I was at a film festival in Great Barrington all day yesterday, so I’m a little behind on the Donovan mess. Some stray thoughts.
1. The most interesting question at the moment is: why did the FBI start its investigation? Because they heard something was rotten in the Donovan campaign? Or was it a set of much larger suspicions about the way money moves around in Connecticut? The fact that some of the sting money wound up in a Republican PAC suggests the latter.
2. Speaking of that, there’s a ton of missing information, and most of it is conversations. There’s no way $5K wound up in those PACs without accompanying conversations, probably involving specific legislators or their staff. A typical way that might work:
A go-between like Mr. Soucy approaches a legislator and says: “I got some people who would like to give you some nice donations.” Legislator: “I can’t take it. Give it to this PAC.” This is especially true if the legislator is participating in the state public financing program. The legislator will subsequently make it clear to the PAC where this money came from and that it should be spent for his benefit.
So it will be interesting to know what those conversations were, although nothing I have described above is illegal. In the words of Joe Lieberman: “What has been done legally is sometimes more disturbing than what has been done illegally.”
3. Donovan may not be able to continue for very long even if he is innocent. His ability to raise money is badly crippled, and the press is going to keep poking him on this.
4. The fact that he felt incapable of speaking on his own behalf yesterday is a terrible sign. It was decided either that (a) he would not be able to answer questions in a clear and confident manner because he has an actual need to keep things fuzzy or (b) that he is so unmanned by these developments that he would not be able to meet the public in a state of compusure. Or both.
5. Could Donovan be innocent? He could. A lot of it depends on the style of conversation within his campaign. Donovan probably perked up when he heard about the money coming from Soucy. But he wouldn’t have had any automatic reason to think the money was fishy unless somebody told him. In a lot of campaigns the conversation might go:
Finance director (or campaign manager): Hey, Ray Soucy brought in ten grand yesterday.
Candidate: Really? About time Ray found us something! Anybody I need to thank?
With most campaign contributions, the future consideration you (the candidate) owe the donor is implied rather than openly stated. What makes this a little or maybe a lot different is (a) the “favor” was needed immediately rather than down the road and (b) it was a sting, so Soucy and his FBI contact had every reason to put a quid pro quo right on the table in as many ways as possible.
6. This is a larger discussion, but I regard the arrival of Tom Swan on the scene as the final nail in the coffin of the original vision of CCAG. Its progenitors Ralph Nader and Toby Moffet and its early leaders Marc Caplan and Miles Rapoport envisioned a truly non-partisan, unaffiliated group that would push government on not-necessarily partisan issues like expiration dates for dairy products. Swan, in his time, has made it an auxiliary of the Democratic Party; and his own revolving door approach of diving in and out of campaigns has torn the fig leaf off in a very unattractive way.
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20 Responses to Dono-Donors
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The unholy alliance between non-profits like CCAG, the public sector unions, and the Democratic Party is one of CTs biggest problems. Then there’s the new class of consultant emerging from the government and non-profit sector. The Jack Donaghy lobbyists turned administrative apppointee.
Donovan innocent? Teflon is more likely.
The unholy alliance between non-profits like CCAG, the public sector unions
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Agreed. Let’s go back to the 1950′s; no public sector unions allowed. Public sector unionization involves a built-in conflict of interest to the detriment of the State’s budget and folks who fund it.
It’s instructive that when the wicked Gov. Walker of Wisconsin made union dues discretionary public sector guys are saying no thanks.
We hear not infrequently that both parties are the same, and all pols are self-serving. But, there is a party that is of government, for the government, and by the government, and if we want less in the way of ick we should get a Republican legislature right here in the Nutmeg State.
what? more government?
I have to agree, so far this investigation leaves more questions open than it has answered. It’s also unclear to me why Nassi was dumped even though as far as I can tell he wasn’t implicated. To the extent he wasn’t aware of anything he could have been demoted if they wanted to bring in Swan to lend the campaign a new air of credibility. Nassi has been with Donovan for a while so it seems strange to me.
Another thought was that the investigators should probably dive back into Donovan’s old SEEC reports because if it happened here it’s possible it happened there. Although candidates in the public financing scheme go through audits by SEEC staff so it’s more likely the money would be funneled through the leadership PACs (which are not audited as far as I’m aware). I think it’s also important to consider whether overzealous campaign staff were trying to “play” the donors for the money and Donovan didn’t know.
Finally speaking of things being done legally that are more disturbing than things done illegally, when I took a class at the law school on CT legislative process a class speaker suggested that lobbyists write some of the bills that go through the CT legislature. This seemed perfectly routine to the professionals in the room but I was kind of shocked but when I followed up by asking whether people thought it was proper, it was explained that they rely on the expertise of the lobbyists because sometimes its superior to their own resources and that is okay. Take that for what it’s worth.
