January 31, 2005

REP. DILLON PROPOSES ETHICS OVERHAUL
FOR TRUSTEES AT STATE’S UNIVERSITIES
Bill would restrict the solicitation of political contributions by trustees

Representative Patricia Dillon (D-New Haven) has authored ethics legislation that would allow public institutions of higher learning to draw from a broad pool of candidates to serve on their boards of trustees, but would prohibit trustees from accepting political contributions from contractors who do work for such institutions.

"In the past ten years we have authorized about $2.727-billion in bonding for construction at our institutions for higher education," Rep. Dillon said. "It is funding that I supported. But that type of money certainly brings with it the opportunity for corruption. It seems to me that a contractor seeking to do work in our state system should not be shaken down for political contributions by trustees with political connections or political ambitions."

Rep. Dillon’s bill was a response to a proposal from Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz that would restrict all state lobbyists from serving on state boards and commissions.

Rep. Dillon said, "Other ethics proposals that seek to ban lobbyists from serving on state boards and commissions are too broad. We should be surgical in our approach; we don’t need to ban qualified and dedicated people from serving. We should be targeting bad behavior, not classifying entire professions as unethical."

A public hearing by the legislature’s Higher Education Committee on the Rep. Dillon’s bill is scheduled for Tuesday.

Representative Dillon was first elected to the General Assembly in 1984. She is an Assistant Majority Leader and serves on the Higher Education and Judiciary committees.