Republican campaigns paid Florida mail house under FBI scrutiny more than $500,000 since 2008

by Zachary Janowski | Feb 20, 2014 | Features, General, Politics

Republican candidates in Connecticut have paid more than half a million dollars to the Florida-based mail house receiving federal scrutiny, according to State Elections Enforcement Commission records. Kevin Rennie and the Hartford Courant first reported the...

Meyer Totes Grocery Bag Ban

by Andrew Parrish | Feb 14, 2014 | General

As a senior state senator in your last term one would think that the end of your career would be spent attempting to have an impact on mitigating the plethora of financial problems facing your state including massive unfunded pension liabilities, rising education...

State auditors send General Assembly their wish lists

by Zachary Janowski | Feb 13, 2014 | Ethics, Features, General, State Budget, Taxes & Spending

State auditors recently asked the General Assembly to fund five new positions for a specialized type of audit and make legislative changes to improve the integrity of state finances and operations. Last year, the Auditors of Public Accounts conducted 43 audits and...

Ability to transfer money between party accounts makes contractor ban meaningless

by Zachary Janowski | Feb 11, 2014 | Features, General, Politics, Video

Federal and state laws allow state party committees to transfer money between their federal and state accounts – using the national party committee as an intermediary – rendering the state contractor ban meaningless at the party level. State contractors cannot donate...

No strong link between funding and use at Connecticut libraries

by Zachary Janowski | Feb 10, 2014 | Features, General, Municipal, State Budget, Taxes & Spending

Cities and towns across Connecticut spend a wide range of taxpayer money to support local libraries, from Greenwich’s nearly $9 million to Norfolk’s $1,000. Despite Norfolk’s small investment, it leads the state in visits per resident, according to 2012 data compiled...

With most legislators serving as ‘leaders’ salaries average $31,000 in House, $33,500 in Senate

by Zachary Janowski | Feb 4, 2014 | Features, General, Politics, State Budget

Members of the Connecticut General Assembly earn $28,000 a year by statute, but more than half of them have leadership titles raising average salaries in the House by $3,000 and in the Senate by nearly $5,500. None of the 36 senators get paid the base salary. Chairmen...