The Institute for Justice had bold aspirations for the Kelo v. New London case.

Before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the Institute had been battling in state courts from Ohio to Connecticut to prevent governments from using their eminent domain powers to promote economic development. Kelo gave its attorneys the chance to secure a broad federal ruling that would restrain the ability of government to take private property.

Such a ruling would have upset 50 years of precedent, however, and the court declined Thursday to impose the sort of straitjacket the Institute was seeking. But the decision still does not cripple conservative property-rights watchdogs such as the Institute for Justice and the Pacific Legal Foundation, for whom a Supreme Court victory was the ultimate prize.

It simply sends their fight back to the states.

Although the Supreme Court said Thursday that governments can use their condemnation power to foster private development, state courts can invoke their own constitutions to narrow the scope of eminent domain, as the Michigan Supreme Court did this spring. State legislatures can also modify their laws to strengthen the rights of property owners.

“We emphasize that nothing in our opinion precludes any state from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. “Indeed, many states already impose public use requirements that are stricter than the federal baseline.”

Utah became the first state to do this when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed Senate Bill No. 184 into law this March. The law forbids redevelopment agencies from using eminent domain for projects such as sports arenas, and it places a one-year moratorium on blight condemnations to give the legislature time to decide how badly a property has to deteriorate before the government has the right to seize it.

State Sen. Curtis Bramble, the Republican who introduced the legislation, said support gelled after the city of Ogden tried to take three houses that were standing in the way of a Wal-Mart.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell made a tightly scripted, highly anticipated appearance before a legislative committee Wednesday to urge passage of ethics and campaign finance reforms.

Connecticut governors rarely appear before legislative committees, but Rell's testimony was calculated to generate momentum for what she hopes will be the signal achievement of her first year as chief executive.

Rell, who became governor in July after an impeachment inquiry and federal corruption investigation forced the resignation of John G. Rowland, told lawmakers they must embrace reform in 2005.

"I can tell you the public is ready for change. The public is demanding that we give them confidence again in their state government," Rell said. "You never thought you would be responsible for that, but you truly are."

The Republican governor and the Democratic legislature agree on the broad goal of getting special-interest money out of Connecticut politics. Their approaches are different, and both sides maneuvered for advantage Wednesday.

Rell has proposed a half-dozen bills, including a ban on campaign contributions from state contractors and lobbyists, lower limits on other contributions, restrictions on political action committees, new state contracting rules and a restructured ethics commission.

Democratic legislative leaders favor the public financing of campaigns as the only sure way to limit the influence of special interests. Rell is opposed to public financing, though in remarks to reporters she signaled a willingness to compromise.

"My position hasn't changed," she said, "but I've also been around this building long enough to know that you never know how a bill's packaged and whether it includes other provisions that I may support - whether the language is changed to, perhaps, say something like a pilot program."

[Please read the rest of this article in the archives at the Hartford COURANT website]

HARTFORD -- State officials yesterday testified on proposals aimed at tightening state and municipal ethics standards in the wake of the scandal that drove former Gov. John Rowland from office.

The Government Administration and Elections Committee held hearings on reforms proposed by Democrats that include establishing a system of public campaign financing and imposing state ethics standards for public officials in cities and towns.

"The people of Connecticut are watching," said Lt. Gov. Kevin Sullivan, a Democrat. "They want to know there will be real consequences for public officials or public employees who breach their duty of faithful public service."

The Democrats bills are similar to one by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Rell's proposals will be aired Monday, and she is expected to testify before the committee Wednesday.

Ranking Republican committee member, state Rep. Livvy Floren of Greenwich, said some of the suggestions brought out at yesterday's hearing deserve a closer look. One was the suggestion from state Comptroller Nancy Wyman that protections for an innocent spouse or dependents be built into a bill that would strip the pension of any public employee found guilty of a crime related to abusing his or her public service.

Floren also wants to take a look at a public campaign funding model used in Nebraska that Sullivan raised. The Nebraska law has politicians agree in advance to limits on their campaign spending raised from private sources. If the limits are broken, then public money is released to an opponent's campaign to level the playing field.

