Don’t diminish government oversight

Consolidating five state agencies to save money may seem like a fine idea on the surface. It must cost less and be more efficient to have one larger umbrella agency instead of five smaller ones, right? This is the proposal Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has made as one of his budget-cutting measures, but it’s one that is receiving a lot of criticism, for good reason.The five agencies to become one are the Freedom of Information Commission, the Office of State Ethics, the Elections Enforcement Commission, the Judicial Review Council and the State Contracting Standards Board. A cynical person might think that weakening these agencies would be right in line with the goals of any politician or public servant looking to escape accountability. And weaken them is exactly what merging these five entities would do.Mitchell W. Pearlman, who was executive director of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission for more than 30 years until his retirement, analyzed the possible consolidation in an opinion piece published by the Hartford Courant last week and printed on this newspaper’s Viewpoint page this week. He is arguably the most respected expert on Freedom of Information in the state, as well as being recognized nationally and internationally, having consulted on open information issues in many states and nations all over the world. He takes a stand against the consolidation of such important agencies, since each one has unique watchdog responsibilities that do not overlap. Pearlman makes the strong argument that such a move would result in less governmental accountability and less transparency, rather than more. Who would want that?Not anyone who remembers the culture of rampant corruption during the 1995-2004 administration of Gov. John G. Rowland. He was a popular and in many ways effective governor, winning three terms and riding a booming economy to make improvements to infrastructure (when the money found its way to the contractors who were honest), the state educational system and even the center of Hartford. Yet he also found ways to enrich himself and his supporters by circumventing checks within the system, leading to jail time and disgrace. His successor, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, tapped Pearlman to oversee the creation of the Office of State Ethics to avoid just such abuses in the future.How quickly the collective awareness of such events can dissipate. Rowland has been born again and Rell walked through her last couple of years as governor with blinders on. The Great Recession and subsequent $3.6 billion state budget deficit have created an atmosphere of desperate willingness to accept deep and dramatic cuts in order to escape even greater tax increases than will already be part of the next state budget. Now is not the time to make it harder to keep public officials accountable. While there may not be a lot of extra money floating around, that situation never stopped unethical behavior from surfacing in the past. Those who want to can still find loopholes through which to funnel money and perks to themselves and their friends. Yes, there are still dishonest people out there who would like to line their own pockets rather than serving the public good. But they’re all such nice people, right?Right. Just like John Rowland.