FOI panel denies newspaper access to trash-authority records
By The Associated Press
10.11.02
HARTFORD, Conn. — The state trash authority does not have to make public eight documents related to its failed $220 million deal with Enron Corp., the state Freedom of Information Commission ruled this week.
The Journal Inquirer of Manchester filed an FOI request in March, seeking records of the communications between the trash authority and Gov. John G. Rowland's office since January 1998, more than two years before the agency agreed to the deal with now-bankrupt Enron.
Specifically, the newspaper wanted any communication with Peter Ellef, who previously served as both co-chief of staff for Rowland and chairman of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority. The CRRA refused to release the documents, and commission hearing officer Eric Turner recommended in September that the commission side with the CRRA.
On Oct. 9, the commission upheld Turner's finding that seven of the documents would be exempt from disclosure because of attorney-client privilege, while the eighth was exempt because it involved pending court cases.
Seven of the documents are memos written by former CRRA president Robert Wright. Wright is an attorney, but the parties involved in the FOI request disagreed on whether he was acting as an attorney in writing the memos.
Paul Green, the Journal Inquirer's state editor, argued Oct. 9 that the application of attorney-client privilege in the case was improper.
"To say that they have an attorney-client privilege just because Mr. Wright happens to be an attorney is a gross misunderstanding of the attorney-client privilege," Green told the commission.
Peter W. Hull, a Hartford attorney representing CRRA, said Wright was providing legal advice in the memos.
"The law does not permit CRRA or anyone else to selectively waive the attorney-client privilege," Hull told the commission.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Green said the ruling set a bad precedent.
"I think all journalists now are going to have a very, very hard time getting documents," Green said.
CRRA chairman Michael Pace said releasing the documents could have harmed the state's attempts to recover the $220 million.
"Now we can move forward with the incredibly difficult task at hand of righting this organization," he said in a statement.
Green said the newspaper probably wouldn't appeal.
Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Curry repeated his call yesterday for the governor to release all correspondence regarding CRRA's deal with Enron.
But Rowland, a Republican, said his office already has turned over every document it had about the arrangement. Rowland also said he can't order the CRRA to release any of the memos.
"I have told them to release the documents on numerous occasions and they do not have to follow the orders of this governor or any governor," Rowland said.
Curry said he believes Rowland has the power and ability to make the documents available to the public. He said citizens need to understand who gave the order to make the deal with Enron.
"For the governor to suggest that he's asked CRRA to release the documents, but they've refused, is ridiculous," Curry said. "The CRRA is a state agency. The governor appoints its chairman and a majority of its board. If the governor wants to be true to his word, he should simply pick up the phone and order CRRA to release the material."
Rowland said CRRA is a quasi public agency established by the General Assembly, and he has no authority over the group. Rowland said he did appoint Pace, the new chairman, who was one of the harshest critics of CRRA.
When asked why Curry insists he has such power, Rowland said, "He doesn't understand what it's like to be governor."
CRRA and Enron signed a deal in December 2000 in which the authority gave Enron $220 million up front. In exchange, Enron agreed to pay the authority $26.4 million a year for power from a Hartford trash-to-energy plant, which Enron would then sell on the open market. The deal went sour when Enron filed for bankruptcy.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has called the deal an illegal loan. CRRA officials have said it was a legitimate energy transaction.
Blumenthal has filed lawsuits against two law firms who advised the CRRA on the deal. A recent lawsuit filed by the town of Rocky Hill alleges that Enron got the CRRA contract in exchange for contributions to Rowland's re-election campaign and to the Republican Governors Association. Rowland denied the allegations and called the lawsuit a politically motivated ploy just before the November election.
Days before the deal was signed, Rowland and Enron representatives gathered for what the governor's administration called a meeting to get acquainted. Ten months later, a consultant who was at that meeting held a fund-raiser for Rowland. The governor has said the CRRA deal was not discussed at the Enron meeting and the meeting was not connected to the fund-raiser.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Rocky Hill said this week that a high-ranking Democratic official pressured her town to drop its lawsuit.
Mayor Barbara Surwilo said Richard Tulisano, chief of staff to House Speaker Moira Lyons, told her the town could lose state bonding money if it continues with the lawsuit.
Tulisano, a former Democratic state representative from Rocky Hill, said Surwilo may have misinterpreted his remarks.