Another Republican on the take gets caught. This is peanuts though compared
to what Cheney will have to answer to once the Dem's take office in
November. His fat arse will be cooked on a stake.
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Connecticut Governor Rowland to Quit, Officials Say (Update3)
June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Connecticut Governor John Rowland will announce his
resignation tonight three days after a state Supreme Court ruling he must
testify before an impeachment panel about accepting gifts from state
contractors, two administration officials said.
Lawmakers said Friday after the ruling that a refusal by Rowland to testify
may by itself be grounds for impeachment. Rowland considered his options
over the weekend and decided to step down, said the officials, who asked
not to be identified.
Rowland, a 47-year-old Republican, had vowed to remain in office even as
almost 70 percent of people in statewide polls said he should quit.
Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell, a 58-year- old Republican, is in line to
take over as chief executive of the U.S. state with the highest per capita
income.
``It had become a question of whether he was going to take the Fifth
publicly, or testify, or ignore the subpoena,'' said Representative Jim
Abrams, a Meriden Democrat and member of the impeachment committee, in an
interview. ``I don't think any of those options were things the governor
wanted to do.''
Rowland, a once-popular Republican in a Democrat-dominated state, was first
elected in 1994. He would have been Connecticut's longest-serving governor
had he completed his term. His decision to quit, which he will announce at
6 p.m. local time in a televised speech from the governor's mansion in
Hartford, was reported earlier by WTNH television in New Haven.
`Increasingly Difficult'
Rowland spokesman Christopher Cooper declined to comment. Senate Minority
Leader Louis DeLuca, a 70-year-old Republican from Waterbury, said
Rowland's resignation will be effective July 1. DeLuca was one of several
legislators being interviewed in front of the statehouse as about 50
reporters camped out there most of the day.
Abrams and fellow panel member Raymond Kalinowski, a 62-year- old
Republican from Durham, told reporters that they expected the committee
would recommend impeachment.
``As the evidence has been rolling out over the past two weeks, people have
gone to the governor to say that defending his position was becoming
increasingly difficult,'' said Representative Arthur J. O'Neill of
Southbury, the Republican co- chairman of the impeachment panel.
The governor's office will transfer from Rowland to Rell at noon on July 1,
said Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin Sullivan, a Democrat. Sullivan will
then become Lieutenant Governor.
Opportunity
``We will give Jodi Rell as our new governor the opportunity that she has
earned and that she deserves to get things settled down again in the state
of Connecticut,'' Sullivan said to reporters outside his office at the
Legislative Office Building. ``This has been a detour that no state wants
to take.''
In December, Rowland acknowledged he had lied to reporters about accepting
$30,000 of gifts for his summer cottage including a hot tub, cathedral
ceiling and kitchen cabinets from employees and state contractors. Rowland
previously said he paid for the improvements.
His administration has been under investigation for more than a year by
federal prosecutors for possible corruption in awarding state contracts.
Democrat and Republican politicians began calling for Rowland to resign
soon after his admission in December, saying Rowland had violated the
public's trust. Several newspapers, including the Hartford Courant and the
New York Times, wrote editorials saying Rowland should step down.
Concert Tickets
Rowland, a Waterbury native who earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova
University in Pennsylvania became a Connecticut legislator at 23 and,
beginning in 1984, also served three terms in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Rowland was investigated by the state's ethics commission in 1995 and 1996
for accepting free tickets from employees and lobbyists to several
concerts, including Jimmy Buffett, Carly Simon and the Eagles. Rowland in
1997 paid a fine of $2,000 to the commission to settle the matter. Last
year, Rowland paid $9,000 to settle a complaint that he rented vacation
homes owned by a state contractor at below-market value.
`Teflon John'
Rowland was dubbed ``Teflon John'' by local newspaper columnists for his
ability to remain popular. His approval rating in a University of
Connecticut poll peaked at 73 percent in September 1998 and fell to a low
of 20 percent in April. Sixty- eight percent of the 501 state residents
polled in April said Rowland should resign, compared with 25 percent who
said he should stay in office.
