The Story of Never Ending Sleaze, repost from www.freespeech.com
The Story of Never Ending Sleaze
The picture is of Arthur L. Spada, Commissioner of Department of Public Safety, Connecticut State Police
There has been a long rumored relationship between Governor John G. Rowland and top brass in the Connecticut State Police.
As extensive as the alleged corruption goes, there has to be, in my opinion, others in top positions that knew about secret deals and other illegal activities perpetrated out of top leadership positions in Connecticut.
Does the scandal involve law enforcement leadership and members of the Connecticut Judiciary?
-Steven G. Erickson
A Boost From The Top Rowland's Votes Aided Friends' VenturesJanuary 18, 2004, By DAVE ALTIMARI, JACK DOLAN, And JON LENDER Hartford Courant Staff Writers (ctnow.com)
Excerpt: ??federal investigation into bid rigging in the award of more than $100 million in state contracts.?
(click link below for more)
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As chairman of the State Bond Commission, Gov. John G. Rowland has at least twice directly overseen the award of economic development aid affecting business ventures involving people with whom he had personal or financial relationships.
In a 1998 commission meeting at which Rowland presided and voted, the panel granted a $3.175 million loan to a subsidiary of The Tomasso Group, which is now involved in a federal investigation into bid rigging in the award of more than $100 million in state contracts.
Rowland last year paid thousands of dollars to settle an ethics complaint over cut-rate stays at Tomasso family vacation homes, and he has admitted that a member of the family provided free renovations to Rowland's lakefront cottage in Litchfield.
The second vote, in 2000, gave the town of Prospect a $175,000 grant to study the feasibility of building an industrial park on land owned by a partnership called RMK Prospect Associates. That partnership included two men involved in a land deal with Rowland that netted the governor a profit of about $60,000, including more than $2,000 the year the grant was approved. RMK Associates could get $3 million for the land if the industrial park is built.
The bond commission votes further erode Rowland's efforts to distance himself from contracts and other state benefits received by people with whom he had close relationships.
His insistence that his office had nothing to do with the award of contracts was called into question last month by disclosure of documents indicating his former co-chief of staff, Peter N. Ellef, made a practice of signing off on all significant contracts. Ellef is now a subject of the federal bid-rigging probe.
And other documents show that three children of Rowland's partners in the land deal got state jobs or promotions during the years the partnership operated, two of them with the governor's direct sponsorship.
Through all of his apologies for taking inappropriate gifts from subordinates and state contractors, Rowland has steadfastly maintained that he "never - not once - provided any favors" or took any actions in exchange.
But minutes of the State Bond Commission meetings show that he also did not remove himself from the deliberations over state assistance packages that benefited friends. And, as the official who ultimately decides which proposals the bond commission will consider, he took an active role in their approval.
"Knowing what we know now, as a fellow public official, I would have strongly advised the governor that he should have recused himself from these proceedings," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is also a member of the commission.
Blumenthal's agency is one of several now investigating allegations of unethical or illegal behavior by the governor. He said he therefore cannot comment on whether Rowland's actions as chairman of the commission might expose him to greater legal jeopardy than he already faces.
Rowland's legal counsel, Ross Garber, had no comment other than to say, "The bond commission has probably approved thousands and thousands of projects during the governor's tenure."
A New Venture
The Tomasso name has long been associated with construction and property management, but in the 1990s members of the family formed a subsidiary that now produces water treatment equipment.
In January 1998 the company, called Tenergy, got a $200,000 grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development. The agency also awarded a $2.125 million grant to the city of New Britain that was earmarked for the industrial park where Tenergy was to build a plant.
On Jan. 7, 1998 - before the $200,000 grant was awarded to Tenergy - department Commissioner James Abromitis sent Rowland a letter that anticipated approval of the grant. The same day, Abromitis informed other administration officials that the Tenergy grant needed to be "processed immediately" by Ellef.
On Jan. 30, 1998, Rowland presided over the bond commission meeting at which Tenergy was unanimously awarded the $3.175 million loan, to be used to build its plant in New Britain.
While Tenergy was starting up, other Tomasso Group businesses were booming in the late 1990s, winning major state contracts including a juvenile training school in Middletown, a parking garage at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and a courthouse in Bridgeport.
All three contracts are now under investigation by a federal grand jury. A former Rowland administration official, former deputy chief of staff Lawrence Alibozek, has pleaded guilty to receiving bribes in exchange for rigging unspecified state contracts.
Rowland's relationship with members of the Tomasso family also was blossoming, particularly with William Tomasso, an executive with The Tomasso Group and subsidiary companies.
From 1999 to 2001, Rowland took three trips to Tomasso-owned vacation homes in Florida and Vermont, paying rates that were well below market value. Last year he paid more than $9,000 to settle State Ethics Commission complaints over those and a fourth trip to a different benefactor's home.
