Governor Rell Hails Connecticut’s Top Ranking

for Open Government from ‘Good Jobs First’

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today celebrated Connecticut’s top ranking for government transparency by the public interest group Good Jobs First. The Washington, D.C.-based group rated all 50 states on the amount and accessibility of information about state contracting, economic development funding and lobbying and gave Connecticut the highest marks in the nation.

            “From my first day in office I said I would make honesty, transparency and ethics the hallmark of state government and I am pleased that those efforts are being recognized,” Governor Rell said. “Working together with partners in the rest of the Executive Branch, the Legislature and the Judicial Branch we have made great strides in not only restoring public faith in Connecticut’s state government but increasing it.

            “The steps we have taken in recent years – ethics reforms, clean contracting reforms, campaign finance reforms, single-portal contracting and lobbying reforms – have all had a single focus: what I referred to in my first State of the State speech as ‘fairness over favoritism,’” the Governor said. “I want to eliminate the corrosive perception that money buys access or special treatment. And I want to ensure that taxpayers get the best value for the hard-earned dollars they send to Hartford.”

            In July 2004, Governor Rell’s first action after taking office was to issue Executive Order No. 1, which spelled out a number of ethics reforms that remain in effect. She also formed a State Contracting Task Force, which recommended more than 130 specific actions including the establishment of a Contracting Standards Board to review current procurement laws and consider sanctions against problem contractors. On Monday, Governor Rell held a ceremonial bill signing to celebrate passage of legislation formally creating the Contracting Standards Board, replacing a panel that had been created by Executive Order while legislation was pending in the General Assembly.

            In December 2005, Governor Rell signed the nation’s most comprehensive campaign finance laws, enacting a ban on campaign contributions from lobbyists and state contractors and eliminating “ad books.” The bill also established a voluntary system to publicly fund statewide and legislative campaigns. Although that system does not take effect for statewide races until 2010, Governor Rell’s election campaign in 2006 declined to accept contributions from lobbyists, ad books or anyone who solicited, negotiated, developed or signed a state contract.

            In December 2004, the Governor ordered the Department of Administrative Services to establish a single portal for public contracting, putting all state purchasing in a single location for all to see. Not only is it utilized by all state agencies, numerous municipalities, schools and Boards of Education have also taken advantage of the Internet-based system, which also saves on postage and handling costs related to the previous mail-based notifications. The concept won the 2005 Gold Connecticut Quality Improvement Award.

            The Good Jobs First report gave its highest marks to the currency, number of years of data available and exactitude of the data reported by the Department of Economic and Community Development and Connecticut Development Authority. Lower grades were received on other factors such as the searchability of DECD and CDA data and the detail of projections and outcomes.

            The report gave the DAS contracting database the highest possible marks in every category but one, disclosure of the dollar value of the contract, where it received the second-highest grade.

            In the lobbying section, the Office of State Ethics received the highest possible grade in all but two categories, getting second-highest grades for the range of search options and the ease of the user interface.

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