Garfield Deletions May Reopen Fundraiser Hearings

State elections enforcement director Jeffrey Garfield deleted relevant sections of the report his agency submitted to the General Assembly, according to the Hartford Courant. Apparently the unedited version was slipped in with a bunch of "supplemental documents," and was not among the documents originally given to the legislature.

Here are a few of the deletions:

Investigators told Rell that Moody solicited the wife of a lobbyist (George is married to a lobbyist). Rell has proclaimed that her campaign will not accept lobbyists' contributions.

When Moody handed out invitations for the Dec. 7 fundraiser to subordinates in the governor's office, she allegedly said: "I am not giving you the strong arm, but I am."

Former gubernatorial ethics counsel Rachel Rubin said she warned Moody that it was wrong to hand out invitations at the Capitol. Moody said Rubin merely told her to "be careful" about giving an invitation to a staff member she had reduced to tears moments earlier. Garfield cut Rubin's version and left Moody's in. (Lender)

This may force the Marco Polo hearings back open, especially since there's evidence in the article that Moody may have seen the unedited version of the report.

In fact, the hearings should reconvene. Then Jeffrey Garfield and Lisa Moody should both be put out to pasture.

Source

Lender, Jon. "Deleted Scenes Add To Drama." Hartford Courant 21 June, 2006.