State Senator Gaffey fined

Hartford (WTNH) - One of the highest ranking State Senators has paid a near-record fine for double-billing expenses. State Senator Tom Gaffey of Meriden is apologizing and said it was just sloppiness by him and his political action committee treasurer.

News Channel 8 first reported back in January that the seven term state senator from Meriden was being investigated for collecting reimbursement checks from his 'Political Action Committee,' called GAF-PAC, and the State of Connecticut for the same expenses over a period of several years.

There were conferences at expensive hotels around the country.

"We found that there was almost a complete lack of appropriate record keeping," said Joan Andrews of CT Elections Enforcement Committee. "There's approximately $2,800 in expenditures to attend legislative conferences that were paid for by both the State of Connecticut and the GAF-PAC."

Gaffey will pay $6,000 in fines. His PAC treasurer will pay $3,000 and he will forfeit $20,000 in political action committee funds.

"It was definitely inattentiveness to details," said Gaffey. "Some sloppy record keeping and I acknowledge that, I'll take the primary responsibility for it."

The leader in the Senate was non-committal today on whether any other discipline is warranted.

"I want to take a look at the exact settlement and the details of it before I make any further comment or decision on tha," said Sen. Don Williams.

This is not the first time Gaffey has been in ethical trouble.

A year and a half ago, Gaffey had to apologize and resign from the Higher Education Committee for not disclosing he was having an affair with Jill Ferraiolo who is an associate vice chancellor of Connecticut State University and was lobbying the committee for money from the state for the college.

Some in the Senate believe that Gaffey's conduct and the conduct of others demonstrates a need for a way for lawmakers to police themselves.

"What we need is a permanent committee on ethics within the legislature," said Sen. John McKinney. "For over a year, I've pushed my Democratic colleagues to put together and negotiate that permanent committee."

McKinney notes that this idea isn't just about Gaffey; there have been other state lawmakers with problems and that Democratic Senator Ed Meyer of Branford is also trying to get this done.