Rell Aide And UConn Prof Consulted Constantly On Polling;
E-Mails Raise Question About What Rell Knew And When
By Jon Lender
on October 28, 2009
On July 22, the Quinnipiac University Poll
announced that a new survey showed that
Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s public approval rating
had slipped to its lowest ever: 65 percent
- which is still a high rating, but cause for
concern to Rell’s top lieutenants.
Just how much concern it caused them is
demonstrated by internal e-mails from
July 21, the day before.
They show that Rell’s intensely political
chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, asked
Rell’s recently retired press secretary,
Chris Cooper, to call Quinnipiac poll
director Douglas Schwartz in an effort to
get the results a day early - and Cooper
was successful.
Then Moody relayed the results, in an e-
mail marked “confidential,” to Kenneth
Dautrich, the University of Connecticut
pollster whose work for Rell in a $223,000
taxpayer-funded is now the subject of
multiple investigations by state agencies
for possible improper political use of
taxpayer funds. He interpreted them by
saying “65 is very good” and observing
that in the three decades since Ella Grasso
was governor, only former Gov. John G.
Rowland and Rell “have topped 65.”
The July 21 e-mails, showing that Rell’s
office got an early glimpse of the Q-Poll,
are part of mass disclosures of documents
that Rell’s office made this week to news
reporters and to state auditors who are
investigating the Rell administration’s
no-bid contract with Dautrich through
UConn, where he is a professor.
Rell and Dautrich have denied that the
study - ostensibly aimed at finding ways
to streamline state government - strayed
improperly into providing political advice
to Rell during the current period in which
she must decide whether to go forward
with a candidacy for re-election next year.
However, it is now clear from these and
previously released documents that Rell’s
people have constantly obtained political
advice from Dautrich since mid-2008,
when he began the government-efficiency
study that is scheduled to run through
the end of next year - even if, as he has
said, his frequent political exchanges with
Moody and other Rell lieutenants were not
part of the study.
The e-mails also show a preoccupation
with polling by an administration whose
chief executive has said touted government
ethics and said that she has no interest in
politics-as-usual.
“Can you call Doug Schwartz?” Moody
asked Cooper in a 3:44 p.m. e-mail on
July 21, referring to the Quinnipiac poll
director.
“He just called me back,” Cooper replied
in a 4:02 p.m. e-mail to Moody, adding:
“Gov’s approval down to 65 percent from
72 percent. Legislative D’s [Democrats’]
approval is at 39 percent. ... Schwartz says
in all states they poll, Governors’ approval
are down about 10 percent (Gov Rell down
7 percent). Doug also notes that 65 percent
is a very healthy approval rating under any
scenario, much less this current budget
scenario.”
Then Moody relayed the information via
e-mail to Dautrich at 4:22 p.m. under the
“confidential” label, and he responded
at 6:07 p.m. with the e-mail calling 65
percent “very good.” He added a caution:
“The trend is not good -- BUT, we know
the potential floor is 50, since it is 50 that
approve of her job on the [state] budget. ...
That’s still not too bad.”
“You bring me down, Dautrich! I’m
thrilled - have another G + T,” Moody
replied.
“Better for you to get advice from cautious
neurotics than polyanish optimists,”
Dautrich wrote back at 7:44 p.m.
Moody called that “the quote of the year”
- in an e-mail reply on July 22, the day the
poll came out.
[On Wednesday morning, after reading
this blog item, the state Democratic
Party’s spokeswoman, Colleen Flanagan,
called it the “quote of the day.” She
added: “Surprisingly, neither Dautrich
nor Moody were cautiously neurotic
about using state email/time/resources to
conduct blatantly political business.”]
Dautrich followed up the e-mail exchange
at 6:34 a.m. on July 22, saying that 58
percent of survey respondents said Rell
deserves re-election, up 5 percentage
points from the year before - and he
enthusiastically noted that “most of the
increase comes from independents!”
He added: “So, in terms of electoral
positioning, the Gov has fortified her
prospects over the past six months!
The important trend is up, not down.
Congrats.” .
Moody replied: “Thank you, my favorite
cautious neurotic.”
When Schwartz was asked if it was the
Quinnipiac University Poll’s policy to
reveal results in advance to interested
parties such as Cooper, Moody and
Dautrich, he referred the question to
Patrick M. Smith, executive vice president
of Rubenstein Associates, Inc., a major
New York public relations firm that
represents the Q-Poll.
Smith said: “To assure the integrity of
the polling process, we cannot discuss
how it is distributed. But the Quinnpiac
University Poll has worked hard to
maintaiin its independence, providing no
special treatment to any office holder,
candidate or media.” Asked about
Schwartz’s advance disclosure of the
poll results, Smith said, “What Doug did
complied withour practices, which have
been carried forth in every state in which
we poll.”
Smith declined to answer further questions
about who, what and when it is all right,
under Q-Poll rules, to give advance
information to.
