A Superior Court judge will conduct an evidentiary hearing this week that could determine if the State Elections Enforcement Commission can investigate whether the Connecticut Democratic Party illegally supported Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s re-election with contributions from state contractors.
State Elections Enforcement Commission
Posted inPolitics
CT Democrats seek new ruling to resolve Malloy campaign investigation
The Connecticut Democratic Party has asked a Superior Court judge to make a declaratory ruling that federal election law pre-empts the State Elections Enforcement Commission from deciding whether the party illegally financed some of its support for the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy campaign investigation lands in ‘an ugly place’
Open warfare erupted Thursday between the State Elections Enforcement Commission and the Democratic Party over an investigation into how the party financed its support for the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Democrats preemptively attacked the commission’s credibility as the panel voted to seek court action to enforce an investigative subpoena.
Posted inPolitics
Irony not dead in this CT campaign finance fight
The Democratic Party is using federal campaign finance reforms co-sponsored by former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, a Republican, to challenge a subpoena issued by state elections officials investigating a GOP complaint about the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Shays says the Democrats are exploiting an unintended consequence of his reforms: federal preemption.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy appointee seeks greater say over watchdogs
An appointee of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy asked legislators Friday to help her exercise greater administrative control over the state’s watchdog agencies, including one investigating the governor’s campaign finances.
Posted inPolitics
A struggle for high ground on campaign reform in CT
The General Assembly’s Republican minority moved Thursday to shape the debate on Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns, demanding that Democrats close loopholes undermining the state’s clean-elections law. The GOP offers itself as the savior of a system whose creation was opposed by most Republicans.
Posted inPolitics
Can Connecticut’s campaign finance reforms be saved?
Reform it. Leave it alone. Blow it up. Prescriptions for fixing Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns vary wildly. Its tight limits on contributions and spending turned porous in 2014, tarnishing what had been a shiny instrument of campaign finance reform.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Courts, legislature, watchdogs will tighten belts to reduce CT’s deficit
The state’s Judicial and Legislative branches have ordered nearly $7 million in spending cuts Gov. Dannel P. Malloy requested last month, relying heavily on hiring restrictions to reduce costs. And the state’s watchdog agencies also have agreed to find the 1 percent cuts Malloy asked for to help close a small mid-year deficit.
Posted inPolitics
Judge dismisses GOP effort to block Democrats’ use of federal funds for Malloy campaign
A Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the state Republican Party and designed to block Connecticut Democrats from using federal campaign funds to support Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s re-election bid.
Posted inPolitics
Elections Commission slams Democrats over campaign finance plan
In unusually blunt language, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is asking the Federal Election Commission to prevent the state Democratic Party from using funds from a federal campaign finance account to pay for a mailing supporting the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The commission says the party is trying to “circumvent” state laws.
Posted inPolitics
Independent super PAC opposing Malloy has ties to Foley
Grow Connecticut, as independent expenditure group buying air time to oppose the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, was created last year by the campaign-finance law firm of Tom Foley, the Republican nominee for governor, after Foley’s ties to another super PAC were exposed by an elections enforcement case.
Posted inPolitics
DGA creates CT affiliate, hires Obama team to help Malloy
The Democratic Governors Association has established its long-anticipated beachhead in Connecticut, hiring elements of President Obama’s re-election team through a week-old independent expenditure group, Connecticut Forward.
Posted inPolitics
Democrats say Foley’s campaign finances just don’t add up
An elections complaint filed by the Connecticut Democratic Party claims that the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Foley failed to report major expenses in June, such as staff salaries and the cost of producing the commercial that began airing Monday.
Posted inPolitics
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.
Posted inPolitics
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.
