Taxpayers shoulder $27K from House GOP contracting probe

George Gallo, seen in this 2006 file photo when he was state Republican Party chairman, abruptly resigned in February 2014 as chief of staff of the House GOP amid a federal probe into the alleged steering of direct mail contracts to printing companies in Florida and Ohio.

George Gallo, seen in this 2006 file photo when he was state Republican Party chairman, abruptly resigned in February 2014 as chief of staff of the House GOP amid a federal probe into the alleged steering of direct mail contracts to printing companies in Florida and Ohio.

The collateral damage from a Justice Department probe into a contracting scandal in the House Republican caucus now has a price tag for Connecticut taxpayers: $27,126.74.

That’s how much the Office of Legislative Management says it spent to hire an attorney for the House GOP office, which was subpoenaed in February 2014 for all records relating to direct mail contracts awarded by its former chief of staff, George Gallo.

Gallo, a former state Republican Party chairman and one-time campaign manager for former Gov. John G. Rowland, abruptly resigned from the leadership post at the caucus a year ago.

Federal investigators are delving into the relationship between Gallo and vendors in Florida and Ohio that routinely won printing and direct mail contracts from the caucus.

“To my knowledge, the investigation is still ongoing,” former House GOP Leader Larry Cafero Jr. said in a recent interview with Hearst Connecticut Media.

Hubert Santos, the Hartford lawyer for Gallo, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The feds additionally subpoenaed the campaign committee of the House GOP and an ancillary fundraising account set up by Republicans under the name of the New Friends PAC for all correspondence on the matter.

Because the work of the committees is political in nature, the caucus had to hire its own lawyer at a cost of $52,000 that was absorbed by the House GOP.

Neil Vigdor