Fate of FOI commission still uncertain

The passage and signing of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 2011-13 biennial budget last week did not ease uncertainty for many state employees and entire commissions, which stand to be reduced and/or eliminated when lawmakers begin figuring out how to distribute the money — and supporters of at least one commission are hoping to survive the shuffle.Mitchell Pearlman, former executive director of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC), said in an interview Monday that he remains worried that a planned restructuring of agencies in Malloy’s budget will greatly reduce the effectiveness of the commission. But with budget numbers and implementer bills yet to be worked out, he acknowledged that anything can happen in the coming weeks.“The latest news I have is the state has budgeted for a new Office of Governmental Accountability (OGA), and de-funding certain agencies will go into that,” Pearlman said in a phone interview. “I don’t know if it’s gone so far as to even say it’s a concept. They want to join agencies together for economy and efficiency purposes, but I’m not sure they’ve worked out anything.”The Malloy administration announced weeks ago that it was planning to form the OGA, a new umbrella agency which would include the FOIC and four other agencies — the Contracting Standards board, Ethics Commission, State Elections Enforcement Commission and Judicial Review board — and would share one commissioner. That commissioner would oversee three divisions — legal affairs and enforcement, public affairs and services and business operations.“They keep talking about sharing back-office functions, but I haven’t seen any organizational chart,” Pearlman said. “The original proposal had five agencies, but another had 11 agencies. I don’t even know who’s in and who’s out.”Gov. Malloy’s budget boasts that it cuts the total number of state agencies and commissions from 81 to 57, through reorganization and consolidation, but implementer bills must be debated and passed in the Connecticut General Assembly to put any of the plans into practice.“The only problem with the implementers is they come out at the last minute and legislators often don’t know what they’re voting on,” Pearlman said. “Often times, the legislation has problems, and there is a lack of transparency in the process. It could end up being even worse for the Freedom of Information Commission.”The good news, Pearlman said, is he has had discussions with Malloy Chief of Staff Tim Bannon regarding the proposed restructuring and has raised many of the concerns that members of the press have raised since hearing about the possible cuts to FOIC. “He’s listened to the media’s concerns with the concept of the bill and took note of the real problems that we saw. His comment was that they will attempt to do nothing that will harm the mission of the Freedom of Information Commission.”Pearlman said he doesn’t believe the Malloy administration is interested in damaging freedom of information in Connecticut, and he hopes negotiations will come to a mutually acceptable conclusion. “I take the governor at his word that they’re looking at reinventing government to make it more efficient and cost-effective. The problem is they’re looking at some agencies that simply don’t belong together, and some of the restructuring would politicize agencies that are non-political organizations.”Residents who are concerned about the future of FOIC or any other commission still have time to contact the governor’s office and their local legislators and ask them to pay specific attention to the issue. “The important thing is to contact them and say, ‘We think the Freedom of Information Commission has done what it’s supposed to do,’” Pearlman said. “If anything politicizes the organization, it will really harm the process, and God knows we’ve had enough scandals in politics and government to make what’s there necessary.”