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"On another occasion, a sober Rowland adviser was deputized to warn another Republican she ought to start wearing underwear beneath her short skirts when she was around the governor. Mrs. Rowland was said to be especially insistent that the message be delivered."

"Connecticut's political world is tiny and given to ennui. Witness the fact that the U.S. Attorney, Kevin O'Connor, was barred from participating in the prosecution of the Rowland scandals because of his and his wife's close ties to the former governor. Kathleen O'Connor worked in the office of Rowland's legal counsel. In most places, that would raise an alarm. Connecticut only shrugs."

The infamous Ragaglia diary... the dirt that dealt the plea deal.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/northeast/hc-rennie1106.artnov06,0,4637216.column?coll=hc-utility-local-northeast

Whole Truth Left In Shadows

Kevin Rennie
NOW YOU KNOW

November 6 2005

My late father did not often talk about his experiences fighting his way across northern Europe in World War II. When he did, however, he would delight in talking about arriving in German towns shortly after the retreat of the Nazi forces. The locals, busily clearing away the rubble, would deny ever knowing any Nazis.

When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, polls showed that most Americans denied being among the 60 percent of the voters who had given him a landslide victory only two years before.

When it all goes pear shaped, we suddenly need to stare at our shoes and shrug.

So the resolution of the bribery case of Peter Ellef, his son, and William Tomasso on the eve of their trial comes as a particular disappointment. It would have offered daily opportunities to ask those still in state government what they knew as disaster danced through the state Capitol.

Everyone in the Rell administration wants to forget that they served under federal prisoner John Rowland for a decade. A trial would have required them to explain what they were doing during those years as the demimonde seized our government. Now, at the least, the public - not just the judge - deserves a definitive pre-sentencing report from prosecutors when punishment is weighed.

The tale of former Department of Children and Families Commissioner Kristine Ragaglia would have offered the most vivid evidence of the low state of the Rowland years. An ambitious woman eager to get ahead, Ragaglia made her socializing and her public duties into a potent cocktail. While ostensibly working on the best interests of the state's most troubled children, Ragaglia ceded her judgment to Ellef, Tomasso and Deputy Chief of Staff Lawrence Alibozek.

"Keep a diary in your youth, and it will keep you later," advised Mae West. Hapless Ragaglia kept her own secret account of her adventures in state government. The trial would have laid it bare.

The public would have been shocked, but not the denizens of the Capitol in the years when Ragaglia was trying to become the next big thing in Republican circles. Anyone around the governor's office in those years knew that Ragaglia was out of control and that Ellef and Tomasso were far closer to each other than a powerful public official and a state contractor should be.

Ellef's crude and obnoxious behavior at public events and private social affairs was well known to political habitués. As the years went on, Rowland's inner circle became reckless in many ways. It was an administration in which one close aide was fished out of the gutter outside a very public place not far from the Capitol late one night. On another occasion, a sober Rowland adviser was deputized to warn another Republican she ought to start wearing underwear beneath her short skirts when she was around the governor. Mrs. Rowland was said to be especially insistent that the message be delivered.

Paychecks, pensions and proximity to power kept everyone from speaking out. And Rowland was no fan of dissenting voices. Still, there was one person who worked in the administration at the Capitol whom he could not fire: Jodi Rell.

There's no reason to think that Rell knew about the hot tub given to Rowland by his cronies, improvements at the Rowland cottage made for free by a state contractor, junkets to Florida and Las Vegas or the diversions there. But she should have observed the stunning rise of lowbrows around Rowland. She must have seen some of the unusual, worrisome relationships. And in early 2003, she certainly read revelations about the abuse of power. Was she not at all concerned about the state of public affairs?

Connecticut's political world is tiny and given to ennui. Witness the fact that the U.S. Attorney, Kevin O'Connor, was barred from participating in the prosecution of the Rowland scandals because of his and his wife's close ties to the former governor. Kathleen O'Connor worked in the office of Rowland's legal counsel. In most places, that would raise an alarm. Connecticut only shrugs.

As she begins her campaign for a term of her own, Rell needs to explain her silence. She ought to tell us what she's learned about the dangerous intersection of knowledge and loyalty. Was she hopelessly unobservant or did she choose to look away at crucial times? She said in her announcement speech that she's always possessed the attributes the public hails her for, it's just they never had a chance to see them. A campaign demands more than the plateful of Pablum with a side order of self-congratulation sprinkled with tears that she served in her formal announcement.

She didn't fire many Rowland courtiers who were silent as the public trust was desecrated. She refused to cooperate with federal investigators when they asked for a limited waiver of the attorney-client privilege as they closed in on Rowland. She's done nothing to remove Republican National Committeewoman Jo McKenzie from her position, though free maintenance work done for McKenzie by the Tomassos at her former residence in Madison was going to be revealed in the Ellef trial.

Worse, Rell is bringing back some Rowland defenders for her own campaign. The New York Times reported Rowland legal counsel Ross Garber will be advising her campaign. Garber went beyond his duty of defending Rowland when he denigrated and delayed the legislature's impeachment inquiry into the governor's conduct. His revival is a smack to the responsible Republican legislators who, unlike Rell, took on Rowland.

She's also revived the political fortunes of former Republican State Chairman Herb Shepardson, who sided with Rowland over the interests of the party and the state during the scandal. Shepardson did nothing to separate the party from its doomed leader.

We've been denied a fascinating trial that would have illuminated the darkness that persists. Before the campaign becomes a series of short commercials and managed appearances, Rell should explain why her voice was stilled for so long. She should tell us what she's learned, why it won't happen again and if she regrets her silence in the hours of crisis. That ought to make for a good story, too.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant