Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is a co-chair of the Democratic National Committee’s rules committee, is facing criticism over correspondence showing he offered assistance to health insurance giant Cigna as it was working to get Connecticut to approve a merger with Anthem.
Emails obtained by the International Business Times show that Malloy was in contact with CEOs from both Cigna and Anthem the night before the merger was announced, as state officials were performing what was supposed to be an impartial review.
Malloy's administration promised assistance in an email to Cigna CEO David Cordani with the subject line "pending transaction."
"I know you are likely swamped right now, but just wanted to reach out and tell you that we stand ready to assist you in any way if you move forward with the rumored transaction," Malloy wrote in the July 23, 2015, email to Cordani. "We clearly value Cigna as a key part of the Connecticut insurance community, and will work with you to help retain and grow employees post transaction."
Cigna gave $100,000 to the Democratic Governors Association in June 2015, a month before Malloy's administration extended its offer of assistance. The association, which elected Malloy as its chairman last December, took an additional $100,000 from Cigna this March.
Insurance companies have pumped $2 million to Malloy-linked political operations since he was elected governor in 2010.
Critics of the merger say it would "raise premiums and limit medical care for more than 53 million people across the country," according to the International Business Times report.
Connecticut officials launched an ethics investigation into Malloy's involvement in the merger last week, focusing on his appointment of a former Cigna lobbyist to chair the state agency tasked with reviewing the deal.
The slew of bad news about Malloy's handling of the merger prompted a group of seven Senate Democrats—led by Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal—to send a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday asking it to halt the merger.
The letter, cosigned by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Ed Markey (Mass.) Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), pointed to potential economic effects of the merger.
"These mega-mergers are job killers," Blumenthal wrote. "They threaten jobs, hike prices, lessen choices, and lower health care quality. Combining five competitors into three epitomizes the type of anti-consumer deal that the law forbids"
The ethics probe is not the only challenge Malloy is dealing with.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders asked Malloy to step down from his position on the rules committee because of favoritism he exhibited toward Hillary Clinton, calling Malloy an "aggressive attack surrogate." Sanders has hinted he will not formally throw his support behind Clinton unless Malloy is removed from his post.
Malloy's attacks on Sanders have focused on their differences on gun control.
"Governor Malloy has unfairly ascribed blame for national gun control laws single-handedly to Senator Sanders, referring to the three-day wait provision of the Brady Bill as the 'Charleston-Sanders loophole,'" the Sanders campaign said in its formal complaint to the DNC. "Malloy has even ventured that Senator Sanders should be 'held accountable' for the 'death and destruction' caused by his 'mistakes.'"
Malloy is not doing well with Connecticut voters. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted earlier this month found that only 24 percent of Connecticut voters approve of the job Malloy is doing as governor.
Quinnipiac noted it was not only Malloy's lowest approval rating but the lowest approval rating ever recorded for a governor in one of its polls.