SEEC Sends Ingraham Election Case to Enforcement Unit; Denies Grant

The State Election Enforcement Commission’s (SEEC) will conduct an inquiry into Ray Ingraham’s public financing campaign application in connection with his race for state representative on the Republican ticket. The SEEC also voted yesterday to deny Ingraham’s grant application for state public campaign funding based on the application itself.

Ingraham, the chair of Branford’s Republican Town Committee and the majority leader of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), announced he was quitting the state rep race a week ago. The SEEC had been questioning the authenticity of his campaign application, delaying his funding under the Citizens Election Program (CEP). He also cited personal reasons for his withdrawal from the race. 

When the SEEC met late yesterday afternoon, it acted on a number of campaign applications, including Ingraham’s. Whether he had quit the race or not was not a consideration and was not before the commission; it voted only on the merits of the campaign financing application in front of them, SEEC spokesman Joshua Foley said in an interview today.

The commission also decided to refer Ingraham’s case to its enforcement unit for further investigation.

In a statement to the press last week, Ingraham admitted he made a ​“serious error in judgment” when he signed four donor contribution forms in his application for state public financing for his campaign. 

The Role of the Enforcement Unit

The enforcement unit investigates potential violations of the state’s election laws. An attorney and an investigator will be assigned to the Ingraham case, Foley said. They will investigate and make a recommendation to the commission, a process that may take time, depending upon how complicated the matter is and how cooperative everybody involved is, he said.

There may be several possible recommendations. ​“The commission has the power to fine. That is typically the outcome if violations are found,” Foley said. But the enforcement unit also has the authority to refer matters to the chief state’s attorney, ​“if they suspect there may be criminal malfeasance,” he added. The unit, he said, ​“would evaluate if this potentially fell into that category.” Ingraham was last on the SEEC calendar in June. At that time, the minutes said his application for public financing was pending. 

Ingraham said in a previous statement that he loved the town of Branford and intended ​“to work hard for it as a member of the RTM.” What impact the SEEC inquiry will have on Ingraham’s ability to serve as a leader on the RTM, remains unclear.

Selectman Ahern Weighs In

The question of how Ingraham’s SEEC investigation might affect the town was raised Wednesday night during the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting. Third Selectman Jack Ahern (on right), the sole Democrat on the three-member board, said he sent an email to Town Attorney Bill Aniskovich Wednesday morning and copied it to First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove (on left).

Ahern sent his email to Aniskovich hours before the SEEC formally met to act on the Ingraham case. He also asked that the email be officially placed on the agenda as correspondence.

The email stated: ​“Can you please let me know what the procedure is for violations of the SEEC with regards to Town officials. Is this something that needs to be addressed by the Ethics Committee? Who or what entity makes that decision? How do we ensure the citizens of Branford are protected?”

Ahern said he had not yet received an answer from Aniskovich.

“Right now it’s really in the hands of the SEEC,” Cosgrove told Ahern.

Ahern later told the Eagle he sent his questions to the town attorney because Ingraham holds both an elected position and a leadership role in town.

“It would seem to me that some town entity needs to look at this,” Ahern told the Eagle.

State Campaign Financing

Typically SEEC staffers who review campaign financing forms are extremely thorough because public funds are at stake. 

The four donors were contacted by SEEC officials to determine if they actually signed the forms. They said they had not. Ingraham has admitted signing the signatures of four online contributors in order ​“to speed up the process.”

He also said the four donors gave him permission to sign their names. Whether that is relevant legally was a question the Eagle asked Foley. ​“I can’t comment on that,” he said. 

Because of the SEEC inquiry, Ingraham’s effort to obtain public funds for the November election ground to a halt. ​“This is my fault, and was avoidable,” he said in admitting last week that he failed to follow the rules. 

Ingraham, who has served as the majority leader of the RTM since 2013, announced in April that he would run against incumbent State Rep. Lonnie Reed (D‑102nd). He then applied for campaign financing through the CEP, which enables candidates to raise small donations in order to receive a public grant to fund their campaign.

According to state law, the Republicans may put up another candidate to run against Reed. Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

Ingraham said that in addition to the SEEC inquiry, he faced two personal issues that contributed to his decision to leave the race. He said due to layoffs he had recently lost his job as an IT manager and now found himself looking for a job. Second, he said, ​“a major medical issue with my sister now has her hospitalized1.” He said her illness was taking up ​“a significant amount of my time and energy.”

Typically candidates employed by a private company discuss their desire to run for state election with their employer before they make the decision to run. That is because they will need to spend time away from their daily job when the legislature convenes in January. It is not known if Ingraham did so. In a campaign statement, he described himself as a ​“self-taught” IT manager ​“in charge of a team of systems architects, designers and developers for CIGNA Corporation.”

Penalties for False Statements

In his statement to the press last week, Ingraham admits he falsely signed contributor forms for what was his first state race. As a result of that admission, he also admits to falsely signing off on his application seeking state funding. The CEP requires scrupulous attention to detail and provides classes for candidates and their treasurers in order to learn the protocol. 

In taking full responsibility for his actions, Ingraham seemed to be saying that his campaign treasurer, Donald Conklin, who also serves with Ingraham on the RTM, was not responsible for what occurred. The SEEC will also look into Conklin’s role.

Diana Stricker contributed reporting for this story.

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