Lamont’s ugly tactics draw outrage
Gov. Ned Lamont continues to baffle. He often portrays himself as a leader above grimy politics and then he goes and spoils his pose by acting like a lifelong hack. This month the contrasts were at their sharpest and most disappointing.
At the start of February, Lamont replaced Robert Rinker from the position the former union leader held on the State Contracting Standards Board, or SCSB. Rinker and others like him are essential to the efficient and honest operation of important parts of state government. They operate out of the spotlight — usually — and make sure state officials are abiding by the rules.
Membership on the SCSB requires practical experience, devotion to detail and fearless independence. Rinker was a model member, which means he made Lamont and his administration unhappy by telling the truth. The SCSB has raised issues about contracts for the cost of the State Pier project in New London. The board blocks and infuriates people who want to do it their way. Rinker has been critical to the board’s success.
Rinker received a letter from a Lamont adviser two days before SCSB’s Feb. 9 meeting informing him that he’d been replaced. There was a vacancy Lamont could have filled at the time but chose instead to get rid of a thorn.
Board member Donna Karnes called the move “beyond wrong.” Jean Morningstar, a Democrat appointed to the board by former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said she was “outraged and disgusted” by Lamont’s move, calling it “politically motivated” and “personal.” These are not the descriptions members of the governor’s party hurl at him in public. It is a measure of their respect for Rinker that members put their own positions in jeopardy by making public declarations about Lamont’s ugly tactic.