Responding to concerns raised by legislators, Gov. Ned Lamont rejected $4 million in grants for six organizations Tuesday after lawmakers failed to provide enough details and transparency on the grants.
In an issue dating back to last year, Lamont agreed with Republicans who said the legislature needs more vetting and details of individual grants that are known as earmarks.
“Let me be clear at the outset,” Lamont said in his veto message. “My objection is not to the missions of the organizations named in these sections, nor to the goals the legislature seeks to advance. Many of these programs do meaningful work in communities across our state. My objection is to the process.”
Lamont added, “Over the past year, Connecticut residents have rightly asked for greater transparency and accountability in how legislatively directed funds — commonly referred to as earmarks — are proposed, reviewed, and distributed. When taxpayer dollars are set aside for specific entities outside of a competitive or formula-based process, the public deserves to know exactly how and why those decisions are made, what standards apply, and what oversight mechanisms are in place.”
The six items that Lamont rejected include $2.5 million for outdoor recreation in Hartford, $750,000 for the Capital Region Education Council, $330,000 for Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford, $200,000 for Free Agent Now in East Hartford, $174,000 for the New London VFW, and $70,000 for the Village Initiative Project in Bridgeport.
Some Republicans said that they had never heard of some of the groups that would be receiving funds and that the omnibus, 121-page bill did not provide details on the organizations’ purpose.
In the same way, the state’s two-year budget that was passed last year had 289 separate lines that simply listed the groups that received money and the amount received.
Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield was pleased with the line-item vetoes.
“As Senate Democrats sheepishly admitted during the debate, they had no idea about who wanted this money or why,” Harding said. “Millions of dollars of your money, unquestioned by the arrogant supermajority. As Senate Republicans will continue to say, the state government ‘candy store’ must be closed down. To do that, we need more Republicans at the state Capitol.”
Even before the most recent dust-up last week, Lamont had proposed a four-page bill that calls for greater oversight for nonprofits that collectively receive millions of dollars annually in state funding. Lamont’s bill requires stronger guidelines and scrutiny before any money will be awarded.
That bill is pending and is expected to be debated in both chambers before the 2026 legislative session adjourns on May 6.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, said he is ready to move forward in order to allocate grants in the future.
“After speaking with the governor, I understand and respect his position,” Ritter said. “Let’s get the contract reform bill over the finish line, and then we can address these matters.”
The two highest-ranking senators, President Pro Tempore Martin Looney of New Haven and Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk, said the omnibus package had been signed off by the key players.
“We are deeply disappointed by the governor’s abrupt decision to line-item veto critical funding that was carefully negotiated over many months and agreed to by the Senate, the House, and the governor,” the senators said. “That agreement did not emerge overnight, and this change of heart is a troubling sign for the trust that must underpin our ability to pass legislation this session.”
Sen. Douglas McCrory
Both House and Senate Republicans raised questions about Sen. Douglas McCrory, a Hartford Democrat who has been under federal investigation by the FBI regarding state grants that he lobbied for that were awarded to Greater Hartford nonprofits, including the now-defunct Blue Hills Civic Association. Blue Hills funneled more than $1 million to a nonprofit known as SHEBA that is run by McCrory’s friend, Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin.
A forensic audit was ordered last year after state officials were stunned when the Blue Hills Civic Association reported that $300,000 in state money suddenly disappeared when it was apparently sent to scammers in a fraudulent bank transfer. Workers at the nonprofit were laid off after the money went missing and the organization eventually ceased operating.
Lawmakers questioned a grant of $750,000 in the omnibus bill for a teacher residency program for the Capital Region Education Council, where McCrory works. McCrory is a longtime educator, and CREC is well-known for running magnet schools in the Greater Hartford area.
“I think CREC is a really important organization,” Lamont said when asked by The Courant before his veto. “I think a lot of that money was previously allocated at least for that broad purpose. Whether it goes just to CREC or some other organizations, it’s the type of thing we ought to look at.”
On the House floor, state Rep. Toni Walker of New Haven said, “The money is going to CREC schools. That is not the CREC agency. … We are desperately needing teachers [in major cities] because we have a shortage. … This is not a new program. This is an existing program.”
House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said Lamont had made the right move.
“The governor’s decision to heed our call and apply his line-item veto power to this rushed, emergency-certified bill signals he finally understands the magnitude of the fiscal accountability crisis on his hands,” Candelora said. “With an FBI investigation casting a shadow over our government, and residents frustrated by state spending and affordability, the stakes couldn’t be clearer. He’d be wise to keep listening to Republicans.”
Some legislators have raised concerns about money going to a group known as Our Piece of the Pie. Here, Jonathan Watson, (right) uses a stone to pound in a tomato stake as Reinaldo Stewart, (left) steadies it, at the Grow Hartford garden on the corner of Main and Park Streets in July 2018. They were among a group of several high school students in the Our Piece of the Pie summer youth employment program. They were working in partnership with Grow Hartford, an urban farming initiative in the city. Our Piece of the Pie was among the organizations at the time that would benefit from nearly $10 million in funding to help disconnected youth in Hartford.
Two Democratic senators from Bridgeport, Herron Keyon Gaston and Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, criticized Lamont regarding the earmarks that impact the cities.
“At a time of unprecedented federal cuts from a corrupt federal administration that is gutting the programs working families depend on, the last thing we should be doing is cutting into the bone of some of our most vulnerable communities,” the senators said. “This veto doesn’t just affect Bridgeport or any one city; it sends the wrong signal to working-class families across Connecticut that we do not have their backs. That is simply unacceptable.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]