Rowland's approval rating in the University of Connecticut poll has been
below 30 percent since his admission about the cottage gifts, which also
prompted Rowland to make a televised apology.
In a speech carried live during primetime evening hours Jan. 7 from his
Capitol office in Hartford, Rowland apologized for accepting the gifts and
for lying. Rowland also said that he didn't provide any favors in exchange
for the gifts.
``I humbly ask for a renewed opportunity to earn back your trust, to redeem
myself in your eyes and to continue to lead this state,'' Rowland said,
speaking from prepared remarks.
Washington Condo
Rowland's administration for more than a year has been probed by federal
investigators for possible corruption in the awarding of state contracts. A
former aide in March 2003 admitted in federal court to taking cash and gold
for steering state contracts. Rowland has said he had no knowledge of the
aide's actions.
The probe moved closer to Rowland in February when both he and his wife,
Patricia, were issued subpoenas by a federal grand jury seeking documents
including nine years of travel, expense and phone records. Rowland's
subpoena also asked for documents related to his cottage, state contractors
and a $220-million contract the state had with Enron Corp.
In March, Connecticut antiques dealer Wayne E. Pratt pleaded guilty in
federal court to filing a false tax document as part of an arrangement he
had with a Rowland friend.
The deal had Pratt pay Rowland an above market price in 1997 for a
Washington, D.C., condominium Rowland owned. Pratt was then reimbursed for
his loss by Robert V. Matthews, a real estate developer and friend of
Rowland's who received state-backed loans and rented some properties for
state offices.
Tragedy
In two weeks of public hearings the impeachment panel looked into the condo
deal and cottage gifts. Committee lawyers showed that Rowland's wife
Patricia wrote checks for some of the renovations after the scandal had
been reported late last year. On one occasion, the Rowlands received a
$10,000 check from Rowland's brother, Sherwood Rowland, when their checking
accounts didn't have enough in them to pay some of the bills.
``It would appear as though he was having some financial difficulty. That
certainly appears to have contributed to his problem,'' said John Wayne
Fox, the Democrat co-chair of the impeachment panel, in an interview.
``It's a tragedy. It's a demise of a human being, which is sad.''
Arizona's Evan Mecham was the last governor to be impeached and removed
from office. Mecham was impeached in 1988.
Rell, who will become governor after Rowland resigns, is Connecticut's
105th Lieutenant Governor and the first woman to hold that office. She will
be the state's second woman governor. The first was Ella Grasso, a Democrat
who served from 1975 to 1980. Rell was elected along with Rowland to three
terms in 1994, 1998 and again in 2002.
`Restoring Confidence'
``This was a difficult personal decision, but one that he made in the best
interests of himself, his family and the state,'' Rell said in a statement,
noting that she met with Rowland at the governor's mansion this morning.
``I will focus my energies on restoring confidence and trust in state
government.''
DeLuca, the Waterbury state senator and one of Rowland's staunchest
supporters, said Rowland called him this morning to discuss the news and to
invite DeLuca to the governor's mansion this afternoon.
DeLuca described Rowland as: ``not in a saddened state, but not his
natural, exuberant self either.'' He also said Rowland thanked him for his
friendship.
``He said, `When you're on top you have a lot of friends, but that when you
get into something like this, there aren't many around,''' DeLuca said.
DeLuca said Rowland's humor was a ``forte,'' and that seemed to endure
throughout the scandal.
In a phone interview with Bloomberg News in February Rowland commented
about how he, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President
George W. Bush all wore cowboy boots at a recent White House dinner for the
National Governors Association. ``All the cool guys were wearing them,''
Rowland said.
In another Bloomberg interview in June 2003 at the governor's mansion,
Rowland showed off an aerial photograph of the small, lakefront cottage
near Bantam Lake in Litchfield. He described the cottage as his favorite
place to get away.
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