Lamont to look into usage of state-owned vehicles

Gov. Ned Lamont is considering hiring a third-party to look into how his staff uses state-owned vehicles.

Lamont confirmed he’s considering the step in response to a report on former chief of staff Jonathan Dach’s usage of such a vehicle.

“I think we’re going to take a look at that, not in regards to that particular incident, but we have a few government cars that are supposed to be used for work-related purposes,” Lamont said Thursday.

CT Inside Investigator, a news outlet affiliated with the conservative Yankee Institute, reported last month that Dach had driven a state-owned vehicle 12,000 miles over a year-and-a-half span, according to GPS data.

That includes weekend trips, according to the report. GPS data also showed the vehicle at times traveled faster than 85 miles per hour, and was parked outside breweries and a concern venue.

The report didn’t identify any wrongdoing for Dach, and Lamont noted the chief of staff position comes with a lot of demands and requires significant travel.

“It's a 24-hour a day, seven-day a week job, back-and-forth nonstop but you’re right, if there are some things that are purely for personal purposes, he’s got to reimburse the state and he will,” Lamont said.

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He also said the query will look into how others use state-owned vehicles.

Republicans welcomed the investigation as a way to determine if Dach misused his vehicle.

“That's the important reason as to why the investigation is necessary, because there’s certain things we’ve seen from that report that’s extremely alarming,” Sen. Stephen Harding (R-Minority Leader) said.

Harding agreed that he has not seen proof of misuse.

He also said, though, that he wanted more efforts to provide transparency around how state employees use state-owned property. He pointed to audits that have also found misuse.

“This is hard-earned taxpayer money, there needs to be significant transparency in it's usage,” Harding said.