Conley responds to mileage dispute
Report last week detailed payments Groton lawmaker got
Groton — When Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, broke her leg and was getting to the state Capitol through carpooling and taking Uber rides, she wasn’t breaking any rules by accepting a mileage allowance for trips on which she didn’t drive.
But some are now criticizing her for taking advantage of what they view as a loophole, and questioning why the law specifies a mileage allowance rather than a mileage reimbursement. Others see no issue with Conley taking advantage of work benefits.
The Connecticut General Statutes say that an “allowance shall be paid for each mile on each day” that a member or member-elect of the General Assembly is required to travel to the Capitol for session, a committee meeting or a public hearing.
The issue came up after investigative reporter Jon Lender published an article on the Hartford Courant’s website Friday morning, which detailed mileage payments Conley — who is running for re-election to the 40th District seat — received.
The Courant got the information from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Herbst, who had placed a Freedom of Information request with the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Management. Herbst then forwarded the response to The Day.
In April 2017, a month when Conley acknowledges she wasn’t driving, she logged seven round-trip visits to the Capitol and received $411.95, according to the records.
The state rate last year was 53.5 cents per mile, the same as the fed-
eral rate the Internal Revenue Service set.
Differing views on law
Conley said that while leaving the Workers’ Compensation Commission on Thursday, March 16, 2017, she fell on black ice, got her foot stuck on the curb and sustained a pilon fracture in her right leg. Surgeries followed on March 17 and 24. On March 29, she posted on Facebook a picture of herself in a wheelchair with the comment, “Back in action at the Capitol for a Judiciary Committee meeting. No one tell my doctor as I’m still supposed to be resting.”
For the first couple weeks, Conley said her husband drove her to Hartford. As she could use a scooter and crutches, she started taking Uber rides and carpooling with the other state representative who lives in Groton, Joe de la Cruz.
Conley told The Day she does not recall exactly when she started driving again but that it was probably at some point in late May or early June.
In May, Conley logged 14 trips and got paid $823.90, while de la Cruz logged 12 trips and got paid $671.53. Conley said that her committees meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while de la Cruz’s committees meet Tuesday and Thursday.
Office of Legislative Management Executive Director Jim Tamburro said that when newly elected legislators are signed up for payroll, they’re asked to fill out a sheet that asks the round-trip mileage from their homes.
For example, Conley’s round-trip mileage is listed at 110, while that figure is 104.6 for de la Cruz.
For each month, legislators can submit mileage by logging into the computer system and checking off why they were at the Capitol. Tamburro said there are five reasons, such as committee meeting and session day.
The law on the transportation allowance for General Assembly members was enacted in 1949.
“I would say the vast majority do get their allowance,” Tamburro said, noting that legislators can opt out of mileage payments.
“If the rules change, I’m happy to follow whatever new rule it is, but we should be careful,” Conley said. Citing Uber rides, the legislator said she would be entitled to a lot more money if the trips were reimbursed instead of part of an allowance.
This past Friday, Conley posted a graphic to her campaign Facebook page that included an X-ray showing all the screws in her leg, and touted her 98 percent voting record despite having two surgeries and spending $3,000 in Uber fees.
John Scott, the Republican candidate running against Conley in the 40th District, said in a news release, “I’m disappointed to hear Representative Conley took advantage of this loophole at a time when our state faces a constant fiscal crisis.”
He later told The Day that if elected, he would “put in a law that would remove the ability for people who are carpooling to be able to put in for mileage and make it very clear that you have to drive your own vehicle to be eligible for mileage reimbursement.” Scott would also like to make it so “you can’t use mileage money to pad your pension.”
Seeking records
So how did all of this come about?
Scott said requesting the mileage allowances was a “hunch” based on a conversation he had with Conley at an event for Fairview in September.
He said Conley was talking about the parking spot she got when recovering from her injury, and that it made him “think about the way legislators put in for mileage.”
Scott asked James Nault, chairman of the Groton Republican Town Committee, to submit a Freedom of Information request, which Nault did with the Connecticut House Democrats on Sept. 17.
Nault received confirmation of the receipt of his request on Sept. 20 and followed up on Oct. 11, but he said he never received the documents.
The caucus counsel for the House Democrats did not respond to requests for comment on Monday and Tuesday as to why the request was not fulfilled.
The Groton Republicans turned to Herbst, who had made FOI requests related to mileage records in the past, and when he was running for governor decried the inclusion of mileage reimbursements in pension calculations.
Herbst emailed Tamburro the request for the mileage reimbursement records of Conley and de la Cruz on Oct. 20, and received the records on Oct. 24.