit used to secure the arrest of Mr.
Braddock, Mr. Kinney said, “The facts and allegations in the affidavit are a
grave violation of the public trust and cast a pall on all of the legislative
activities Speaker Donovan has participated in since announcing his run for the
U.S. Congress in the 5th District,” a fairly damning assessment.
For his part, Mr. Donovan temporarily turned over the
usufructs of his office to colleague Brendan Sharkey, who is expected to be
appointed Speaker after Mr. Donovan’s term ends, and he has refused a call from
one of his Democratic primary opponents, Dan Roberti, to step down as Speaker.
After an exhilarating union rally in Hartford, Mr. Donovan pledged to carry
forward his congressional campaign. Mr. Donovan’s defiance puts one in mind of
former President Richard Nixon’s remark, even as Watergate was rising to his
knees, that he was “not a crook.”
Two other Democratic congressional contenders vying for
Senator Joe Lieberman’s soon to be vacant seat, former Secretary of State Susan
Bysiewicz and present U.S. Representative Chris Murphy, have made precious few
comments concerning the arrest of Mr. Braddock and the possible political
repercussions on Mr. Donovan’s bid for Mr. Murphy’s current seat. Mr. Donovan
has refused, on the advice of his criminal lawyer, to answer any media
questions that touch on Speakergate.
Governor Dannel Malloy nodded off after having called upon
Mr. Donovan to make himself available for media interrogations; even God
sometimes sleeps, thank God.
Mr. Malloy’s chief concern is to ensure the passage of the
“roll your own” tax. After passing the tax increase to end all tax increases at
the beginning of his term, the state budget – never in balance – once again is
wading into the red, and more taxes are necessary to satisfy the ravenous
appetite of the governor, the Democratic majority in the General Assembly and
Mr. Malloy’s Malloyalists. Ben Barnes, the governor’s Office of Policy
Management (OPM) chief, grows leaner and hungrier every day. The administration
is depending upon Donovan factotum Brendan Sharkey, the Speaker’s handpicked
replacement, to speed the plow during the upcoming special session, and he will
not disappoint. Come Hell, high water or FBI investigations, Mr. Malloy will
have his tax.
This is is not the first time the FBI had inflicted a sting
operation on a member of the General Assembly. Only five years ago, Senator Lou
DeLuca was forced to surrender his position in the General Assembly as leader
of state Republicans after much ado about something was made concerning a
domestic problem. While the Donovan mess has yet to mature, a comparison with
the FBI sting operation that ensnared Mr. DeLuca is instructive.
An FBI agent, posing
as a thug working for mob connected trash magnate James Galante, offered to
“take care” of Mr. DeLuca’s son in law; in mob-speak, “take care of” and “bump
off” are considered equivalent locutions.
A Courant report at the time tells us: “On June 4, 2007, Senator DeLuca
pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor threatening charge, received a suspended
sentence, and was ordered to pay a fine. On June 12, 2007, DeLuca announced he
would step down as leader of the Senate Republicans and was replaced by 28th
District Senator John McKinney, son of late Congressman Stewart McKinney.”
Early in the DeLuca affair, Executive Director of the Connecticut
Citizen Action Group (CCAG) Tom Swam urged the Senate to investigate Mr. DeLuca
“to dispel public doubts and suspicions, according to a report in the Waterbury
Republican American published on CCAG’s internet site.
Mr. Swan, recently chosen by Mr. Donovan to replace his fired campaign
director, had sensed a fatal hesitancy in the General Assembly: “I think there
is a hesitancy to act." Mr. Swan
wrote Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr. and Senate Minority Leader John
McKinney asking them to appoint a bipartisan committee to look into the DeLuca
affair.
Although Mr. DeLuca was yet under investigation by the FBI,
the General Assembly began a hearing to nudge Mr. DeLuca from the Senate. The
co-chairmen of the investigating committee were senators Martin Looney, now a
Democratic Majority Leader, and Andrew
Roraback, now the Republican Party nominee for the 5t5h District i8n the U.S.
