A partner at the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin was contracted Tuesday to lead an investigation of the misuse of two state cars by the staff of Gov. Ned Lamont: An SUV that a top aide drove for personal use and a sedan that an unknown staffer or staffers drove at speeds exceeding 100 mph.
The contract calls for a review of “relevant records, including logs, mileage reports,” interviews with “witnesses and the subject(s) of the investigation” and a report detailing findings and recommendations for further action. No cost for the inquiry was disclosed.
Shipman & Goodwin already was on a retainer with the state to manage the production of documents subpoenaed by investigators in an unrelated corruption case involving school construction grants, as well as a federal inquiry into state police ticketing. That original contract was amended to cover the new inquiry.
Morgan P. Rueckert will lead the inquiry, assisted by two other lawyers, charging hourly rates that were redacted in the document provided to The Connecticut Mirror. The costs will be disclosed when the investigation is concluded, said Julia Bergman, the chief spokeswoman for the governor.
Shipman’s contract is with the office of the attorney general.
Using state property for personal purposes can constitute a violation of the state ethics code if the value to the employee exceeds $100, and state agency heads are required to notify the Office of State Ethics if a state agency head has “reasonable cause to believe that a person has violated” the code.
An ethics referral is possible after the Shipman & Goodwin investigation.
At issue is the use of two motor pool cars assigned to the governor’s office: a 2020 Ford Escape that was driven by Jonathan Dach while he was the governor’s chief of staff and a 2019 Ford Fusion used by members of Lamont’s communications office and possibly other staff.
The inquiry was prompted by a story posted on Nov. 24 by Inside Investigator, a news site affiliated with the conservative Yankee Institute. It detailed the use of the two cars, part of a state fleet that can be tracked by telemetry recording routes taken and speeds reached.
