Robert M. Ward, Gov. M. Jodi Rell's former commissioner at the Department of Motor Vehicles, said Thursday night that he issued dozens of special low-number license plates to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, her family, and political loyalists late last year at the request of Rell's then-chief of staff, Lisa Moody. He said his action was in keeping with state statutes and long tradition.
Ward, now one of the state's two chief auditors, said in a phone interview that a state statute says the low-number plates "are to be issued at the discretion of the [DMV] commissioner. ... It was through the governor's office; they requested a number of them toward the end of their term, and I issued them at their request."
Additional comments by Ward and other new information -- including the fact that one of the recipients of the special plates was told Thursday she was being fired from her high-paying state job -- are included in this Courant story.