Investigation of DeLuca Begins.

And this scandal is in Connecticut...

HARTFORD-A somber tone filled the halls of the State Capitol building Tuesday morning as a bipartisan committee of six state senators gathered to begin reviewing the events leading to the guilty plea in early June by State Sen. Louis DeLuca (R-Woodbury) to a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to commit threatening in the second degree with James Galante, a Danbury businessman who owns trash-hauling companies and has been the target of a wide-ranging federal investigation into organized crime.


With Mr. DeLuca standing firm in his refusal to resign from the Senate, the committee is charged with recommending if he should be expelled, censured, reprimanded or face no action.

State Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-Goshen) co-chairs the committee with State Sen. Martin Looney (D-New Haven), and hours before convening the first meeting he noted the importance of not only deciding the fate of Mr. DeLuca, but also in setting a precedent for reviewing the conduct of colleagues-something Mr. Roraback said has not occurred in the Senate in what he called the modern era.

"We are sailing in uncharted waters," said Mr. Roraback of himself and fellow Sens. Donald DeFronzo (D-New Britain), Anthony Guglielmo (R-Stafford Springs), William Nickerson (R-Greenwich) and Andrea Stillman (D-Waterford). "We recognize that it is Senator DeLuca that brings us together, but we also recognize that we are going to be setting a precedent for all time. ... None of my colleagues campaigned for this responsibility and I think each of us kind of accepted out of respect for the institution."

In the past 30 to 40 years there have been two impeachment inquiries and two censure processes in the House of Representatives, Mr. Roraback noted. In 2005, the state legislature formed a Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board in response to the scandal that led to the resignation of former Gov. John Rowland. At the time, Mr. DeLuca acknowledged the public's urging of the General Assembly to "entrust our new ethics commission in the hands of those who are above the fray of politics."

"I think that voters happily are increasingly attentive to the propriety of the conduct of their elected officials," said Mr. Roraback of the public's demand for accountability in its elected officials. Mr. DeLuca is not alone in facing an ethics scandal. Nationally, senators are calling for Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's resignation following his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a recent incident in an airport bathroom with an undercover law enforcement agent.

More on the story.

Book em, Markie! ;-)