John G. Rowland

John Rowland
86th Governor of Connecticut
In office January 4, 1995 – July 1, 2004
Lieutenant	Jodi Rell
Preceded by	Lowell P. Weicker
Succeeded by	Jodi Rell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 5th district
In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1991
Preceded by	William R. Ratchford
Succeeded by	Gary Franks
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 73rd district
In office 1981–1985
Preceded by	Natalie Rapoport
Succeeded by	Joan Hartley
Personal details
Born	John Grosvenor Rowland (1957-05-24) May 24, 1957 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Deborah Rowland (Divorced) Patty Rowland
Children	5
Education	Villanova University (BS)

John Grosvenor Rowland (born May 24, 1957) is an American former politician and twice convicted felon. He was the 86th Governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004; as a politician, he was a member of the Republican Party. He is married to Patty Rowland, his second wife, and the couple has five children between them. In 2004, Rowland resigned from office during a corruption investigation, and later pleaded guilty in federal court to a one-count indictment for conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, mail fraud and tax fraud. He was the first Connecticut governor to be elected to three terms since 1784.

He served ten months in a federal prison until February 10, 2006, followed by four months house arrest at his home in West Hartford, Connecticut, until June 2006. His lieutenant governor, M. Jodi Rell, replaced him as governor.

John G. Rowland 1989 congressional photo

On April 10, 2014, Rowland was indicted on seven counts for his role in an election fraud case where former congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley, current Vice Chair of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and her husband, Brian Foley, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 31, 2014 to illegally paying Rowland $35,000 in campaign consulting fees. He was charged with two counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation, one count of conspiracy, two counts of causing false statements to be made to the FEC, and two counts of causing illegal campaign contributions. He was convicted on all seven counts in September 2014, and was subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison on March 18, 2015.

Political career

Rowland's political career began in 1980 when, at age 23, he was elected to the Connecticut State House of Representatives. He held his seat until 1984, when he was elected to represent Connecticut's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and was reelected in 1986 and 1988.

After losing the 1990 gubernatorial race to Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Rowland worked as a consultant for United Technologies Corp. He was later elected governor in 1994 at age 37 (the youngest governor in Connecticut history) and later defeated two Democratic opponents: former US Congresswoman Barbara Bailey Kennelly (63%–35%) in 1998 and former State Comptroller Bill Curry (56%–44%) in 2002.

Rowland was the only Republican re-elected Governor of Connecticut in a 50-year period. He was the first governor elected to a third, four-year term after the 1950 election. (Some previous governors did serve at least three terms; each term was one year until 1876, two years after.) His plurality over Kennelly in 1998 was among the largest recorded for any Connecticut politician.

Rowland resigned as Governor of Connecticut effective July 1, 2004. Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell served out the remainder of his term. Rowland is the only Connecticut governor to have ever faced impeachment and he is the only Connecticut governor to have served prison time.

Accomplishment as Governor

During the years that Rowland was in office, the state enjoyed record-breaking surpluses, state spending increased only modestly, with real spending growth rates of just over 2 percent annually between 1995 and 2003. He adhered to a spending cap voters added to the state constitution in 1992.

During those years, the state invested more than $2 billion to rebuild the University of Connecticut. Major investments were also made in the Connecticut State University and Community Technical College systems; enrollments as of 2004 were at an all-time high.

As of 2004, Connecticut students led the nation in performance, and the number of spaces in pre-school programs more than doubled during his term in office.

The Adriaen’s Landing project, the most ambitious capital city development project in decades in the state, continued to progress during Rowland's time in office. College campuses were moved, which brought thousands downtown in Hartford, Stamford, Bridgeport and Waterbury. New London's waterfront was thriving as of 2004, with a new global research facility and rebuilt pier. Theaters and museums in all major cities were revitalized, from the Palace Theater in Waterbury to the New Britain's Museum of American Art.

In 1998, Rowland implemented the HUSKY Plan (Healthcare for UninSured Kids and Youth) to provide health insurance to uninsured Connecticut children. During his tenure, the budget for the Department of Children and Families more than doubled. Rowland supported addition to government of the state’s first Child Advocate.

Rowland was a strong proponent of a tough stance against violent crime as governor. The prison population grew rapidly during his term, which caused the state to send inmates to prisons in Virginia to deal with overcrowding. Legislative opponents of this policy such as Representative Michael Lawlor urged more rapid release of nonviolent offenders. After Rowland left office the Virginia inmates were returned to Connecticut and more criminals were paroled. This approach was criticized after the 2007 Cheshire home invasion murders committed by two "nonviolent" inmates paroled from Connecticut prison.

