Fair’s fair. I’m a frequent critic of the New London Day, but there are times when the Day pulls through. Ted Mann’s series of articles (most recent here) about Jodi Rell’s misuse of state funds is a case in point. It’s been amusing to watch as the governor shifts her lines of defense after each is undercut in turn by emails that establish rather definitively that she has been using state funds, and state employees, to plot political strategy. Ted has done a great job in this series. It’s what the press is supposed to do, be its target Democrat or Republican.
On the merits, this is a case of exposing a truth that has been in plain sight for years. This administration has, from the very start, had one driving purpose behind everything it does: position itself for the next election, the long term state interest be damned. It’s not at all surprising that those damaging emails were out there. It’s only to be expected when you have hubris filled people using a form of communication in which almost everyone tends to write with less prudence than they do on the printed page. Something inside us refuses to believe that our emails will ever be read, even when, as in this case, the law requires their preservation and public disclosure. If Jodi had any sense, she would at least review these emails (if Ted can get them, so can she) before she tosses off another casual lie. Maybe she’s just gotten lazy after all the free rides she’s gotten from the Connecticut press.
The greater challenge, from a pure reportorial point of view, would be to unearth a series of emails in which Rell or her senior staff actually discuss policy from a non-political perspective. You know, where they actually try to puzzle out what is in the best interest of the state, rather than in Jodi Rell’s best interest. If that has ever happened, it has been carefully covered up.
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