• S.B. No. 939 SEN. DELUCA, 32nd DIST.; REP. WARD, 86th DIST. 'AN ACT CONCERNING CODES OF ETHICS', to implement the Governor's budget recommendations.

 
• S.B. No. 940 SEN. DELUCA, 32nd DIST.; REP. WARD, 86th DIST. 'AN ACT CONCERNING THE CITIZENS' ETHICS AND GOVERNMENT INTEGRITY COMMISSION', to implement the Governor's budget recommendations.

 
• S.B. No. 941 SEN. DELUCA, 32nd DIST.; REP. WARD, 86th DIST. 'AN ACT CONCERNING ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR STATE CONTRACTING', to implement the Governor's budget recommendations.

 
• S.B. No. 942 SEN. DELUCA, 32nd DIST.; REP. WARD, 86th DIST. 'AN ACT CONCERNING A STATE CONTRACTING STANDARDS BOARD', to implement the Governor's budget recommendations.

 
• S.B. No. 943 SEN. DELUCA, 32nd DIST.; REP. WARD, 86th DIST. 'AN ACT CONCERNING CAMPAIGN FINANCE', to implement the Governor's budget recommendations.

Rell: Ethics Panel `An Embarrassment' - Democrats Call For Overhaul After New Tape Revelations
September 18, 2004
By JON LENDER, Courant Staff Writer

Attempts by the State Ethics Commission to evade its public-disclosure duty under the freedom of information law drew strong criticism from Gov. M. Jodi Rell Friday and a call from the state's Democratic chairman for a "major overhaul of that misguided agency."

"I think they're an embarrassment to themselves and to the state of Connecticut," Rell said.

"Today's revelation that the State Ethics Commission sought to circumvent FOI laws adds one more reason for a long-overdue overhaul of that misguided agency," state Democratic Party Chairman George Jepsen said.

Both were referring to a Courant story Friday that revealed the contents of a tape-recorded February teleconference in which ethics panel members - unaware that they were being recorded by a commission clerk - talked openly of how to use the state FOI law to keep information from the public.

"Are we sure that no one else is in on this public meeting?" commission Chairwoman Rosemary Giuliano asked at one point on the tape. As fellow members laughed, Giuliano wondered if TV viewers "will hear my voice on Channel 3 tonight."

She was unavailable for comment Friday night.

On July 1, I stood on the north steps of the state Capitol and took the oath of office to become Connecticut's 87th governor.

That day, I made a pledge to restore faith, trust and integrity to our state government. Those were not just words on a piece of paper. I made that promise because it is what is in my heart.

I want Connecticut to be the national model of integrity in government. I want our contracting procedures to be the most bulletproof in the country. My goal is for other states to point to Connecticut and say, "That's the way we should be doing it."

Even the most aggressive and far-reaching policies, however, cannot always prevent the worst of human behaviors. But we can put systems in place, with appropriate checks and balances and internal oversight, to ensure integrity in the way the state conducts its business.

That is why six weeks ago I established the Governor's Task Force on Contracting Reform. I charged the task force with reviewing and recommending improvements in the procedures used by state government to purchase goods and services.

The task force members put in long hours reviewing documents and state statutes and listening to testimony. Last week, I received their report, which contains 133 recommendations. Each of the recommendations has a common goal: to ensure that one dollar in value is received for every dollar we spend of the taxpayers' money - and that each and every dollar the state spends is done with scrutiny and with accountability.

The state spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on goods and services. The scope of state purchasing includes the awarding of contracts for construction, leases, personal services, property management and equipment.

The problem is that state purchasing procedures are inconsistent, the training of personnel varies by state agency and not all selection processes are conducted in the open. We have dozens of state agencies - and if two are conducting business the exact same way, it's probably by accident.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who took office pledging to make ethics her top priority, has boosted the State Ethics Commission's budget by about $200,000 - roughly 20 percent - allowing the agency to hire two more employees and upgrade its computers.

"It is not enough simply to talk about ethics reform," Rell said Thursday. "These funds will provide the ethics commission with the tangible tools it needs to do its job properly."

Rell was responding to a request from the commission's executive director, Alan Plofsky, for help meeting an expanded workload. One reason for the extra work: On her first day in office, Rell ordered all state employees involved in the awarding of state contracts to file statements of their financial interests with the commission to prevent conflicts of interest.

