Corporate Welfare in Connecticut
www.ct.gov/ecd/lib/ecd/Mid_Term_Report_Append.xlsx
After
you have clicked on the page, go to the bottom of the page, and click on each individual heading to
view who is receiving your State taxpayer dollars! Programs Include: The First
Five; Express; Express MAA; Manuf Act; JET.
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As we review below Governor Malloy’s Corporate
Welfare Program which includes the conflicting, surreptitious deal involving
City of Hartford and State public officials and employees who released taxpayer
money to Hybrid Insurance owner Earl O'Garro Jr. as
his finances were imploding - which has in turn drawn the attention of the FBI
- the Hartford Courant is reporting …..
From the Hartford Courant
Documents: O'Garro Admitted To Creating Phony Website In Scam
During a Dec. 4 civil proceeding in Hartford Superior Court, O'Garro
told Judge Carl Schuman and AmTrust's attorney that
he purchased a web domain name that closely matched that of AmTrust's
in a scheme to obtain more than $600,000 in premium payments. Continue reading http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-ogarro-transcript-0131-20140130,0,4072412.story
Connections
Smooth O'Garro's
Cash Collection
Some lethal emails revealed by The Courant last week
interrupted the genial flow expected in the week ahead. Trouble grows in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's promiscuous grant-and-loan business. The
public and federal criminal investigators are getting a look at the crony
capitalism that infects what should be the fair operation of the state's
Department of Economic and Community Development. The story is another dispiriting
tale of Hartford
insurance broker Earl O'Garro and lobbyist
Christopher Cloud. http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-ogarro--cash-connections-malloy-admin-20140130,0,1326427.column
January 31, 2014
From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone:
860-841-8032
Did our State Officials learn
nothing from Enron,
As Governor Malloy’s Costly
Corporate Welfare Program Comes Under Scrutiny????
Much of the State money which feeds the Corporate Welfare
Trough comes through the Department of Economic and Community Development
(DECD) for which taxpayers pay $15.6
million for 212 employees with the highest paid at $190,000 as illustrated
within http://www.ctact.org/upload/home/decd
salaries.xls.
***************
2012 was a good year for the lobbying firm of Camilliere, Cloud and Kennedy. On July 12, 2012 the Hartford Courant announced that one of their
former employees landed a job with Gov. Malloy in an article headlined - Malloy Appoints Rep. Michael A. Caron to Public Utilities Regulatory noting “Caron….. was most recently
a lobbyist for Camilliere, Cloud and Kennedy”. Also, their client Earl O'Garro
Jr. of Hybrid Insurance was being awarded State loans regardless of his ability
to repay them.
As the controversy surrounding the President and CEO of Hybrid
Insurance Group, Earl O'Garro Jr., expands, it takes on the suspense of a John
Grisham crime novel with a wife fearing for her life as O'Garro Charged With Assault, Threatening -
Hartford Courant and a hunt for
public money – not stolen by masked men from the public treasury – but
willingly handed over to O’Garro by State and City of
Hartford public officials and employees while O’Garro’s
personal finances were imploding.
As conflicts emerge in the City of Hartford which illustrate
the close ties between O’Garro and the city’s
Treasurer, Adam Cloud, from whose family O’Garro
rented property and to whom Cloud transferred a noncompete
liability policy to O’Garro, taxpayers may be out not
only the money lost through loans/grants - payments on
just under $400,000 he owes to the state - but also $669,997 in insurance premiums which cannot be
found since the city of Hartford wired the money to O’Garro/Hybrid
on July 18, 2013.
And the conflicts don’t end there. It appears O’Garro
used Christopher Cloud, a twin brother of Adam Cloud and partner in Camilliere, Cloud and Kennedy - A
Connecticut Lobbying and ... to
secure State funds.
And there is more as news has surfaced that Adam Cloud Campaign Consultant Got Hybrid
Insurance Job | WNPR News.
One facilitator of the state loans to Hybrid, Ron
Angelo, deputy commissioner of the
Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), states his case in
yesterday’s Hartford Courant article captioned Top Economic Official Defends Role In
Second O'Garro Loan. The following
emails between Christopher Cloud, lobbyist for Hybrid Insurance and Ron Angelo
are highlighted by the Courant: Cloud
wrote: “…..we hope that we can discuss this application with you
directly and work through whatever issues there may be to move this process
forward. … “Thanks for your continued support." Angelo – “I’ll take care of it.” Cloud -
“Thanks my friend! Have a great weekend!” This article is worth reading
in its entirety at http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-29/community/hc-ogarro-decd-loan-0130-20140129_1_hybrid-insurance-group-decd-earl-o-garro
On Nov 1, 2013, WNPR had reported In Hartford Controversy, Feds
Serve Subpoena on Two State Agencies. noting “We already know that federal investigators served
subpoenas on Hartford's
city hall and board of education. “They want to see everything from contracts
to emails that have to do with Hybrid Insurance Group and its CEO Earl O'Garro. “Now we can
add the Connecticut Insurance Department and its Department of Economic and
Community Development to the list of those who got served.”
