Two members of the State Elections Enforcement Commission have expressed dismay at a Democrat-proposed budget-implementation bill that they said would emasculate the agency by imposing changes such as decreasing the length of commission members' terms from the present five years down to three years - and, significantly, barring members from being reappointed.
The bill was being debated in the House early Tuesday evening.
The bill's proposed changes to the elections agency would give much more influence to the permanent, paid staff -- because the laws that the SEEC administers are so complicated that a citizen commission member would have just learned them by the time he or she has to leave the agency permanently, said one of the two commission members protesting the proposal, Anthony Castagno.
That would destroy the independence of the "watchdog" agency - which, along with other government watchdog units including the Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board and the Freedom of Information Commission, would be absorbed into a "super agency" called the Office of Government Accountability.
That "super agency" would have a governor's appointee heading its staff under the proposal. Now the protest by Castagno, and a separate letter written Tuesday by election enforcement commission chairman Stephen Cashman, express a fear that the permanent staff at the new "super agency" will inherit more power over the watchdogs than the Democratic administration and legislative majority have first let on.
The Malloy administration has insisted that the independent decision-making of the elections enforcement commission and other "watchdogs" will not be impaired by the proposal to merge "back-office" functions to save taxpayer money under the new "super agency' structure. But lately, advocates for the watchdog agencies - such as the FOIC and now the elections commission - have been making major pronouncements disputing that any money will be saved or useful purpose served.
Below are the two protests, first the one from Castagno and next from Cashman.
Castagno, a Democrat, fired off an e-mail Monday to Democratic House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, who appointed him to the position. There's been no response yet from Donovan. Here it is:
As you know from my email a few weeks ago, I am disappointed that the legislature - and particularly legislative leadership - are using the state's budget problems as justification for gutting the SEEC. Ken wrote me back (as did the two "local" legislators I contacted) assuring me that changes had been made and that the SEEC would remain intact as a strong, independent "watchdog" agency.