State contracts have come under intense scrutiny as part of a federal criminal investigation that started during the administration of former Gov. John G. Rowland. Rowland's former deputy chief of staff, Lawrence Alibozek, pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges in what federal prosecutors called a conspiracy to steer state contracts. The FBI has been investigating contracts awarded to Tomasso Brothers Inc., a New Britain-based contractor that built a juvenile prison in Middletown, among other projects. Rowland resigned, effective July 1, in the midst of an impeachment inquiry into his own ethics lapses.

A top Interior Department official responsible for granting federal recognition to the Kent-based Schaghticoke Tribal Nation has abruptly resigned.

But the pending Sept. 10 departure of Aurene Martin is unrelated to any recognition decisions or other problems at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, spokesman Dan Dubray said.

"I don't think there is anything at all to that," DuBray said. Martin, who was in charge of recognition decisions, was on vacation Friday. The department would not release her resignation letter.

On Friday, a website that closely follows tribal issues, Indianz.com, described the departure of Martin and other aides as a possible housecleaning of employees not loyal to BIA Director David Anderson.

Dubray said this was false. The Indianz.com report "names me as someone who was pushed out," said Dubray, who was recently promoted to a new communications job. "That makes it absurd on its face."

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer,  4:29 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Golden Hill Paugussetts' plans for a Connecticut casino and thousands of acres of land claims were dealt a major setback Monday, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected their bid for federal recognition for a second time.

The Paugussetts have been struggling to gain recognition since 1982. They were rejected by the BIA in 1996, but got a second chance when the Interior Board of Indian Appeals reviewed the decision and sent it back to the BIA for reconsideration, launching a second full review of the petition.

"The Golden Hill Paugussett have failed at every step in the process - despite numerous opportunities - to prove its case," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.  "The group does not descend from a historical Indian tribe, it has not continuously existed as a distinct community, and it has not continuously exercised political authority or influence over its members."

In order to become recognized a tribe must satisfy seven criteria, proving it has been active as a community and a political unit, and that the members descended directly from a historical Indian tribe.  The Paugussetts are recognized by the state and have about 330 members and reservation land in Trumbull and Colchester. Messages seeking comment were left Monday with Paugussett Chief Quiet Hawk.

In the past 15 years the Paugussetts filed claims on more than 700,000 acres of land, setting off a flurry of legal challenges. And in 1993, then-tribal leader Moonface Bear, also known as Kenneth Piper, was the central figure in 10-week armed standoff between state police and the tribe, for selling untaxed cigarettes on its Colchester reservation.

"The recognition process is no longer seeking to right a wrong - the exploitation of Native Americans on this continent by the early settlers. It is now about a                    multibillion-dollar industry called gambling," say members of the Coggswell family in documents filed recently with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The                    Coggswells are Schaghticokes whose lineage dates to the origins of the tribe in western and southern Connecticut.

In their appeal challenging the Bureau of Indian Affairs' ruling on the Kent-based Schaghticokes, the Coggswells argue that the process "has provided another way for
non-Indians who are predominately businessmen [and] women to capitalize and control a benefit that was initially intended for Indians."  Schaghticoke Tribal Nation leaders did not return calls requesting comment.

This relationship among investors, lobbyists and Indian tribes, frequently shrouded in secrecy, has attracted the attention of Congress and Interior Department           investigators. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Government Reform will examine the BIA decisions to recognize the Schaghticokes and another Connecticut
tribe, the Eastern Pequots. Meanwhile, the Interior Department's inspector general is continuing a probe into the Schaghticoke ruling and a controversial BIA memorandum that outlined a strategy for skirting rules in order to grant the tribe recognition.

The state of Connecticut, fearing more casinos, has appealed the Eastern Pequot ruling. The state's appeal of the Schaghticoke decision is expected to be filed Wednesday, the same day as the Washington hearing.  The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation has sought federal recognition for decades. But since the mid-1990s - when Subway Restaurants founder Fred DeLuca and a secretive partnership in Middletown called the Eastlander Group started backing the tribe - questions have multiplied about the investors' influence over the tribe and how they stand to gain from a casino the tribe hopes to build.