Before investigation into his conduct as governor started, Rowland was viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party, and was mentioned as a future presidential or vice-presidential candidate.

Shortly after being released from prison, he was offered a job as the city of Waterbury's economic development coordinator. Rowland was appointed to this office by his associate, Mayor Michael Jarjura.

Corruption as Governor

Impeachment process and federal case

In the first year of Rowland's third term (2003), rumors began circulating that contractors doing business with the state paid for and made improvements to his weekend home, that he benefited improperly from the sale of a condominium in Washington, D.C. at an inflated price, that he took bribes from subordinates in state government, and that he took partial ownership in businesses immediately before they were granted state contracts. These eventually led to federal investigations and then indictments of some of Rowland's close aides, who then cooperated with federal investigators.

Rumors continued that the investigation was building a case against Rowland himself; Rowland publicly denied the allegations.

However, in December 2003, Rowland abruptly appeared on television and admitted that work had been done by contractors on his vacation home at no charge, and that his earlier statements to the contrary were untrue. Matters were exacerbated when his wife, Patty Rowland, wrote a satirical poem deriding the media for investigating her husband's wrongdoing.

He claimed that, since the work was done, he had paid the contractors in full; but in January 2004 an official investigation began into charges of corruption and whether he should face impeachment.

On June 18, the Connecticut Supreme Court required Rowland to appear before the investigative panel seeking his testimony, which could have resulted in him giving evidence against impeachment in the ongoing criminal investigation. On June 21, Rowland's lawyers announced that he would resign. The resignation went into effect at noon on July 1, 2004.

On December 23, 2004, Rowland pleaded guilty to depriving the public of honest service. Rowland was sentenced on March 18, 2005, in New Haven, Connecticut, to one year and one day in prison, four months house arrest, three years probation and community service. On April 1, 2005, he entered Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, in Pennsylvania. His federal inmate number was 15623-014.

After prison

On February 10, 2006, Rowland was released from federal prison with the stipulation that he serve four months house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet monitor.

On July 1, 2006, Rowland spoke to an association of scholar athletes in Kingston, Rhode Island, about the lessons he learned. A "sense of entitlement" and the "arrogance of power" were two of the biggest things that ended his political career, The Hartford Courant quoted him as saying.

He warned that the arrogance is very easy when you're put on a pedestal, and you "start to believe your own press releases. ... It [becomes] all about me. You start to block out what else is around you."

The Courant quoted Rowland as saying that "when you start to find yourself only concerned with yourself" that's the point when you need to find a "grounding force." That should be faith, ideally, he said, or at least "something within yourself" – not just other people.

"I found in my career that a lot of people will tell you how great you are – especially when you're the boss. But there will be that time when that career will be over ... and then it's down to the three F's – faith, family and friends – real faith, real family and real friends."

Rowland, now a resident of West Hartford, told the audience his future is still uncertain. He owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $35,000 and another $40,000 in fines. He said he's a volunteer counselor and hoping to find a publisher for a book he wrote called Falling Into Grace.

In September 2006, local TV station WTNH, reported that Patty Rowland had purchased a house in Middlebury, Connecticut, and the Rowland family would be moving to that town.

Rowland discussed his life after politics in a Washington Post article published June 17, 2007. Rowland discussed his work on the lecture circuit and the factors leading to his political demise. He also expressed disappointment that his successor, Governor M. Jodi Rell had "thrown him under the bus" and distanced herself from him after taking office. Rell declined to criticize Rowland over these remarks.

In January 2008 Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura announced that he would hire Rowland as an economic development advisor for the city. Rowland began work in February and received an annual salary of $95,000 as the city's economic development coordinator. Rowland's stint as Waterbury's economic development coordinator ended in 2012.

From 2010 until 2014, Rowland hosted a conservative talk radio show on the local station WTIC News-Talk 1080.

On April 1, 2014, Connecticut governor Dannel P. Malloy called on WTIC to remove Rowland from the air due to Rowland's implication in a corruption scandal involving former Congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley. Malloy stated: “The reality is that we now know enough — two people have pled guilty to this charge and have identified the party they were engaged with . . . unless there’s going to be a denial and in light of two actual pleas, both identifying who the third party was, I think any reasonable outlet would remove him at this point […] He had the interesting position of trying to impact and influence political discourse on an afternoon radio show. That somebody would violate that trust as well, is disturbing." Rowland has often criticized Malloy since the latter took office in 2011. On one occasion, Rowland labeled Malloy a "pathological liar," although he later apologized to Malloy.

