Jodi Rell

Rell Used Public Funds To Poll About Political Rival

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 8, 2009, 5:40PM

Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-CT)

Democrats in Connecticut are up in arms today after it was revealed that Gov. Jodi Rell (R) has been using taxpayer money to fund a secret series of polls and focus groups aimed at testing the political viability of her programs a year before she's up for reelection.

The political operation was kept secret and was hidden inside a grant given to a University of Connecticut professor that was supposed to fund a study into ways to "streamline state government," according to the New London Day, which broke the story today after a month-long investigation.

Records from the project obtained by the paper show that Dr. Kenneth Dautrich, the professor awarded the $220,000 grant and a "confidant of Rell's chief of staff," used the state money to "pepper" Rell's office with advice "on everything from income taxes to leadership qualities to the public's opinion of a potential political rival."

Read more »