McMahon's Answers On Vetting Questionnaire In '09 May Catch Up With Her

The Hartford Courant

Jon Lender

April 4, 2010

Linda McMahon resigned last week from the State Board of Education, saying that newly issued restrictions on board members' political activities could cause legal complications as she runs for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

But she still may encounter complications - political ones - because of some questionable answers that she gave in January of 2009 on a questionnaire that she filled out for Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office when the governor was poised to nominate her to the board.

McMahon, until recently the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, answered "no" to five questions to which it appears the answer should - or arguably should - have been "yes."

The Courant recently obtained a copy of the questionnaire McMahon signed Jan. 9, 2009. It was notarized, and she certified that her answers were true, complete and correct.

There were 28 yes-or-no questions. Here are five to which she answered in the negative:

·Have you been publicly identified, in person, or by virtue of an organizational association, with a particularly controversial national, state, or local issue?

·Have you submitted oral or written views to any governmental authority or the news media on any particular controversial issue other than in an official government capacity?

Sexually suggestive content, foul language and violence of WWE programming have been controversial for years - drawing criticism from parents' television watchdog groups, public officials and academics, as well as losing some major corporate sponsors.

The week before McMahon submitted her questionnaire, a U.S. House committee released the findings of its investigation into the use of steroids in professional wrestling - a probe in which she had been interviewed under oath. The committee's chairman noted that more than 3 million children and teens watch professional wrestling regularly, and asked the director of national drug control policy to "examine the systemic deficiencies in the testing policies and practices of professional wrestling" that the steroid investigation uncovered.

·Have you ever written any books or articles?

A magazine profile of McMahon in 2001 said she used to write and produce the WWE's wrestling magazines under a pseudonym, "Linda Kelly," in its early years, when it was called the World Wrestling Federation. McMahon acknowledged having written at least "dozens" of such articles in a Courant interview last week.

·Have you ever had any association with a person or group or business venture which could be used, even unfairly, to impugn or question your character and qualifications for the requested appointment?

·Is there anything in the past involving you or any member of your immediate family which would be a source of embarrassment if it were to become public knowledge?

McMahon's husband, WWE founder Vince McMahon, and his company, Titan Sports Inc., were the subjects of a federal indictment and prosecution in the 1990s on charges of possession of steroids with intent to distribute them. They were acquitted.

Although McMahon answered "no" to those two questions, she did attach a two-page letter from her attorney describing the charges and court proceedings - and noting that she was never "a subject or target of the investigation or the prosecution."

In a telephone interview Thursday, McMahon said she stood by her answers. She said that she had responded to the questions "from the standpoint" that her association with the WWE was so well-known, and its activities were so much part of the public record, that the questionnaire was seeking "anything that would have been unknown about me" outside of the WWE.

Asked if she had been directed by Rell's office to take that approach, she said no: "It was an assumption I made when I was filling out the form."

McMahon also was asked how anyone evaluating her questionnaire could have known she'd written articles for the WWE's magazine, since she had written them under a pseudonym. Again, McMahon said she looked at the questions as seeking information "outside of WWE." She said the articles were for a "promotional fan magazine," and would follow "along the story lines" of WWE's programming. She said she used "Linda Kelly" to "have the separation of a husband-and-wife team."

She said there was "no intent" to be anything "other than 100 percent forthcoming" in her answers. ...

There was one more issue on the questionnaire: McMahon, in seeking the state Board of Education appointment, said that she had received a bachelor's degree in education from East Carolina University in 1969. A check of the official record shows the degree was in French, however.

McMahon said that this aspect of her application was dealt with in January 2009 after a Stamford Advocate reporter noted the discrepancy in a story. McMahon said she first thought she had been right, because she did a semester of student-teaching and, after state testing, emerged with certification to teach - although she never did. She wrote to Rell to correct the error, she said.

McMahon's February 2009 confirmation hearing in the legislature was contentious, and she endured criticism over the WWE's violent and raunchy programming, but she was confirmed. ...

It is true the questionnaire is a public document, available upon a Freedom of Information Act request, but the co-chairman of the legislative executive nominations committee said Friday that "we never saw it" when his panel held McMahon's confirmation hearing. The co-chairman, state Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said "I've not seen any questionnaire" used by Rell's office for "vetting" its nominees.

McMahon's resignation from the board Thursday came a day after The Courant indicated it would be writing about her questionnaire answers, but she said one had nothing to do with the other.

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