On April 3, 2014, Rowland stepped down from the radio show citing "personal issues."

Further investigations

Investigations by then-Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and by a state legislative committee concerning several separate possible improprieties by him and associates, ensued after Rowland's resignation:

• Work he took between his resignation and imprisonment, as a consultant (and possibly an unregistered lobbyist), would clearly have been illegal if the state's revolving-door law explicitly included the governor as it does other state employees. On August 29, 2005, Rowland's attorney Bartley Halloran reported that Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano would seek a state arrest warrant against Rowland. The prosecutor's request was subsequently denied.
• Three non-profit organizations closely associated with large contributors to his campaigns for public office are also mentioned by investigators:
  • Michael Bolton Charities Inc., formerly called the Michael Bolton Foundation and established by his contributor, the musician Michael Bolton
  • National Science Center Foundation, a Georgia-based vendor to the state and one of the controversial consulting clients
  • The Executive Residence Conservancy, Inc., which paid for expenses of the governor's mansion during Rowland's residence there

In addition, Peter N. Ellef, Chief of staff to John G. Rowland while governor pleaded guilty to tax fraud and bribery and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. (2006)

Campaign fee scandal

On March 31, 2014, husband and wife Brian and Lisa Wilson-Foley, the Vice Chair of Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees, pleaded guilty in federal court to corruption charges for illegally paying and afterwards hiding campaign consulting fees to the former governor, who is widely considered the main target for the federal probers. In 2012, Wilson-Foley ran for Congress in Connecticut 5th district. Rowland secretly served as a consultant to her campaign.

On Thursday, April 3, 2014, Rowland announced that he was leaving as WTIC's afternoon talk-show host "to take care of some personal issues," he said just before 6 p.m, at the end of his regular three-hour time slot.

On September 8, Lisa Foley's husband - Brian Foley- told the jury that his wife has signed a fictional contract with the ex-governor to create an impression that governor was working for a group of nursing homes Foley owned. Instead, according to Folay's husband, Ex-Governor was providing political advice. Despite the statement, Rowland's lawyers insisted that the client was a campaign volunteer and that he was paid for giving Foley advice on his healthcare business, not for being a political consultant. Shortly thereafter on September 16, first defense witness Bedard testified in accord with this line of defense. Bedard claims directly countered prosecutor's charges whereby he states that Rowland: "“The healthcare and nursing home industry was changing and Brian hired him as a consultant to help us move forward,” Bedard testified: “ The healthcare and nursing home industry was changing and Brian [Foley] hired him [Rowland] as a consultant to help us move forward. ... He knew the politics and practical ways to speed along Medicaid payments that were often delayed by between nine months to a year.”

On September 19, 2014 Rowland was convicted on federal charges that he conspired to hide payment for his work on two congressional campaigns. He was convicted in New Haven federal court of all seven counts, including conspiracy, falsifying records in a federal investigation, causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission and causing illegal campaign contributions. On March 18, 2015 Rowland was sentenced to prison for 30 months by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton. Judge Arterton also fined Rowland $35,000 and ordered him to serve three years of supervision by the federal probation office upon his release. Rowland turned down the opportunity to speak and is planning on appealing the sentence. His conviction was upheld by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City on June 17, 2016

Electoral history

Connecticut Gubernatorial Election 1990

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	A Connecticut Party	Lowell P. Weicker	460,576	40.36
	Republican	John Rowland	427,840	37.49
	Democratic	Bruce Morrison	236,641	20.74

Connecticut Gubernatorial Election 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Rowland	415,201	36.20
	Democratic	Bill Curry	375,133	32.70
	A Connecticut Party	Eunice Strong Groark	216,585	18.88
	Independent	Tom Scott	130,128	11.34

Connecticut Gubernatorial Election 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Rowland (incumbent)	628,707	62.90
	Democratic	Barbara Kennelly	354,187	35.44

Connecticut Gubernatorial Election 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Rowland (incumbent)	573,958	56.11
	Democratic	Bill Curry	448,984	43.89

External links

• United States Congress. "John G. Rowland (id: R000482)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.