Today, a complaint was filed against Speaker of the House Chris Donovan of Meriden  and his reelection committee with the State Elections Enforcement Committee about the use of taxpayer financed campaign funds and their appropriate use.

Immediately, the Speaker’s office denounced the complaint saying the whole matter is being tended to behind the scenes with the Elections Commission. The complaint is simple and based on evidence supplied by the Speaker’s own campaign filing in January of this year. In it, the committee reports various expenditures for personal services and expenses a reasonable  person would conclude were not applicable to the law.

The campaign laws prohibit post-election spending on items that not specifically campaigns related or seen as a “winding down” cost. That could include leasing payments or 30-day billing cycles. It was disclosed through conversation the CT GOP has had with the Elections Enforcement office that the Speaker and his treasurer, Mildred Torres-Ferguson, had reported some of the irregularities to the commission late last year when they discovered the unauthorized spending by a relative of a campaign staffer.

According to the commission, the Donovan campaign was working to reimburse the state for those unauthorized expenses and had accomplished all the requirements ask of it by the regulators. However, the most recent amended report by the Donovan ’08 committee shows one lump payment by Ms. Torres Ferguson for $1,700 without a breakdown of what it covered. Ms. Torres-Ferguson is the chairwoman of the Meriden Democratic Town Committee and serves as Speaker Donovan’s paid chief-of-staff at the Capitol.

The CT GOP complaint still stands since it covers other expenses we believe require further examination including  $965 to Harty Press on Dec. 3rd, various charges to AMTRAK for train rides to Washington, D.C., and cell phone bill  charges. Donvan, in a press conference, claimed the AMTRAK charges were attributable to un-named person who mad unauthorized expenditures and the printing costs were later credited to the campaign account.

All of this may be true, but the lack of candor and openness by the both the Speaker’s office and the Elections Commission back in December would lead any normal observer to be suspicious. After all, the Speaker is one of the most powerful people in the state and has huge influence over the funding of all agencies.

Why didn’t the Speaker and or the Staten Election Commission issue a statement in December acknowledging the problem and pledging to work it out and make that settlement public?  Instead, negotiations went on between a powerful office and a subordinate state agency. That only breeds suspicion and can give one the impression a deal  was being cut to protect one’s budget.

Other investigations by the State Election Commission continue on without conclusion or public inspection, including those affecting State Sen. Joe Crisco, D-Woodbridge  and State Sen. Tom Gaffey, D-Meriden.  At some point, legislators and the public must demand a more expeditious process. It isn’t fair to those accused and those making the accusations to allow the investigations to go on without end.

To the issue, Speaker Donovan should appreciate that he is held to a higher standard. That means he should have demanded that the SEC acknowledge his actions in December so there could be no confusion as to motive or resolution. Instead, he sowed the seeds of doubt by attempting to resolve an unpleasant situation through the back channels of government where the sun rarely shines.