Adinolfi and Markley introduce "subpoena power" legislation

As I mentioned last month, State Rep. Al Adinolfi and State Sen. Joe Markley have introduced legislation to restore subpoena power to Connecticut's State's Attorneys.

The crux of my concern is that Connecticut has a significant amount of corruption that gets investigated by federal authorities, rather than state authorities. (Think: Rowland, Newton, Giordano, Deluca, Ganim, etc.) And the reason it's typically the feds is that state investigators lack certain authorities, such as subpoena power, that are generally granted to federal investigators.

This lack of investigative ability first came to my attention in 2007 when I read this NYTimes editorial. And nothing has changed since then, as indicated in this December 28, 2012 Courant editorial:

We support any new effort to grant investigative subpoena power to state prosecutors.

Why do federal prosecutors crack most high-profile white-collar-crime cases in Connecticut — such as the Rowland scandal and the ongoing investigation into Chris Donovan's congressional campaign committee? Because they can compel testimony.

Give state prosecutors the tools to do the job.

And if you want to track the progress of this bill, click here.

Tim White