As a State employee, Angelo is paid $160,000 along with many
at DECD earning six figure salaries/benefits as noted at http://www.ctact.org/upload/home/decd salaries.xls .
As it relates to Enron, With a Bond Payment, CRRA-Enron
Deal Is History – the Hartford Courant recently wrote noting “The state's trash-to-energy agency made the last
payment on its debt for the Hartford plant on Thursday, finally ushering out
the painful era of the scandalous Enron deal that cost the agency $200
million”.
Before we continue on to the scandals of today under
Governor Malloy’s Corporate Welfare Program, you can refresh your memory
regarding the 2003 surreptitious debacle involving Enron, state power brokers,
and public money at Connecticuts Shell Game with Taxpayer Money and Enron...How Taxpayers Lost $220 Million
.
The recent headlines (see below) tell some of the stories
where taxpayer money was put at risk under Governor Malloy’s other corporate
welfare deals. But
what is of a greater concern is what we don’t know. Are there
other financially strapped individuals or companies which received our money
under any one of the myriad of state programs processed through the State and
the State’s Department
of Economic and Community Development - CT.gov and as listed at
http://www.dir.ct.gov/opm/IGP/decd/index.html
.
More importantly, how did the companies who received our
money get their foot in the door of the decision makers.
The following is what had been disclosed by the Journal
Inquirer in June of 2013.
25 Taxpayer Subsidized Companies Did
Not Meet Contracted Job Goals
|
The state Department of Economic and Community Development Report for 2011-12 shows that the companies
in its Business Assistance Portfolio received a total of $296 million in
state subsidies, including $219 million in tax credits, $73 million in loans,
and $3.25 million in grants.
Journal Inquirer - Don
Michak - June
2013
|
WNPR News in December wrote a Message to Earl O'Garro: The State is Coming for Its Money | WNPR .... Herein they note
“The state Department of Economic and Community Development has held O'Garro in default of those two loans. “Now, the state attorney general's office says it's trying to
get that taxpayer money back. “But it also doesn't sound terribly confident
that it will”.
The following are additional headlines which
give credibility to
Tom Foley
Calls For Legislative Inquiry Into DECD Loan Program ...!
The Public has a right to know why Republicans
and Democrats in our State Legislature and Governor Malloy are Not Supporting such an Inquiry?
*************
State
Loaned Restaurant $149,900 Despite Foreclosure
Hartford Courant, Jan 24, 2014: State officials awarded $149,900 in economic
aid in May 2012 to a Waterford
man to open a burrito restaurant in Mystic — even though he was then the
defendant in two foreclosure lawsuits over mortgage debts totaling $728,000,
Superior Court records show. The recipient of
the $49,502 state grant and $100,398 low-interest loan, Tyler Gilbertie of Waterford, has already closed the Lazy Burrito
shop in Mystic and two other area restaurants, despite the Department of
Economic and Community Development's agreement last September to defer his
repayment of the loan for an extra year. Continue reading at ….. http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-24/news/hc-burrito-decd-bankrupt-0124-20140123_1_decd-small-business-express-waterford
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Lay off
your workers, get paid to rehire them - Journal Inquirer: Chris ...
Powell
January 11, 2014 Maybe other big
employers in Connecticut
will get an idea from the state Economic and Community Development Department's
latest excursion into corporate welfare.
Last March ClearEdge Power Corp.,
owner of the former United Technologies Corp. fuel-cell factory in South Windsor, laid off more
than 100 employees. But this week state government loaned the company $1.4
million at a deeply discounted rate, with about half the loan to be forgiven if
the company adds 80 employees over three years. Rehiring employees laid off in
March will count toward the total of new employees to be added to achieve loan forgiveness.So in Connecticut
you now can lay off your workers and then get money from state government for
hiring them back. The economic development commissioner, Catherine Smith,
explains this as a plan to induce ClearEdge to expand
in Connecticut rather than at its facilities
in Oregon and California. But the plan will work only at
the expense of inviting more big employers to blackmail state government -- not
just by threatening to move but also by laying off
employees and then demanding that state government ransom them. http://www.journalinquirer.com/opinion/chris_powell/lay-off-your-workers-get-paid-to-rehire-them/article_b19b1f6e-7a11-11e3-9901-0019bb2963f4.html
****************
In
Hartford Controversy, Feds Serve Subpoena on Two State Agencies
WNPR News:
The state DECD confirmed it also got a federal subpoena -- and it sent it to WNPR.
