Update: Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now Inc. fails to amend Ethics Reports

Feb 28

jonpeltoAchievement First/ConnCAN, Education Reform, Ethics, Malloy , , , 3 Comments

Maybe when you are ConnCAN – The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now Inc. – you don’t need to abide by Connecticut’s ethics laws.

Maybe the law only applies to the little people.

Wait, What? readers know the story of how ConnCAN, the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now Inc., paid Global Strategies Group, a political consulting and public strategies company,  tens of thousands of dollars to conduct a public opinion poll last month.  Global Strategies Group is the company that Roy Occhiogrosso returned to after serving for two years as Malloy’s chief advisor and spokesman.

The poll was designed to persuade legislators, the media and the public that Governor Malloy and Malloy’s education reform proposals were popular.  The effort, part of a broader lobbying strategy, should have been reported by ConnCAN on their January ethics report to the State Office of State Ethics because the expenditure  was in furtherance of lobbying.

However their original report failed to reveal the expenditure.

Once their violation was revealed here at Wait, What?, the assumption was that ConnCAN would amend their report by the end of February to bring their actions into legal compliance.

However, as of close of business today, ConnCAN failed to correct their reports.

It will be interesting to see if the Ethics Commission takes action to fine ConnCAN for their violation of Connecticut’s ethics laws.

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  • Linda174

    And just a reminder..Christine Stuart, CT News Junkie, was able to find the wording on the survey question. Who would say no if the listener wasn’t up on the decietful ways of the privatizers. See here, from CT News Junkie

    Here’s how education reform was phrased in the poll question: “The education reform bill passed last year by the State Legislature and signed by the Governor takes essential steps to close Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap, raise standards for educators, allows immediate action to improve failing schools, increases access to high-quality public school choices, and improves how education dollars are spent. Having heard this information, do you support or oppose continuing these reforms?”

    No one is going to say they don’t like education reform when it’s phrased that way.

    http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/advocates_say_survey_shows_support_for_education_reforms/

    • JMC

      The classic Push Poll (See on Wikipedia), which attempts not to sollicit opionion but to create it.

  • buygoldandprosper

    GLOBAL STRATEGIES?! The same firm that hired Sam Malloy as a summer intern, in spite of his criminal record, or because of it?! What do you think his compensation was? How do those Malloy’s get such great jobs while the rest of Connecticut shares the sacrifice?