It was also unclear whether Moody’s
disclosure of the advance information
to Dautrich may have violated whatever
understanding that Schwartz and the Q-
Poll may have with the governor’s office.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
is jointly investigating the Dautrich
contract with the state auditors, and the
State Elections Enforcement Commission
is looking into a complaint that the
arrangement violated ethics laws.
Rell’s office, while it has begun releasing
documents, also has begun declining
comments on specifics, citing the
investigations as the reason.
UConn is also conducting an inquiry to
see if Dautrich violated any ethics rules,
at least one of which bans job-related
political activity.
Meanwhile, one of the internal e-mails
may not ingratiate Dautrich with some
of his UConn colleagues. In a Jan. 15
e-mail to Moody, Dautrich praised the
administration’s publicly announced cost-
cutting efforts and offered this suggestion:
“If you really want to find excessive
salaries in administration, look at UConn’s
administration -- many non-faculty
administrators who make far more than
deputy commissioners. Cleaning house
would save millions without affecting
classes or research.”
Then, returning to a familiar theme -
polling - he asked: “Do you want to poll
test the host of possible budget cutting
measures that might be included in the
[later to be released by Rell] budget
proposal?”
Moody replied: “Do you have time today
to talk by phone?”
This was long after Rell has said that her
administration had rejected the idea of
using a poll as part of the study. Rell said
Dautrich’s original suggestion for a poll
in the study, which he brought up in June
of 2008 at its outset, had been quickly
discarded in favor of a controversial
“focus group” on citizen attitudes about
the state government and Rell’s leadership
that Dautrich ended up conducting in
December of 2008.
Dautrich has acknowledged reviewing poll
questions free of charge for a $6,000 poll
conducted last spring by Rell’s exploratory
committee for the 2010 election campaign.
This apparently is one of the questions
that the election enforcement agency
is investigating: whether Dautrich’s
involvement constituted an improper,
non-cash campaign contribution to Rell’s
committee by sparing it the expense of
preparation or review of poll questions.
The e-mails suggest that Dautrich may
have been able to get a below-normal price
for Rell’s committee because he has done
so much business in the past, on other
projects, with the New Jersey polling firm
that conducted the survey for Rell, Braun
Research. For example, on Aug. 8 at 7:23
p.m., Dautrich e-mailed Moody to say the
private poll would probably have a “total
cost of about 6,000. The costs are just for
the phone facility -- and the one I use is
very good and has given a good price on
this -- based on the volume of work I do
with him.”
The newly released e-mails show that
Dautrich’s involvement in helping to draft
the questions was more extensive than he
acknowledged in a recent interview - in
which he denied writing the poll and said
that task must have been performed by the
Braun firm.
The e-mails show that Dautrich sent
Moody several e-mails in April about
polling questions on voter attitudes
concerning Rell’s handling of the state
budget crisis.
“Lisa, here are three different approaches
to the question you raised,” Dautrich wrote
at 7:55 p.m. on April 8. “Let me know
which one you like best (warning: if you
say all 3 it will increase costs). OPTION
A: Governor Rell has proposed a plan to
balance the state budget without raising
taxes. the Democratic legislature has
proposed a plan that includes $3.6 billion
in income tax, corporate tax, and sales
trax increases. If Governor Rell stands
firm in her proposal not to raise taxes
even if it means a long budget battle with
the Democrats - would that make you
more supportive of the Governor or less
supportive?”
That was only the beginning of Option A,
and Dautrich followed up with options B
and C.
The e-mails indicate that Dautrich not
only referred Rell’s committee to Braun,
but also helped Rell’s people make billing
arrangements with the firm. “Can you give
me the billing information for the $6,000
(name of organization, to who’s attention,
address)? The bill will come from Braun
Research Inc.,” he wrote to Moody April
9.
Dautrich had asked Moody on April 8,
concerning the spring poll, “if I should log
this in as a UConn project, or not.” Moody
replied that said she “got the sign off” and
the poll would be “private” - an apparent
reference to the fact that it would be done
by Braun at the exploratory committee’s
expense.
On Aug. 8 at 7:23 p.m., Dautrich e-mailed
Moody to say the private poll would
probably have a “total cost of about 6,000.
The costs are just for the phone facility
-- and the one I use is very gopod and has
given a good price on this -- based on the
volume of work I do with him.”
When Rell was asked earlier this month
about how much she knew of Dautrich’s
involvement in reviewing the poll
questions, she said she didn’t know about
it at the time he was doing it last spring -
and only learned when she read about it in
the newspapers in recent weeks.
However, the e-mails suggest something
different. When Dautrich e-mailed Moody
on April 7 to say “attached is the poll
draft,” Moody replied that she had okayed
it and the “Governor thought it was great
too - thanks.”
Also, the poll draft that was said to be
attached did not appear in the e-mail
documents released by Rell’s office
- which has repeatedly failed in recent
months to make complete disclosures
in response to freedom of information
requests for public documents.