The Connecticut Republican Party has filed an elections complaint claiming illegal coordination between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s re-election campaign and Connecticut Forward, an independent expenditure group recently created by the Democratic Governors Association. It makes a novel argument, but offers no direct evidence.
Republican Governors Association
Judge orders settlement try in DGA campaign case
New Haven – U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall ordered the Democratic Governors Association and the State Elections Enforcement Commission into settlement talks Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the DGA’s claim that the commission overly restricts independent expenditures. Prior to the closed-door negotiations, Hall sharply questioned lawyers for both sides in open court, probing the DGA’s legal standing to challenge a law it is yet to be accused of violating.
GOP sides with state in lawsuit filed by Democratic governors
The state Republican Party intervened Thursday on the side of the state in the Democratic Governors Association’s campaign-finance lawsuit, meaning the GOP will be fighting Democrats in court over the DGA’s challenge to the state’s rules on independent expenditures.
CT donors more generous to GOP governors in 2014
Connecticut donors gave $800,000 to the Republican Governors Association in 2014, money the state GOP hopes will flow back to its campaign to unseat Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a vulnerable first-term Democrat. Donors include an executive of a company promised $115 million in aid by Malloy.
DGA raises $1.4 million in Connecticut, but is outgunned nationally
Connecticut donors, including two recipients of state aid, gave a total of $1.4 million to the Democratic Governors Association in 2013, more than double what was raised here by its Republican counterpart. But nationally, the GOP governors association is far richer.