And in 1999, William Tomasso dispatched company employees to work on Rowland's cottage on Bantam Lake in Litchfield. He also arranged for other work, including installation of a heating system that was paid for by Ellef and Alibozek. Federal investigators also have questioned several contractors about the work done to Rowland's cottage.
Attorney Thomas J. Murphy, who is representing The Tomasso Group, said in an e-mail to a Courant reporter Saturday that any suggestion of wrongdoing related to Tenergy is "utterly false."
"First, the Bond Commission's approval of DECD's request for redevelopment money for the City of New Britain - to be used for the construction of Tenergy's physical plant - occurred in an open, public process. State officials approved the bond money to bring high-paying manufacturing jobs back to New Britain.
"Second, the chronology shows that this bond money was not approved `in exchange' for anything: The Bond Commission met in January 1998; the minor work that Tomasso employees reportedly performed at the Governor's cottage occurred long after.
"Third, the Tomassos have not profited on Tenergy. Instead, they have poured millions of their own dollars into the company - far more than the state's investment - as part of their commitment to their home town. Tenergy is doing good things for its community; it has no part in this investigation. To suggest otherwise is a grave disservice."
Partners Prosper
In the late 1990s, Rowland was involved in a lucrative investment partnership called First Development LLC that included Anthony R. Cocchiola, the owner of Cocchiola Paving of Watertown; Michael H. Cicchetti, a Waterbury lawyer whose specialties include real estate development; and Robert Capanna, a now-deceased businessman and landowner in the Prospect area, where the partnership operated.
Rowland put up about $7,200 in seed money, according to a statement his office released last month, compared with about $10,000 each from Cocchiola and Cicchetti and about $11,000 from Capanna. The partners shared the profits from their 24-lot subdivision equally, each receiving about $60,000 before the partnership, formed in 1996, was dissolved in 2001.
It is not clear what Rowland contributed to the partnership in terms of time or expertise, but the other three were experienced in real estate development. Even as they did business with Rowland, the three were putting together another deal: assembling 177 acres in Prospect for a possible industrial park. The partners, doing business as RMK Prospect Associates LLC, paid $1.4 million for the property, town records show.
Cicchetti approached the town in 1998 about buying the land for an industrial park. The town needed to do a feasibility study before a deal could be made.
Cicchetti met with state Department of Economic Development officials to pitch the project in May 1999. Department officials eventually decided to give the town a $175,000 grant, which the town matched.
The bond commission, with Rowland serving as chairman, approved the grant unanimously on May 26, 2000.
Prospect officials are now preparing for a referendum to see if residents will approve building the park. Mayor Robert Chatfield said the town has an option to purchase the property from RMK for about $3 million, more than twice what RMK paid.
Chatfield expects the state will pay half of those costs.
Rowland's relationship with Cicchetti and Cocchiola went beyond First Development. Cicchetti represented Rowland in various matters, including the purchase and renovation of his Bantam Lake cottage in 1997. And Cocchiola did $2,000 worth of site work at the cottage in 1997; he, like other contractors at the cottage, didn't get paid for years.
And an internal patronage list, apparently generated by the governor's office, lists Rowland as the sponsor for Cicchetti's son and daughter, Michael J. Cicchetti and Kara Cicchetti, who both had state jobs while their father was in business with the governor and who both wound up in higher-paying positions.
Although she is not on the patronage list, state records show Melissa Cocchiola, Anthony's daughter, also got a state job in 1998 and now earns more than $48,000. Anthony Cocchiola's paving company has done more than $900,000 in work for the state since First Development was formed.
Rowland's office has said he did not influence any contract awards to Cocchiola. Cocchiola and Cicchetti could not be reached for comment.
May 15, 2004 update to this piece
Past posts:
Mark Gaines Police Abuse Website
A past FreeSpeech.com post, "A Village: What It Takes"
Perceptions of Race and My Journey, by Clifford W. Thornton, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man and the holiday
Women and those of color have not fared well in the Spada Regime.It is time to remove the sexist, racist head of the Connecticut State Police.
Posted by: concerned citizen at January 18, 2004 11:28 AMIs he going to be brought up on charges as well?
Posted by: Del Simmons at January 18, 2004 09:36 PMThe rank and file are starting to distance themselves from Spada, and past accusations and stalled investigations are now coming back into play.
Posted by: at January 18, 2004 09:44 PMDeath of ex-FBI agent Rico stuns Okla. city
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 1/19/2004
Dry Hole a story on governmental misconduct and cover-ups.
Don Christmas' continuing saga of being harassed by Enfield, CT, PD
Posted by: at January 19, 2004 01:12 PMFuck you, I'll drive around next time I travel South.
Posted by: Note to Connecticut at January 19, 2004 04:50 PMEditorial found on ctnow.com:
Arthur Spada, Another FOJ
February 19, 2004
Arthur Spada should resign his position as the state's public safety commissioner. It has become clear that his performance in office has not met the high standards expected of his position.
