Opinion: Republicans want to close down the candy store at CT State Capitol

Hartford Courant – Friday, October 10, 2025
By State Rep. Vincent J. Candelora and State Senator Stephen Harding

House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield

“Like a kid in a candy store.”

The idiom conjures up an image of a child viewing a tempting variety of sweet treat options.

Here in one-party Democrat rule Connecticut, our state government grant allotment system unfortunately now resembles a candy store. The ‘candy’ is your tax dollars. The overexcited kids in the store are majority state lawmakers.

Republicans want to close down the candy store at the State Capitol.

Taxpayer money, your money, must be respected. We don’t feel it is being respected. Here’s why.

As working families struggle with electric bills and rising costs, a troubling pattern has been exposed in state government. We view it as a creeping culture of corruption. From the State Pier debacle to the CSCU chancellor scandal to the ongoing Kostas Diamantis federal corruption trial, the disrespect for taxpayers’ money is widespread in Connecticut state government.

Mismanagement. A lack of oversight and accountability. Recklessness. Arrogance. Your money getting wasted again and again.

We now see that lack of respect with regard to taxpayer-funded grants for nonprofits. This money gets divvied out with minimal vetting and little to no transparency. Hundreds of these earmarks are simply written as a name and a dollar amount. No description of purpose. No performance requirements. No deliverables. Just a check, paid for by you, the taxpayer.

Imagine being asked to vote on millions and millions of dollars in grants for groups and initiatives you have never heard of and can find no information on? Examples of grantees this year include:

“Sports Academy” got $250,000 of your money. It is unclear what “Sports Academy” is, or does. The only organization with an exact match of this name that registered with the state was dissolved in 2021.

Blue Hills Civic Association, Inc. received $20,000. This organization is under investigation. It has received $14.4 million from state taxpayers since 2016 with a vast majority coming in the past four years.

“Jeep Enthusiasts of Connecticut” got $5,000 of your money. We do not know what that is, or why it was on the list. Your guess is as good as ours.

Even worse, Democrats who prepare and defend their budgets during floor debates are either unable or unwilling to provide details about who requests the money, what the organization actually does, or what the money will be used for.

The Connecticut government candy store is disrespectful to taxpayers, and that must change. Republicans are proposing legislative reforms which would apply to grant recipients to ensure transparency and accountability before any nonprofits receive money from the state budget. We believe any group receiving funds must:

• Submit a written request to lawmakers that includes the amount of funds requested, the intended use of the funds, and a clear description of the public purpose of the funds
• Participate in a legislative public hearing
• Disclose any convictions of its officers or board members of any financial-related crimes
• Submit to random audits to verify that the funds are being used as intended and no more of this ‘follow the money if you can’ game

When a third-party/subsequent recipient receives funds, we want that third-party to enter into a contract with the state containing the provisions which are identical or substantially similar to the contract provisions of the grant recipient.

Republicans also want to inject transparency into the reporting process. A state grant recipient should provide a certified, detailed accounting of its budget for that includes: each amount spent on administrative costs, lobbying, political and advocacy activities; a detailed reporting of all sources of income, in addition to the state funds; a detailed accounting of all disbursements and how third-party and subsequent grant recipients spent the money they received; a list of all current board members.

Republicans hope our common sense reforms receive bipartisan support. If we are called into Special Session, we urge Democrat lawmakers to add these good government solutions to the list of action items to vote on.

We urge Democrats to work with us on these ideas. We welcome the support expressed by the governor and the speaker of the House. We should be spending taxpayer money as prudently and as transparently as possible.

Let’s take a positive step toward breaking free of the culture of corruption that is gripping Connecticut. The ‘candy store’ Connecticut government giveaways must end.

A ‘sweet’ concept? Republicans think so.

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