What happens when transparency is ignored
Last week was fraught for the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont and personally for the governor, whose office announced Wednesday that an investigation had produced evidence a former trusted official had crossed ethical lines.
On the same day, release of documents requested by news organizations including The Day, under Freedom of Information laws, revealed that a federal grand jury is investigating that same official, Konstantinos Diamantis, for activities ranging far beyond what Lamont had investigated. The FBI has requested all electronic communications involving Diamantis starting from Jan. 1, 2018. That includes “(1) the planning, bidding, awarding, and implementation (including the construction process) of school construction projects; (2) the planning, bidding, awarding and implementation of hazardous materials abatement projects; and (3) the Connecticut State Pier infrastructure improvements project.”
This news, which includes far more questions than answers, brings the Diamantis business home. For two years, until he was removed from his job as deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Diamantis had financial oversight of the $235.5 million New London State Pier project being managed by the Connecticut Port Authority. In his other role, director of the state Office of School Construction Grants and Review, he oversaw the New London schools renovation project, budgeted for $160 million in state reimbursement.
Talk about Pandora's box.
Lamont commissioned former Connecticut U.S. Attorney Stanley A. Twardy Jr. in November to look into whether the hiring of the daughter of Konstantinos Diamantis violated state ethics rules. Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo hired Anastasia Diamantis at a time when his office was asking OPM to approve raises for prosecutors. Twardy's investigation found conflicting statements from all three and concerns voiced by others in the state's attorney's office.
Lamont, who had Diamantis removed from the OPM job and suspended with pay from the school construction role before Twardy's investigation, said he would fire Colangelo if he could. The prosecutor's status is in the hands of the Criminal Justice Commission, which is seeking an opinion from the state attorney general because removal of the chief state's attorney has never before been done. Diamantis took retirement instead of suspension.
Wherever the federal investigation leads, a frustrated Lamont has concluded as a result of the Twardy investigation that the Office of State Ethics and the Criminal Justice Commission need to get involved, and that “it is critical that all public officials understand and comply with state ethics.”
The irony there is overwhelming, given that Gov. Ned Lamont tried to defund the State Contract Standards Board before it could dig deeply into the affairs of the Connecticut Port Authority. A bipartisan group of legislators, including the southeastern Connecticut delegation, rescued the funding for the review board, which was established in reaction to the scandals leading to the resignation and conviction of former Gov. John Rowland. On Friday the board condemned the port authority's payment of a “finder's fee” and questioned the legality of its having entered into the development agreement for the State Pier. It asked the legislature to get involved.
Recent administrations have tried hard to squeeze the agencies in state government that were created to keep an eye on things. The former Ethics Commission, which is what the governor and some others still call it, is now the Office of State Ethics, functioning under an umbrella group that Gov. Dan Malloy lumped in with the Freedom of Information Commission and others.
The deepest irony of all, however, is that Ned Lamont has clung ferociously to a model of governance that copies private business in its insistence on working away from the public eye. Transparency could have saved the governor a lot of embarrassment. Instead he has set a poor example, not in his own conduct but by communicating his disdain for open government.
Ethics includes compliance with the law. One of the laws for which Connecticut has been justly proud is its Freedom of Information statute, which provides for a timely response from government in all matters except those expressly excluded, such as student privacy.
If state officials knew that Lamont insisted on transparency as a matter of ethical behavior, even those tempted to go outside the rules might hesitate rather than find themselves suspended or fired by an angry governor. If officials of the port authority had worried about scrutiny from the contract standards board, they might have watched their step.
Even with questions far surpassing answers, it is clear that The Day and other news organizations were right to suspect that the Lamont administration felt it had dirty laundry to hide in connection with the port authority. That the grand jury saw reason to investigate further into activities involving Konstantinos Diamantis confirms solid grounds for their suspicions. The stalling of FOI requests, including some filed by Day columnist David Collins months ago, did neither the public nor the governor any favors. Now, the facts are seeing daylight.