Mr. Spada looks foolish in defending excessive overtime costs rung up by his personal, taxpayer-supported driver, state police Sgt. Richard Alexandre. The commissioner looks incompetent in claiming that he was unaware that Homeland Security Director Vincent DeRosa, who reports to him, has for years violated department policy by having an interest in a used-car dealership.
And Mr. Spada looked weak in admitting to lawmakers last week that he was muscled by Gov. John G. Rowland to hire Mr. DeRosa as homeland security czar in the first place, even though Mr. DeRosa had no special qualifications for the job. Mr. DeRosa had been the governor's pal and driver.
The commissioner showed no respect for taxpayer money when he basically allowed Mr. DeRosa, who will collect a $70,000-a-year pension, to set the terms of his departure. The homeland security chief will leave on his own on March 1. Mr. Spada should have bounced him the second he found out about Mr. DeRosa's violation of state police policy. Moreover, why should Mr. DeRosa get any pension credit for the years during which he broke his employer's code of conduct?
And it goes without saying that Mr. Spada should have been alert enough to discover Mr. DeRosa's used-car moonlighting far earlier than he did.
Mr. Spada has prided himself on being a hands-on commissioner. Instead, he has been just the opposite. Further, it's clear that he developed an unbecoming appetite for costly perks. Over the past two years, his driver, Mr. Alexandre, made $21,000 in overtime, driving Mr. Spada to personal appointments as well as work-related functions in the commissioner's official black Crown Victoria.
Mr. Alexandre is among many state troopers whose earnings top $100,000 per year when overtime pay for working extra shifts and controlling traffic at highway construction jobs is added to their regular salary. The state police overtime situation is out of control.
State law permits public safety commissioners to have a driver. Mr. Spada says he has routinely cleared his use of a driver with his legal staff. He must have an excessively lenient staff. How else could it justify some of the overtime?
Here are examples from overtime records and Mr. Spada's calendar obtained by The Courant through a Freedom of Information Act request:
Mr. Alexandre drove the commissioner from Hartford to Bloomfield at 6:30 a.m. to appear on WDRC's Brad Davis radio show 11 times in 2002 and nine times in 2003, and was compensated for two hours of overtime for each trip. Mr. Spada said he needed the security because a public official was assaulted near the radio station several years ago. Couldn't the commissioner have called the Brad Davis show from home?
Mr. Spada and his driver were both invited to a wedding of a child of a state trooper in December 2002. Mr. Alexandre drove, and logged 16 hours of overtime for the event.
In addition, Mr. Alexandre drove the commissioner to at least one gubernatorial debate, another wedding, a couple of celebrity roasts, a UConn football game and several private dinners, racking up Spada-generated overtime.
Predictably, Mr. Rowland's office has come to his defense. "Commissioner Spada is meticulous about how he uses his state vehicle and how he uses his assistant," says gubernatorial chief of staff Dean Pagani.
Meticulous? Far from it. The commissioner, a former Superior Court judge, should know better about the appearance of excess and the requirements of ethics codes. Instead, he seems to share that sense of entitlement that has gotten Mr. Rowland and his friends and political cronies in trouble and has cast a pall over state government.
Mr. Spada has damaged his credibility beyond repair and should have the good sense to bid his chauffeur and job farewell.
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at February 21, 2004 01:15 PMCountless Erickson emails, letters, phone calls may or may not have resulted in O'Reily of the Fox Network exposing Governor Rowland of Connecticut corruption. The attacks on the web predate most other organized efforts.
Spada also had been a regular target of the Erickson rant.
If either end up in Federal Prison unable to see their wives and families again while serving time, maybe they will ponder on how much Erickson had to do with it.
Posted by: at February 25, 2004 11:59 PMDemocrats aren't doing enough. We should stand up and not be afraid.
Posted by: at April 7, 2004 06:48 PMI think that Governor Rowland has done alot for this state , and he is not going to throw it all away just because of this bullshit. People need to let it go and stop kicking him while he is down we need to come together and support those who lead us , for the sake of CT.
Posted by: Julianne at May 16, 2004 01:20 AMJulianne,
should Governor Rowland get away with breaking laws and violating taxpayer trust just because he is politically powerful and the current governor?
I disagree with you. Those that break the law should be punished regardless of how much money they have, their political clout, and who they know.
If Rowland was willing to take 'freebies' which I consider bribes and then lie about it, what else is he capable of?
It seems the Connecticut State Police were getting whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. What kind of unholy alliance exists there?
Are they too, covering up for Rowland, or pulling Rowland's puppet strings as Rowland is so corrupt he would do anything to keep from getting exposed and helping his backroom cronies?
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson at May 16, 2004 06:28 AM
posted by The Stark Raving Viking at 11/14/2006 03:13:00 PM
