Sen. Doug McCrory Faces Vetoes and FBI Probe Fallout

Ned Lamont signed off on a round of line-item vetoes Tuesday that landed squarely on Sen. Doug McCrory’s district, cutting $750,000 from the Capitol Region Education Council and blocking a $330,000 grant to Our Piece of the Pie, a nonprofit serving Hartford residents. The move came as the FBI’s investigation into McCrory’s role in steering millions in state earmarks continues with no known end date, and it marked one of the sharpest public consequences the Hartford Democrat has faced since the probe became public.

McCrory works for CREC, the state’s regional education cooperative. The governor’s veto of the agency’s earmark puts McCrory in the unusual position of watching his employer lose state money tied directly to questions about his own conduct in office.

On the same day Lamont wielded the line-item veto, McCrory resigned his seat on the Community Investment Fund board, a legislative panel with authority over up to $175 million in competitive grants distributed annually across 55 eligible communities. This year, funding was temporarily scaled back to $120 million, with remaining dollars redirected to a less restrictive grant program. His departure came one week before the board was scheduled to meet and act on roughly $60 million in grants.

In a resignation letter first reported by Hearst Connecticut, McCrory described an ongoing audit of $15 million he helped direct to the Blue Hills Civic Association as a “distraction.”

“I believe this work is too important to risk jeopardizing it,” he wrote.

Lamont had previously asked McCrory to step back from several leadership positions while the federal investigation plays out, including his co-chair role on the Education Committee. McCrory declined those requests. The CIF seat is the only post he has relinquished.

The FBI’s interest in McCrory’s work extends beyond earmarks. Last summer, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas seeking emails, financial records and other documents from the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Minority Business Initiative Advisory Council, on which McCrory also sits. Among the most pointed requests: all documents related to any “personal or non-professional relationship” between McCrory and Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin, who serves as director of several organizations named in the subpoenas and who has benefited significantly from grants McCrory helped steer.

McCrory has not disclosed the nature of his relationship with Cicero-Hamlin. He maintained that position Wednesday, saying he has known her for a number of years but offering nothing further.

The day after the vetoes, McCrory appeared alongside Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney of New Haven and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk at a press conference pushing for reform of Connecticut’s education funding formulas. His presence was notable given the political pressure building around him.

“I spent my entire career here trying to make every child receive a quality education, no matter what ZIP code they lived in,” McCrory said. “That’s been my goal ever since I stepped foot in this building. We’re not there yet.”

McCrory is in his 21st year as a state lawmaker and spent years as an educator before entering public office. His ability to deliver funding to a low-income Hartford district has been central to his identity as a legislator. Earmarks and competitive grants are the currency of urban representation at the Capitol, and losing access to both simultaneously is a serious blow to a senator whose constituents have limited margin for error in the state budget.

For now, McCrory continues to show up, speak at press conferences and push legislation. He has not been charged with any crime, and the federal investigation remains open-ended. But the combination of the FBI probe, the CIF resignation, and the governor’s vetoes has begun to erode the tools he relied on most. Whatever his future in the Senate, the pipeline of state dollars to his district has narrowed, and it is narrowing fast.