The affidavit furnished by the FBI Agent references (in Section #13) “the names that were used by CC-1 and others in December 2010 to make a payment to the Campaign.” That statement suggests the FBI was aware of this type of illegal activity for at least a year before this sting was launched.
Its high time the Feds stepped into that stinking _ _ _ _hole called the State Capitol. Audit everyone that walks in that damn building starting with the Governor.
“…a class speaker suggested that lobbyists write some of the bills that go through the CT legislature. This seemed perfectly routine to the professionals in the room but I was kind of shocked but when I followed up by asking whether people thought it was proper, it was explained that they rely on the expertise of the lobbyists because sometimes its superior to their own resources and that is okay.”
Yes of course, The Market knows best — just ask A.L.E.C. — http://truth-out.org/news/item/8933-alecs-top-five-anti-environment-model-laws
“The American Legislative Exchange Council, a “stealth business lobbyist” that helps corporations write state and federal legislation supporting their interests, has taken major heat for backing controversial laws.
“More than a dozen companies — including Coca Cola and Procter & Gamble — have pulled out of the organization over the last month due to ALEC’s support of voter ID requirements and the Stand-Your-Ground law blamed by many for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
“While the controversy around these laws has been widely reported, ALEC’s efforts to help corporate interests cut down climate legislation, renewable energy, and environmental protections are only now being heavily scrutinized. Funded by coal and oil companies, ALEC has made it a priority to stop any changes to the fossil-fueled status quo….”
Thank you Colin. And a couple more thoughts:
1) A standup legislator would immediately propose legislation to return Subpoena Power to state’s attorneys. Keep in mind, this was a takedown performed by the usual guys: the FBI. Rowland, Newton, Deluca, Giordano, Ganim… it’s the FBI that normally does our dirty work because decades ago the legislature stripped subpoena power from state’s attorneys that asked too many questions.
2) I hope we get an understanding of the criteria used by Donovan in determining what legislation moves from committee to the full house agenda… and add to that the criteria used to determine if / why legislation could land on the House agenda without ever coming from a committee. And for good measure, we should know the criteria he uses to distribute his $12,000,000 / year “discretionary funds.” (Remember, it was Amann / Williams / Rell who first admitted the existence of their annual slush funds.)
3) Last, but not least, this guy traded a $120,000/yr job to Amman in exchange for obtaining the Speakership two years earlier than expected. Oh wait… no he didn’t… that was “coincidental.” Sorry for misspeaking!
Colin, I really would like to believe the guy. But he’s also buddies with Tom Gaffey.
We need more funding for tourism and buses!
At his presser, Donovan basically said that the legislation died in committee because it had originated in the Senate. That may be totally reasonable, BUT… now we need to find the introducing Senator AND the DRS legislative liaison who gave it to that Senator. We need to ask them the SOP for this sort of stuff. Why would the Admin choose to go to the Senate, instead of the House, with this request? What does DRS normally do? How do House / Senate normally react to DRS requests? I presume Sullivan has more friendly contacts in the Senate, than the House. But I suspect some useful light could still be shed on this.
Of course, even if Donovan’s explanation makes complete sense and is entirely fair… it may also be that it’s more about plausible deniability that was well-considered long-before any of this came to a head.
This is the case of a swan growing up to be an ugly duckling.
Wonder if this happened to a Republican if Colin would declare that “he could” be innocent. Highly unlikely. What he also ignores is that long-time Democratic union and campaign operative Soucy either must be the unluckiest guy in the world since the first time he tried a quid pro quo, he happened to be dealing with an FBI agent. Of course, the more likely scenario is that he has been pulling this type of stunt for Donovan and other union-hack legislators for years. Let’s hope for the State’s sake, Donovan gets out of the race. He has been majority leader and/or Speaker for years and the city he represents is still an armpit.
Anyone expecting Donovan to hold out his hands and say “Cuff Me” was disappointed.
Business as expected. The investigation isn’t yet over. The results not known.
The real question: How do Esty and Roberti handle this. Roberti can slyly add “I don’t need the money”.
Will Donovan ever come clean
Illegal money flowing the most ever seen
Leftists love the honey
Just follow the money
One party rule the CT Democrat machine
Let’s see…… What rhymes with ALEC? Hmmmm….
Donovan’s the latest union thug at bat
Look at him lie like a leftist fat cat
We’ve caught the fat slob
Cynical’s a Democrat word snob
Let’s hope Chris becomes another has-been cheating stat
I do think it’s really the pits
That this fellow named Todd (such a wit!)
After leaving Ms. Campbell
To Colin’s page ambles…
And spreads even more of his brilliance.
“Cynical’s a Democrat word snob”
Um … what?
I don’t think Todd got my rhyme.
I think you’re right.