Citing a culture of corruption, Connecticut Republican legislators called Tuesday for greater transparency and oversight for nonprofit groups seeking state funding — drawing agreement from Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont.
Too many organizations, Republicans said, have received funding because they are ideologically aligned with the Democrats who control both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate.
The state budget passed earlier this year had 289 separate lines that simply listed the groups that received the money and the amount received.
“There are multiple organizations listed twice,” Republicans said in a statement. “Some organizations are either misspelled or have incorrect names. Some of the organizations had little to no information available online.”
Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said the state needs “to close the candy store” and provide better details about the hundreds of groups receiving money.
“They have no problem handing out $5,000 to Jeep Enthusiasts of America,” Harding said, referring to a line in the budget. “They have no problem handing out a quarter million dollars to organizations that aren’t even registered with the state of Connecticut. This is taxpayer money. This is hard-earned money of the people of this state. Someone has to get a grip on this.”
Federal nonprofit probe examines millions of dollars in grants to CT state senator’s friend
Lamont responded that two of his top staff members, economic development czar Daniel O’Keefe and general counsel Natalie Braswell, are working on taking similar steps to audit nonprofit grants in state government.
“Natalie and Dan are working on just that very thing — audit all these nonprofits, make sure we know who they are, make sure they go through a normal process,” Lamont said when asked by The Courant outside the state Capitol in Hartford. “I think we’ll have something on that very soon. I think great minds think alike on that one. They’re drilling down on that. We monitor the ones we oversee very closely. I’ve got to get a tighter handle on some of the legislative things that come in at the last moment.”
Lamont added, “Dan [O’Keefe] is doing it over at DECD for the things that he does. If we need legislation, we’ll go for it. I think it’s very important that people have confidence that the money is going where it deserves to go. … I think it’s a good thing to do.”
Lawmakers spoke with concern Tuesday about whether any money was misspent as the FBI is currently investigating nonprofit organizations that received money from the state government. Agents are also investigating if money was redirected from nonprofits to other entities.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, said he is willing to work on improvements to the system.
“It’s hard responding to a one-sided press conference that completely ignores the amount of line-items in any state budget advocated for by members of both political parties,” Ritter said. “That being said, I have publicly acknowledged my concerns with grant recipients turning around and granting funds themselves. As always, I am glad to work on reasonable changes to our grant process with reasonable legislators.”
Senate Democrats did not provide a point-by-point refutation of the Republican plan, but instead said that Republicans should be more concerned about the problems emanating from Washington, D.C.
Bribes allegedly exchanged in a CT restaurant bathroom. Evidence begins in trial of former official
“Connecticut Republicans’ sudden concern about transparency is predictably hypocritical,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff. “They’re silent about the massive actual corruption happening in Washington under Donald Trump. Trump’s border czar getting $50,000 in a paper bag to steer contracts, Trump’s foreign bailout for billionaire donors, Trump’s constant leverage of the government for his own enrichment, and Trump’s administration hiding the Epstein files and considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.”
The amounts included in Public Act No. 25-168 included some groups that are not well known to the general public statewide, including a line item that simply said, “Sports Academy.”
At the same time, the bill included funding for many better-known groups, including New London Little League, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Trust Fund, Boys and Girls Club of New Britain and the Danbury Youth Soccer Club.
Republicans say they have no problem with funding for established nonprofit groups that are known in the community. The problem, they say, is that some less-known groups have not been properly vetted.
“This is corruption on steroids,” said Sen. Rob Sampson, a conservative Republican from Wolcott. “Hundreds of these earmarks are simply written as a name and a dollar amount. No description of purpose. No performance requirements. No deliverables. Just a check.”
The Republican plan calls for more vetting, such as the level done for the State Bond Commission, before any nonprofits receive money from the state budget.
The plan says that any group receiving funds must “submit a written request to the appropriations committee” that includes the amount of funds requested, the intended use of the funds, and a “clear description of the public purpose” of the funds.
“Grant recipients must participate in a public hearing conducted by the Appropriations Committee,” the plan says. “Grant recipients must disclose any convictions of its officers or board members of any financial-related crimes.” In addition, “Grant recipients must submit to random state audits and financial reconciliations to verify that the funds are being used as intended.”
Republicans also charged that Democrats had approved grants for groups that are ideologically aligned with the Democratic Party. But Democrats say that the funding package of $2.88 million that was approved earlier this year was necessary due to cuts at the federal level from President Trump’s administration and a lack of funding for immigrants and refugees, along with LGBTQ+ organizations.
Besides Planned Parenthood, more than 20 organizations received money in supplemental grants because they either serve immigrants and refugees or provide services for the LGBTQ+ community. Three of the largest grants were $387,500 for the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, Inc. and $225,000 each for the New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc.
Refuting Republican arguments, Looney said at the time that the nonprofit entities had been chosen because they were “unfairly targeted” and “whose national government, in effect, has declared war on them.” The funding was an emergency, he said, “because of the hostile attitude of the national government.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com