Facing pressure over a contracting scandal involving one of her former deputies, Melissa McCaw is stepping down as secretary of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management (OPM)-- the state's budget chief.
Gov. Ned Lamont says he did not ask for McCaw's resignation, calling her work at OPM "extraordinary." The pair met Thursday at the governor's residence, with McCaw informing Lamont that she's taking a leave of absence, ending with her resignation, and will become finance director for East Hartford.
McCaw hired former deputy Kosta Diamantis, whose actions as the state's point person for school construction contracts and other projects have come under scrutiny.
Diamantis was forced out of his job in the fall of 2021 over questions about how his daughter was hired as executive assistant to Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo as Colangelo was lobbying Mr. Diamantis for staff pay raises. Around the same time, it was learned that the FBI is investigating the matter of the state contracts handled by Mr. Diamantis.
Lamont, a Democrat, takes issue with Republican claims that his administration did not act fast enough upon learning of possible wrongdoing involving staff members: "As soon as we found out about the personnel issue between Kosta and Colangelo, we acted on that pretty darn fast... about that same time, we heard about the federal investigation, I told my team, 'You participate 100 percent. Leave no stone unturned.'"
School construction contracting was handled by Mr. Diamantis in his role under McCaw at OPM. The process has since been returned to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), where officials say they're cleaning it up.
"We've made sure that every item that we do, every policy that we have," says DAS deputy commissioner Noel Petra, "every rule, every regulation is consistent with statute. We've had to change some things."
Republican lawmakers have been calling for a legislative investigation of the school construction program, an idea Democrats have rejected.
"Democrats' rejection of our call for a thorough legislative inquiry into school construction-related processes should disappoint Connecticut residents who value transparency," says House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford).
Another deputy at OPM, Jeff Beckham, becomes acting commissioner.
