Attorney General Dick Blumenthal today charged that Gov. Rell and the General Assembly illegally siphoned off more than $100,000 from the sale of license plates that were marketed to state residents under the guise of funding dedicated accounts, such as neutering dogs and cats.
“I am writing to urge swift legislative action restoring charitable funds taken from the Animal Population Control account, the Greenways account and the Wildlife Conservation account of the Conservation Fund during the 2009 General Assembly session and placed in the state’s General Fund,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter unveiled at a late-monring news conference.
“Some of these funds were derived from sales of special motor vehicle license plates involving additional fees explicitly depicted by the state as charitable donations for animal population control, greenways, and wildlife conservation,” he said. “In addition, some moneys may have been separate, specific private charitable donations. These charitable funds cannot be legally used for any activity other than the contributor’s specific purpose.
Blumenthal reminded the lawmakers that last October the DEP’s Long Island Sound Fund was restored after he issued a legal opinion charging that such a transfer was illegal.
“While this legal opinion applies equally to the Animal Population Control, Greenways and Wildlife Conservation funds, funds were not restored,” he wrote. “Constitutionally, they must be restored, and legislative action may be the clearest means of doing so.”