Sen. Mike McLachlan, R-Danbury, just crashed and burned – narrowly – after offering an amendment to pull the State Elections Enforcement Commission, the Office of State Ethics and the Freedom of Information Commission from the Office of Government Accountability and make them independent again.
The vote was 16-18. In recent years Gov. Dannel P. Malloy succeeded in putting them under a single entity with minor offices include the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, the Judicial Review Council and the State Child Advocate.
“I think it is appropriate for this Legislature to fix the wrong that occurred in the merger, to fix the wrong that was clearly well-intentioned, to save money,” McLachlan said. “But it’s time to take the watchdog agencies out of the Office of Government Accountability.”