Opinion ID: 150472
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Contribution Bans

Text: First, the CFRA prohibits state contractors and lobbyists from making campaign contributions to candidates for state office. See Conn. Gen.Stat. §§ 9-610(g), 9-612(g)(2)(A)-(B). The CFRA's ban on contractor contributions applies to any person, business entity or nonprofit organization that enters into a state contract. Id. § 9-612(g)(1)(D). It also applies to any prospective contractor; to any principal of a contractor or prospective contractor; and to the spouse or dependent child [2] of a contractor, a prospective contractor, or a principal of a contractor or prospective contractor. Id. § 9-612(g)(2). (We discuss these terms in detail below.) In addition, the ban on contractor contributions is what might be called branch specific. If the contract in question is with or from a state agency in the executive branch, the contractor may contribute to a candidate for the General Assembly but not to a candidate for an executive office ( i.e., a candidate for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, Secretary of the State or State Treasurer). Id. § 9-612(g)(2)(A). If the contract in question is with or from the General Assembly, the contractor may contribute to a candidate for an executive office but not to a candidate for the General Assembly. Id. § 9-612(g)(2)(B). [3] Nonetheless, any holder, or principal of a holder of a valid prequalification certificate, such a certification being required in order to bid or perform work on certain high-cost, state-funded projects, is precluded from contributing to candidates for either branch of government. Id. § 9-612(g)(2)(A)-(B). Further, all individuals and entities covered by the contractor ban are prohibited from contributing to any state or town [p]arty committee. Id. § 9-601(1)-(2). The CFRA's ban on lobbyist contributions applies to any communicator lobbyist, defined (a) as someone compensated for lobbying over the threshold amount of $2,000 in any calendar year, Green Party I, 590 F.Supp.2d at 295 n. 3 (quoting State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) Declaratory Ruling 2006-1, at 2), and (b) as a lobbyist who communicates directly or solicits others to communicate with an official or his staff in the legislative or executive branch of government or in a quasi-public agency for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 1-91(v). The ban on lobbyist contributions also applies to the spouse or dependent child of a communicator lobbyist. See id. § 9-610(g) (applying the ban to the immediate family of a communicator lobbyist); id. § 9-601(24) (defining [i]mmediate family as the spouse or a dependent child of an individual). [4]