Congress. Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, tail spinning at the time into a
full throated condemnation mode, made it plain that one of the purposes of the
hearing would be to force the resignation of Mr. DeLuca:
“Because of Senator DeLuca’s unwillingness to do the right
thing, Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams and Senate Minority Leader John
McKinney had no choice but to call for the formation of this committee. I
applaud both Sen. Williams and McKinney for creating a bi-partisan process for
dealing with misconduct of its members.
“It’s unfortunate that Sen. DeLuca is making a bad situation
worse by not resigning now. His actions will hit taxpayers in the wallet and
further erode public trust in government officials, just as the state is
preparing for municipal elections. DeLuca’s actions only increase the distrust
and disgust many people have for their government and that results in, among
other things, low voter turnout.”
Then Representative Edith Prague added her voice and
prestige to the crowd insistantly calling for the resignation of Mr. DeLuca. This writer was among the first columnists to
call for Mr. DeLuca’s resignation. The integrity of the Senate was the chief concern of the now retired Mrs. Prague.
Mr. DeLuca, she insisted, should be questioned on oath by the Senate investigating
committee to insure, under threat of perjury, that the senator would tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth concerning his domestic
affairs. The six member investigating committee, Mrs. Prague stressed, had been
too patient with Mr. DeLuca:
“His resignation is absolutely required to maintain the
integrity of the Senate. His testimony -- arguing whether it should be under
oath or not under oath -- was absolutely outrageous. There should have been no
question that his testimony and the questions and answers should be under oath.
I was very upset watching that hearing, thinking what a mockery of the Senate
and the bipartisan committee it was. ... I feel the committee is not being
tough. Would he have that option in court? I don't think so. That man should
resign from the Senate, and if he doesn't resign, we should expel him. If they
don't vote to expel him, I will vote `no' on reprimand or censure.''
One cannot help but ask “Where is the sense of urgency in
the Speakergate controversy?” Naturally, one would not expect a sense of
urgency from Mr. Swan, who now finds himself on the staff of his old friend Mr.
Donovan, but what of the other players in the General Assembly? Why has no one
called for a hearing to investigate the corrupt and illegal activity swirling about
the Speaker of the House?
Mrs. Prague’s strong moral voice is lost to the House now
that she is no longer a member, but many of the other government officials who
counseled Mr. DeLuca to leave office so that the honor of the General Assembly
might be preserved are still walking the hallowed halls of the Capitol or
running for re-election.
Is no one disturbed that a flaccid response from Democratic
leaders in the General Assembly has anesthetized the moral outrage
that should arise when a Speaker of the House is forced by an FBI inquiry to
fire his arrested finance director, as well as aides identified in an affidavit
as co-conspirators in a plot that besmirches the honor of the institution
served by those who in the past rightly proceeded to call for a legislative
hearing in a previous FBI investigation against Mr. DeLuca?
To be sure, it is important not to jump the gun. Mr. Donovan
has not been advised that he is a target of an FBI investigation, the trip wire
that did in the DeLuca case and should in very similar cases arouse the enmity
of legislators concerned with the honor of the General Assembly.
Mr. McKinney has done well to call upon Mr. Donovan to
surrender his position as Speaker. Others also have done so. Why has this seed
fallen on such morally exhausted and parched ground?
While the FBI investigation is still in its larval stage, it
is not too soon to demand that Mr. Donovan should leave his post as Speaker.
Should Mr. Donovan decline to do so, the General Assembly is not without sanctions.
The House especially might open a hearing so that members of the General
Assembly may put questions to Mr. Donovan under oath – for precisely the reasons
stated by Mrs. Prague. If under these circumstances Mr. Donavan’s lawyers
advise him to avoid answering questions that may impact upon a possible
criminal proceeding, he can avail himself of his Fifth Amendment right to
decline to answer such questions on the grounds that any answer may incriminate
him. For reasons that remain obscure, Mr. Donovan’s staff have brought dishonor
upon every legislator in the General Assembly. The state legislature has a
moral and institutional obligation to defend its own honor, and that defense,
as was shown in the DeLuca case, need not wait upon the completion of the FBI’s
case.
Comments