Kevin Rennie: How Connecticut dodged an invitation to corruption

Gov. Ned Lamont kept his word.He forced the legislature to retreat from a devastating change it made in the school construction finance program last month. In the final days of the regular session of the legislation, state Rep. Jeffrey Currey, D-East Hartford, slipped a change into the law that allowed school construction management companies to bid on the contracts they are overseeing. It was an invitation to corruption. In May, Currey’s colleagues either did not care or were not interested in the consequences of their act. None challenged Currey’s vague claim that the change would save moneyOfficials in the Lamont administration were unaware of the change making its way through the House and Senate during the frantic final days of the legislative session. Because the change was part of a bill with many other consequential provisions, Lamont declined to veto it. In his message accompanying the signing of the legislation, he criticized the legislature’s decision to allow “self-performance” by construction managers and included details of the damage the change did.The change, Lamont pointed out, “can lead to a lack of competition, a lack of transparency, higher costs, a higher risk of self-dealing, and exclusion of smaller subcontractors from the market.” Those were reasons Lamont had supported the prohibition on construction managers hijacking contracts from other businesses.While the legislature was taking a wrecking ball to the school construction financing program, federal criminal law enforcement authorities were preparing plea agreements and an indictment in the school construction financing scandal that has cast a shadow over state government for more than two years. Eight days after the legislature adjourned on May 8, federal prosecutors announced three guilty pleas and the indictment of Konstantinos Diamantis on corruption charges. Kevin Rennie: It will take more than the governor’s poems to rid CT of weight of corruption chargesDiamantis was the head of the school construction financing program and also served for two years as Lamont’s powerful deputy budget director. Diamantis, a Democratic former state representative from Bristol, first served as head of the school construction program under the late Melody Currey (the current legislator’s mother and a former East Hartford mayor and state representative), who was commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services and her successor, Josh Geballe, a top Lamont adviser.No one seems to know who, if anyone, was supervising Diamantis when he was serving as deputy budget director under former budget chief Melissa McCaw, now the finance director for East Hartford. What we do know is that federal authorities allege in their indictment that Diamantis engaged in extortion and bribery with school construction contractors while someone was supposed to be paying attention to him.Diamantis, who entered pleas of not guilty to all 22 counts in the indictment, is scheduled for a trial in February. New Haven criminal defense attorney Norman Pattis recently appeared in the case on Diamantis’ behalf. Court records reveal that Diamantis, whose misplaced self-confidence permeates the indictment, has had some trouble meeting the conditions of his release.At his arraignment on May 16, the court required Diamantis to remove firearms from his Farmington home on or before May 23. That did not happen until May 29, the probation officer for Diamantis noted. Diamantis, according to the probation report, thought he had until the end of the month to remove his three firearms from his home, a home that is serving as security for his $500,000 release bond.Emails from the long tenure Diamantis had running the school construction financing program reveal he has long prided himself as a master of details. Another condition of release requires Diamantis to turn in his passport, which as of June 12, the date of the last probation report he said has been unable to find. Surrendering your passport is a common requirement for criminal defendants facing serious charges. The two violations of release conditions were deemed not to require the court’s intervention.As it continues, the school construction scandal provides a reminder that government officials sometimes are sometimes oblivious to the consequences to their acts or ignorance. Lamont made Diamantis one of the most powerful officials in his first administration, piling on authority while paying no attention to the details of his acts. The messages between Diamantis and his alleged conspirators in corruption that are included in his indictment are not subtle. Anyone familiar with this grim saga gets the feeling that federal prosecutors did not lard their grand jury indictment with all the evidence they have.After the three guilty pleas and the Diamantis indictment became public, it was astonishing to learn that Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter expressed reluctance to follow Lamont’s lead and restore the protections to the public trust that had recently been shredded. Adding to the mystery of Ritter’s initial reaction was the revelation in the indictment that two major Hartford school construction projects had been the alleged instruments of carrying out the bribery and extortion conspiracies.CT will pick up $6.5M tab for a local school project. Here’s why.Last week, the legislature acted at Lamont’s insistence and restored the law prohibiting self-dealing in school construction.Ritter’s attitude provided a reminder that not every public official takes the same view of corruption and the need to prevent it.Kevin Rennie can be reached at kfrennie@yahoo.com

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