This is what can happen when an aggressive governor dictates policy to a legislature overwhelmingly controlled by the same party as the governor. You can get legislation that doesn't make any sense and is inherently contradictory.

The state, it appears, will soon have a new Office of Governmental Accountability that will make government less accountable. It will include some agencies that at best have a tangential connection to keeping government accountable. And while the legislature predicts savings of $3.3 million over two years (modest by state-spending standards and a bit suspect), it creates a new level of managerial bureaucracy.

This idea germinated to fulfill Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's promise to consolidate state government. It has led to the Office of Governmental Accountability, consolidated within which will be the Office of State Ethics, State Elections Enforcement Commission, Freedom of Information Commission, Judicial Review Council, Judicial Selection Commission, Board of Firearms Permit Examiners, Office of the Child Advocate, Office of Victim Advocate, and the State Contracting Standards Board.

Whether that's true consolidation is arguable, since all these agencies will continue to exist as will their individual directors, while a new executive administrator appointed by the governor will oversee the entire office.

The bill imagines some savings from consolidating business, information technology and administrative functions and it includes staff cuts. But agency directors question how much will be saved and said the cuts will more significantly detract from core functions. Colleen M. Murphy, executive director of the FOI Commission, expects longer delays in addressing citizens' complaints challenging secrecy in government and alleging violations of the open-government law. The State Elections Enforcement Commission must reduce the number of audits it conducts to make sure candidates receiving public campaign financing are spending it lawfully.

Oddly, the bill decreases the terms for members of the State Elections Enforcement Commission from five to three years and prohibits consecutive terms, which only seems to assure having less-experienced commissioners. Meanwhile, the FOI Commission, for no apparent good reason, will increase from five to nine members.

Tellingly, Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, co-chairwoman of the Government Administrations and Elections Committee, which oversees the state's watchdog agencies, opposed the legislation. The legislation, said the state senator, "undermines the independence and the integrity of the watchdog agencies" - the FOI Commission, Office of State Ethics and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

She's correct, it does, and more Democrats should have had the courage to challenge the governor on this proposal.