Rell Vetoes Bills On Telecommunications,

Email, Juvenile Center

By Stephen Singer Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD (AP) — Governor M. Jodi Rell on Monday vetoed legislation that would have revised state law to free SBC Communications Inc from regulations that do not apply to new competitors to the company.

The governor also vetoed legislation that would have shielded emails of legislators and their staffs from disclosure under Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act.

The bill involving SBC, which was a high priority for the San Antonio, Texas-based firm, became snared in the final days of the legislature’s regular session last month in a dispute between SBC and a competitor seeking access to an abandoned video network.

Rell said in her veto message that she was contacted by a lawyer for that competitor, Gemini Networks Inc of Hartford, who said Jack Goldberg, a commissioner of the state Department of Public Utility Control, was involved in “negotiations and agreements’’ related to the legislation while action was pending before the DPUC.

Rell asked the State Ethics Commission to review the accusations, but the commission said it does not have jurisdiction. The Judicial Review Council also said it had no jurisdiction or authority, the governor said in her veto message to Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.

“In light of the unresolved questions concerning this legislation, I believe it is preferable to veto’’ the bill, she said. Monday was the deadline to act, she said.

Rell would not judge Goldberg, but vetoed the bill to “exercise caution and act in such a way as to preserve the integrity of the legislative process and Connecticut laws’’ by vetoing the bill.

Rell promised to sign the bill if the legislature passes it next year, “ratifying its action.’’

Goldberg would not comment.

The veto is a blow to SBC, which lobbied hard for the bill. It said it has lost more than 325,000 access lines in Connecticut in the last four years to an exploding number of unregulated cellular, cable, and Internet competitors. Changing the law would have given consumers more choices, SBC said.

John R. Emra, SBC’s lobbyist, was angry at the veto. “It’s bad for Connecticut’s consumers. They will not get choices and lower prices,’’ he said.

He called the questions raised by Gemini about Goldberg “unfounded and untrue allegations.’’

The bill would have eliminated a requirement that SBC provide cost studies each time it proposes a service or raises or cuts prices. SBC also would have been free of a requirement that the DPUC has up to 21 days to act on a filing by SBC while the time limit for competitors is five days.

Competitors and consumer advocates opposed the bill, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate and House of Representatives.

Richard Rowlenson, vice president of Gemini, said the legislation, if signed by Rell, would have put his company out of business.

Gemini won regulatory battles seeking access to the networks. Rowlenson said the victories would have been wiped out by a sentence added to the bill prohibiting state regulators from requiring SBC to lease the network.

In other business, Rell criticized the bill that would have protected emails of lawmakers and their staffs from disclosure.

“This is a classic legislative ‘rat’ — a last-minute bill intended to slip past without being noticed,’’ the governor said in a statement. “It is a blatant attempt to sidestep the spirit of Connecticut’s FOIA provisions and it is utterly unacceptable. The bill would do nothing to protect constituent privacy while decreasing public scrutiny of government operations.’’

Several legislators had said they were concerned about the privacy of constituents, especially after receiving requests for emails received on emotional issues such as civil unions for same-sex couples.

Other lawmakers who endorse privacy for their constituents had said the exemption was too broad.

Rell on Monday also vetoed a bill calling for a review of the future of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, saying it duplicates the work of a study she ordered that has been under way since April.

The governor said a provision of the bill prohibiting the school from being used as an adult prison also is unnecessary. She said she does not expect or will accept a report from Darlene Dunbar, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, that recommends transforming the juvenile training school into an adult correctional facility.

The 240-bed center in Middletown has faced problems since it opened in the summer of 2001. Critics have complained it is more like a prison than a reform school, and the $57 million facility was one of the projects scrutinized in the federal corruption investigation of former governor John G. Rowland’s administration.

“As long as I am governor, that facility will never be used for an adult prison,” she said in a statement.