In it, federal prosecutors asked for all information related to grants or
loans Hybrid received from the DECD. You may recall that the state gave
Hybrid around $100,000 to move its business to Hartford -- into the building owned city
Treasurer Adam Cloud and his family. The subpoena also asks for emails
involving Hybrid, Cloud, and his brother -- Christopher Cloud. O'Garro paid Christopher Cloud's firm Camilliere,
Cloud & Kennedy to be its lobbyist at the state. DECD officials say
Christopher Cloud was at least one meeting with the state on Hybrid's
behalf. Adam Cloud has long denied allegations that he had anything to do
with giving city business to O'Garro, who rents
office space from Cloud's family and who has hired Cloud's brother as his
lobbyist. Emails obtained by WNPR seem to suggest otherwise.
*****************
Documents:
O'Garro Was Late On Payments Before State OK'd ...Second
Loan
Hartford Courant, Jan 22, 2014: Earl O'Garro Jr.
was late making payments on a state loan that he received to expand his
company, Hybrid Insurance Group, months before he was given a second loan from
the Department of Economic and Community Development, documents obtained
Wednesday by The Courant show. After O'Garro failed to make payments on time, DECD Deputy
Commissioner Ron Angelo instructed agency employees to "get the ball
rolling" on a subsequent $3.5 million loan request by O'Garro.
*****************
Insurance Company In Hartford Controversy Got $500,000 State Loan
Hartford Courant, Dec 10, 2013: Earl O'Garro
Jr., the young insurance broker whose business with Hartford's city hall is the subject of
a federal investigation, was approved for a $500,000 state loan last summer to
expand his company — months after it had begun unraveling and just as it was
about to collapse.
*****************
Restaurant
That Renovated With Connecticut State Money Quickly ...Closes.
FOXCT, May 2, 2013: After reopening as
Thirty-Five Bar And Grill, the spot closed after being open for only six
months, and West Hartford leaders and local
business owners are not pleased. The
thought that it’s nearly $50,000 in taxpayer money is what’s got so many folks
upset in this town. Officials spoke out about getting the money back, and local shop and restaurants sound off about not
getting assistance like this now closed restaurant did. http://foxct.com/2013/05/02/restaurant-that-renovated-with-connecticut-state-money-quickly-closes/
*****************
State To Re-Evaluate 'First Five' Status Of TicketNetwork
After CEO's Arrest
Hartford Courant, Feb, 2012: In July, Malloy added the company to his "First
Five" project, the governor's high-profile economic development
initiative. The state agreed to offer TicketNetwork
$6.3 million in low-interest loans after the company promised to add at least
200 jobs. Malloy noted that the
agreement had not been finalized.
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Bravo to the Journal Inquirer for it Excellent
Editorial Captioned
Special-interest money puts
Democrats at risk
January 10, 2014
Look for more
interesting articles at
Journal Inquirer:
North-Central Connecticut's Hometown Newspaper
Recent contributions to the Democratic State Central
Committee by developers and others who are seeking or have received various
state grants are alarming. Maybe few people who make political contributions do
so without some selfish interest, but at least there sometimes has been a
little subtlety to those contributions. Such subtlety lately seems to have all
but disappeared in Connecticut.
For example, a $5,000 contribution in November from
"consultant" Bruce Whitaker was followed just days later by Governor
Malloy's announcement of $5.7 million in funding from the Connecticut Housing
Finance Agency for a project in Westport
with which Whitaker is involved. The grant'' recipient, the Westport Housing Authority, should explain
what Whitaker's role is.
Of course political
contributions by recipients of government largesse are not unusual. But some
recent contributions to Connecticut's
Democratic Party stand out for a timing that has created a quid-pro-quo
atmosphere.
Money keeps pouring into the party from the Winstanley family, which wants state government to finance
$12 million for their proposed residential and commercial development project
in Windsor.
Vigorous investment by state government to develop Connecticut's economy, the
policy of the Malloy administration, will not sustain public support if it
starts looking more like a mechanism of campaign financing. While the Democrats
seem to have refrained from soliciting political contributions from recipients
of the big state economic development grants in the co-called "First
Five" program, they seem to be soliciting nearly everyone who has or
aspires to have some financial connection with state government. This
essentially repudiates the party's longstanding support for a system of fair
and transparent public campaign financing that was to diminish the influence of
special interests.
The Democrats control every major office in Connecticut and hold big
majorities in the General Assembly, but their zeal to obtain special-interest
campaign money implies great fear. They should remember that good government
remains good politics -- the best politics -- and that, as advantageous as the
contributions they are amassing may seem at the moment, some of those
contributions inevitably will be corrupting and are likely to become
embarrassing issues against them.
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State Is Broke — 'Surplus' Is
Pocket Change
By MARCIA MARIEN | OP-ED , Marcia Marien,
CPA, is past president of the Connecticut Society of Certified Public
Accountants.
The Hartford Courant, Jan 17, 2014
Connecticut is broke.
Not going broke, but broke
right now. Today.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/hc-op-marien-connecticut-is-broke-0119-20140117,0,5423195.story