Questions for a DAS Commissioner Nominee Michelle Gilman as a Scandal Grows.

Michelle Gilman, the Acting Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and the state’s former deputy chief operating officer, is scheduled for a confirmation hearing Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. on her nomination to lead DAS. It is an unprecedented time of scandal at the agency as a federal criminal investigation examining the state’s school construction grants program continues.

The hearing before Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee will provide legislators an opportunity to ask what Gilman knows about the investigation and what she will do to repair the agency’s deteriorating reputation.

Here are questions members might consider asking:

Former budget secretary Melissa McCaw complained of her treatment by members of Governor Lamont’s staff. Were you aware of that treatment? Did you say something when you saw something? If so, what and to whom?

Were you aware of the way other people were treated by Governor Lamont’s top advisers? Did you say something when you saw something?

In January 2019, Tolland officials learned D’Amato Construction of Bristol was going to be the contractor on the $46 million Birch Grove Primary School construction project. How did that happen? Who in addition to Kostantinos Diamantis was involved in that decision?

Was it a mistake for Josh Geballe to serve as both commissioner of DAS and the state’s chief operating officer at the same time?

You served as deputy chief operating officer in Governor Lamont’s office. Did Mr. Geballe fail to supervise adequately the school construction program before he agreed to transfer it to the Office of Policy and Management? 

The agreement to transfer school construction to OPM along with Mr. Diamantis highlighted efficiencies and synergies that would benefit the program. What were those?

Was Governor Lamont mistaken to allow the transfer of school construction program from DAS to OPM in 2019? Should the legislature have enacted a change in the law before the transfer occurred? 

Have any DAS employees been interviewed by federal criminal investigators? Have any received a subpoena to appear before the grand jury empaneled to investigate corruption in the Lamont administration? 

What will you do if any DAS employee refuses to cooperate with federal criminal investigators?

How long did it take for DAS to provide investigators information sought in the federal subpoena? How long will it take DAS to provide that information to anyone seeking it under the Freedom of Information Act? 

How long does it take DAS to respond to a request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act? What have you done so far to improve DAS’s response to FOI requests?

What is the cost in public trust of DAS’s slow response to requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act? 

On January 19, 2019, two members of the DAS staff met with Tolland officials six days after outgoing Commissioner Currey authorized the waiving of competitive bidding in the construction of the Birch Grove Primary School. Two principals of D’Amato Construction also attended that meeting. Who invited them? Why were Tolland officials told D’Amato was their construction company? 

If the federal criminal investigation determines that public money was paid to contractors as part of an illegal contact steering scheme, what will you do to recover those funds?

In August of 2010, then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a report saying that Ms. Bysiewicz’s office maintained an “inappropriate” database with 36,000 names in it containing personal information about citizens, including their race and religion. The report said there was a “reasonable perception”that the database, funded by the taxpayers, was developed “for political campaign purposes.”

You were then-Secretary of the State’s chief of staff during the period covered by the attorney general’s report. What was your role in developing, maintaining, and utilizing this database?

The attorney general’s report in 2010 named you as one of three employees who had a computer password that was used in 2007 to improperly upload 6,700 names from Ms. Bysiewicz’s 2006 re-election campaign database into her state office database.  Did you upload the names? What knowledge do you have about how those names were uploaded into the database?

Do you believe that the taxpayer funded database in the Secretary of the State’s Office was proper? 

As DAS commissioner, what would you do if you found out that such a database was being maintained in the Department of Administrative Services?

Do you have any regrets about your handling of that political database in the Secretary of the State’s office?

Posted February 28, 2022.