Gov Rowland-Rell caught red-handed AGAIN

Oh, it was only a matter of time till something like this was brought to the surface for all to see. Seems like the the Jodi Rell/Lisa Moody connection was up to no good again.

State auditors and the attorney general Tuesday received a request to look into whether Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office improperly used state resources last year to obtain addresses for use by Rell's campaign in soliciting financial contributions by mail.

An investigation appeared imminent after Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo faxed a letter to State Auditors Robert G. Jaekle and Kevin P. Johnson, asking that they "investigate the use of state employees' time and state resources for the sole purpose of raising campaign funds for Gov. Rell's political campaign."

DiNardo based Tuesday's letter on what she said were troubling disclosures in Sunday's Courant by columnist Kevin Rennie. Even though DiNardo released a copy of her letter to The Courant, Jaekle said he could not confirm that the auditors had received it because of restrictions in the state's "whistleblower's law," under which the auditors and attorney general investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse in state government.

[...]

Rennie wrote in his column Sunday that last August, a lawyer in Rell's office, Philip L. Dukes, asked the state's Commission on Culture and Tourism for the lists it maintains for mailing announcements to people in arts and tourism groups. After the agency sent Dukes the lists, Dukes turned them over to Rell's chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, and not long after that, people on the lists received letters from the Rell campaign soliciting contributions up to $2,500, Rennie wrote.

[...]

Rell and Moody, Republicans, spent much of 2006 in a scandal over a Dec. 7, 2005, Rell fund-raising event at the Marco Polo Restaurant in East Hartford - a scandal that led to months of investigation as well as $500 fines for 16 top Rell-administration appointees who obeyed Moody's instructions to hand out fundraiser invitations to subordinates. Rell suspended Moody for two weeks, saying she insisted that her staff maintain high ethical standards.

You can thank Kevin Rennie for uncovering this nonsense. I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll hear Lisa "shake the money tree" Moody and Jodi Rowland-Rell accused of dirty tricks.