Editorial: Rell should come clean before leaving office

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced last week that she will not seek another term as Connecticut's governor. This ushers in the next media circus for the 2010 elections, but it also shifts attention away from her past misconduct that needs to be addressed. It is imperative that officials be held accountable for their crimes in order to restore the public trust in government, and deter further abuses from happening in the future.

The Rell/UConn polling scandal that was reported in early October by the New London Day revealed that Rell's office used taxpayer funds earmarked for a UConn study to run a secret focus group, test potential public responses to policy decisions and inquire into the public perception of potential political opponents. These focus groups wasted more than just taxpayer dollars. The use of university faculty and facilities to further personal political agendas is an egregious abuse of power, as is using your status as a professor to enlist interns for free research. University professor Ken Dautrich was implicated in the scandal as the UConn professor who agreed to cooperate with the governor's requests.

The polling scandal followed a bitter budget fight that forced many state run institutions, like public schools, to start their year unsure of what their budgets would allow. Rell delayed the signing of a budget until the state congress cut enough "Pork." During this budget battle Rell showed her disregard for the law when she threatened to line item veto programs she disagreed with, despite the fact that her closest legal counsel told her it would be unconstitutional.

It is imperative that both Rell and Dautrich come clean about what they were up to. We cannot allow these issues to be swept under the rug during the next election cycle. Using public institutions like UConn to do political campaign work is abusing the trust of the people of Connecticut. Universities are supposed to serve the needs of the state's people, not political parties. Once this trust is abused, we will begin to question the motives of university faculty and staff whenever they discuss issues of political importance.

Rell is still in office and should not be considered a lame duck simply because she won't be running for another term. When public institutions like UConn become tools for politicians to manipulate public opinion, and these same politicians show blatant disregard for the law, we must hold those individuals accountable. Every community member has a responsibility to educate each other on what our elected officials are really doing behind closed doors with our money. Only when we create a culture of accountability will we ever have a check to the executive power of the state.