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More information is surfacing about last Wednesday’s abrupt resignation of Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie, hired two years ago by the now retiring Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to reform the beleaguered agency.

Rell told the CT Mirror today that Marie’s departure was the result of an allegation about harassment. Last week her administration said Marie wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue other long-term employment. And Marie in a phone interview at the time said his departure was planned and amicable.

The harassment rumor has been gaining traction for a week now and we asked Marie about it last Wednesday but withheld his response from print because there was no official confirmation.

“You don’t expect me to actually respond to that?” Marie said at the time. “I have an impeccable record, and I know of no complaints made against me and have always worked in a very ethical manner.”

He continued: “That’s bad information and I don’t know where you are getting it from … I certainly hope that isn’t going in a story … I doubt anything like that is going to surface.”

The pressure has clearly been on Rell to be more forthcoming. Right before the CT Mirror story broke I sent a Freedom of Information request to Rell’s office and the DOT seeking what I was told by sources was an agreement Marie signed regarding his departure. We also had a pending FOI request, submitted late last week, for about a month’s worth of Marie’s e-mails as well as his most recent schedules to try and determine whether his resignation was truly planned.

Rell released that agreement to the CT Mirror and I’m told she’ll be issuing a general press statement later today.

UPDATE:

Rell’s statement:

Governor M. Jodi Rell today issued the following statement on the letter of resignation and stipulated agreement signed by former Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Joseph F. Marie:

“My office was contacted by a person representing a DOT employee who had alleged inappropriate behavior by the Commissioner. Legal counsel for the Governor’s Office conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegation.

“No formal complaint of any kind was ever filed and no formal investigation was ever conducted.

“However, at the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, Commissioner Marie was offered an opportunity to resign and he did so. He also signed a stipulated agreement that required him to return all state equipment, including computers, cell phones and cars; restricted his access to all state facilities; and barred him from contacting or criticizing any state employees or administration officials.

“I moved expeditiously in seeking this resignation – first and foremost, to end any alleged inappropriate and unacceptable behavior, and also to resolve the situation in a way that was respectful to the employee involved and all of the people affected, including innocent family members.”

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Something to mull over on this holiday weekend.

Lisa Wilson-Foley is hoping to defeat Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, the man Republican Party delegates nominated for lieutenant governor, in August’s primary.

The Republican gubernatorial nominee is Tom Foley of Greenwich.

I’m well aware that the following observations will cause a bit of eye-rolling, but indulge me…

Just imagine the questions that will arise if Foley/Wilson-Foley are elected. You know there are residents and out-of-staters who will be wondering if the two are married/related.

“I’ve already been asked that. Just this morning my wife asked me that because Lisa had an ad on TV and she said ‘that’s not Foley’s wife, is it?’ So people are asking,” said Gary Rose, politics professor at Sacred Heart University.

Does Connecticut really want to be the state that constantly has to clarify the relationship status of its governor and lieutenant governor?

Also Wilson-Foley has the same first name as Foley’s ex-wife, which is kind of awkward because Tom and Lisa Foley’s tumultuous divorce has been generating some unwanted headlines for the gubernatorial candidate.

I now await the e-mails/phone calls from Foley and Wilson-Foley supporters urging me to look beyond the superficial and consider their credentials…

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Former independent Governor Lowell Weicker, the man responsible for the state income tax, has been making the rounds recently in Connecticut talking about the budget crisis and political affairs.

Weicker’s latest stop was to tape Dennis House’s “Face the State” Sunday morning news program. According to House, Weicker this weekend will deliver a blistering critique of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and his now notorious misstatements about his military service.

“I think anyone who dissembles their military service dishonors those who served and those who died in service of the United States and does not commend them to be a United States senator,” Weicker told House.

Weicker, himself a former Senator who lost to Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Stamford but who was supporting incumbent Chris Dodd before he announced his retirement, is also on the board of directors of Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment. Linda McMahon, whose family owns WWE, is the self-funded Republican nominee for Senate and Weicker, not unexpectedly, had much kinder things to say about her.

But Weicker is backing Blumenthal’s fellow Greenwich Democrat, Ned Lamont, for governor, and Lamont fancies himself another Weicker. You can read more about that here and here.

I reached out to the Lamont campaign today wondering what the candidate made of Weicker’s now widely circulated criticism of Blumenthal and if he is disappointed in his role model. The e-mailed response? “I strongly support Dick Blumenthal as the best qualified candidate to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate.”

It’s not exactly Weicker-esque tough talk, but I guess it’s too much to think Lamont would be any sterner with an idol.

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dannel Malloy issued a statement today that he would begin the search for a new transportation commissioner at home.

Retiring Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Wednesday announced the sudden resignation of DOT Chief Joseph Marie, who came to Connecticut from Arizona in 2008.

“If I were governor, I’d look in Connecticut first,” Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, said. “Without question we always want the most qualified person for the job; and, if we can’t find the right person for the job in Connecticut, then looking elsewhere is of course the right thing to do. But there is something to be said for homegrown talent. People who are known quantities are less likely to surprise you in bad ways. They’re better able to navigate the political culture of Connecticut’s state government. They’re more likely to understand the history of transportation-related issues in Connecticut. I sometimes think we’ve fallen into a habit where we push the ‘national search’ button reflexively…”

That was not what some lawmakers and transportation advocates were saying back in 2007 in 2008. At that point in time the complaint was the DOT was broken and Connecticut for too long (at least two decades) had promoted from within rather than seeking an outsider who could bring a fresh perspective to the DOT and shake it up.

“Somebody who’s spent 10, 20, 30 years within the department has the cultural moss that’s grown up over them,” Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, a member of the legislature’s transportation committee, said in March, 2008 when it was announced Rell was considering Marie and another out-of-state candidate for the job. “In-house candidates have an institutional knowledge and expertise, but they also sometimes have become paralyzed by all of the problems that the department has developed.”

And Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, also in March, 2008 said hiring an out-of-stater meant “it’s a fresh start. It’s a clean slate for everybody within the agency. In no way do I want to stifle the ambition of people within (the DOT) to move up. The issue is we need to look at experience and best practices of other agencies across the country and bring some fresh ideas and perspective to that important job.”

UPDATE: Malloy spokesman Brian Durand sent me the following e-mail: “Just want to be clear on Dan’s statement earlier – he didn’t say or suggest that looking in Connecticut first meant looking only within DOT, which is what it sounds like the criticism was in 07-08 based on your post.  There are a lot of talented people in state government, but there are also a lot of talented people in the private sector.”

Durand makes a valid point. But having covered the hiring of Marie a few years ago I know people were very excited that a national search had been launched for a new DOT Commissioner and that he was from out-of-state.