Legal Fees Devouring House Republican Campaign Funds.

Connecticut’s state House Republican campaign operation has been stymied by legal fees incurred in a federal criminal investigation. In the second quarter of 2014, two House Republican campaign committees spent two thirds of the amount they raised on fees to Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin.

Campaign finance records reveal that two committees controlled by House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero and his leadership claque, New Friends and House Republican Campaign Committee, incurred legal fees in the second quarter of the year of more than $22,000. During the same period, the committees raised about $32,000. That’s a hefty price for Republican incumbents and other hopefuls to pay for the federal investigation that threw Cafero’s operation into upheaval early this year.

Explanations of the status of the investigation and the cost imposed on House candidates have been thin on the ground. The revelations of the spending to protect the caucus leadership at the expense of candidates may cause uncomfortable questions to be posed to Themis Klarides, the Republican who hopes to succeed Cafero, and her deputy, Vincent Candelora, as caucus members approach a vote on a new leader. Slim resources spent to find receipts and other documents or explain their absence to persistent investigators is not where supporters expect their donations to go.

House Republican incumbents and new candidates need a clearer picture of the ongoing investigation and its high cost to their campaigns.