Scandal Watch: What We Must Know From Melissa McCaw’s Thursday Budget Meeting.
Two programs in OPM Secretary Melissa McCaw’s agency, school construction and the state pier project, are the subject of a federal criminal investigation. School construction has been taken from her after her deputy, Kostantinos Diamantis, was suspended in October. He retired but is seeking to return to his job as the head of the school construction program. The state pier project remains under her jurisdiction. This is unprecedented in a state that has endured frequent corruption scandals. Thursday’s Appropriations Committee meeting with McCaw provides a rare opportunity to pose questions and hear answers in public on matters of urgent public interest.
Here are some essential questions for McCaw:
Have federal criminal investigators contacted you about their investigation of the school construction grants program and the state pier project? Have you retained legal counsel to represent you in the investigation? Do your interests diverge from those of the state? Will you tell the public immediately if you are questioned or served an individual subpoena for documents?
Have you participated in complying with the subpoena served on the state?
How did you supervise Mr. Diamantis’s management of the school construction grants program?
Did you have any concerns that a Bristol company that had never built a school was hired without the benefit of competitive bidding to build a school in Tolland? Have you met Antoinette DiBenedetto-Roy of Construction Advocacy Professionals (CAP)? When did you learn that CAP was working on school construction projects and had hired your deputy’s daughter?
In a November 2019 memorandum of understanding, you and former DAS commissioner Josh Geballe extolled the advantages of moving the school construction grants program from DAS to OPM. Why was the school construction program returned to DAS after Mr. Diamantis was suspended and then retired? Why were the advantages you included in a memorandum of understanding no longer relevant to the effective administration of the program?
Did you participate in the decision to suspend Mr. Diamantis? Do you agree with Governor Lamont’s decision to suspend Mr. Diamantis?
Published February 9, 2022.