What others are saying…

Published Jun 11, 2012

Since we are not commenting on the ongoing investigation, we thought you might like to hear what others are saying…

CT Mirror:

[Republican House Minority Leader Lawrence F.] Cafero said he disagrees with Donovan on nearly every major political issue, but he cannot conceive of him doing anything unethical.

“I’ve known Chris for 20 years,” Cafero said. “He’s the most honest guy I ever met.”

CT Mirror:

Senate Democratic Caucus spokesman Adam Joseph said, “[Senate President Pro Tem] Don [Williams] did not have any communications with Chris regarding this bill” during the regular 2012 session, which ended May 9.

More importantly, Joseph added, Senate Democrats have talked with the speaker’s office since the regular session ended, and both sides are looking to include the measure in one of the budget policy implementation bills that are expected to be adopted in the June 12 special session.

CT Mirror:

The House chairwoman of the legislature’s tax-writing panel said Friday that neither Donovan nor his office ever reached out to her in any way regarding the roll-your-own legislation during the session.

“I never had a conversation about this bill,” said Rep. Patricia Widlitz of Guilford, “absolutely no communication at all.”

Branford Eagle:

“And as it got to the end there were questions about Chris Donovan and his involvement in the legislation which, was not at all. I never had a conversation with Chris Donovan about this bill. Not once. Ever.” – Rep. Widlitz

WTNH:

[Sen. Eileen] Daily has been co-chair [of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, the committee that had approved the "Roll Your Own" tax, for] the past 10 years and says the FBI wanted to know what connection Speaker of the House Donovan had with that bill.

Daily told the FBI, “Speaker Donovan had no connection with the ‘Roll Your Own’ bill. I never had a conversation with him, none of the staff ever asked me about anything.”

CT Mirror:

The primary reason the bill died on the Senate calendar during the regular session, Joseph said, is that Sen. Len Suzio, a Meriden Republican, had attached a controversial amendment to temporarily lower wholesale gasoline taxes this summer. Majority Democrats in the Senate already had proposed, and the full legislature had enacted, a circuit-breaker mechanism to effectively freeze the state’s wholesale gasoline levy.

“That amendment was going to be a talker,” Joseph said, adding that the Senate couldn’t afford to wage a major debate on that bill during the waning days of the regular session.

CT Mirror:

The tax proposal was a Senate bill approved by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee that never was acted on by the Senate. The bill never came before the House, so Donovan was not in a position to make a decision on whether to bring the measure to a vote.

WTNH:

Governor Malloy, who said last week that Donovan had to come forward and personally address questions in the scandal, is apparently satisfied by Donovan’s remarks so far.

“He’s met the test of dismissing the individuals, he has said he had no prior knowledge and he’s come forward to speak to the public,” Malloy said.

Roll call vote for the bill that included the Roll-Your-Own Cigarettes legislation.

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