Mary Fritz' slush funds have been defunded!

On Tuesday I emailed the two candidates for state Representative in CTs 89th district:

Kathy Brown (R)
Vickie Orsini Nardello (D)(i)

I asked them about Mary Fritz' beloved slush funds discretionary funds:



Kathy gave me a verbal response. She doesn't support these funds.

But Vickie gave me a more informative response... for which I thank her. Here is her unedited, complete response:

The contingency funds account existed in the years 06-09. In those four years 26 million dollars was spent. It was funded from surplus dollars in the annual budget. The expenditure of the money was determined by the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate President. There is no longer any money in the account and it did not receive funding in FY 10 or 11. I would not support funding this account in the future.

I'm not convinced on the total accuracy of her response because I distinctly recall a few details reported by the press that do not agree with Vickie's statement. But that's neither here nor there. I take her response at face value and in good faith. So my concern has been partly answered.

I'm still left wondering though if funds that have already been approved by the Bonding Commission -- but not yet spent by the recipient -- will remain available after the election.

Foley and Malloy remain silent on this. And since this question is apparently irrelevant as a future funding issue, I doubt Foley / Malloy will get asked about my "clawback" question for past allocations that are still unspent... a question that relates directly to Mary Fritz' $525,000 grant for artificial turf.

Could be an interesting question for the October 20 LOWV debate though. Hmmm...

Tim White