Thursday December 4, 2008

Hey, the Blogster missed an anniversary on Tuesday: the fifth annual celebration of John "Why Should I Resign If I've Done Nothing Wrong" Rowland, the disgraced former governor, lying to members of the Capitol press corps in Waterbury. Within eight months of mouthing his lies, Rowland resigned under the stress of a possible impeachment in the General Assembly. In December of 2004, he pleaded guilty to felonies that landed him in prison for 10 months. His friend, New Britain developer Bill Tomasso, whose company got a $56-million sweetheart contract to build the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, also served prison time.He had employees perform much of the work on the cabin, but the infamous hot tub never became part of the felonious equation, because it was given as a present by his long-time office scheduler and her husband.
Here's the story that ran in the Connecticut Post on December 3, 2003.

By KEN DIXON
WATERBURY - Gov. John G. Rowland denied on Tuesday that a hot tub installed in his exclusive Litchfield County get away home will get him in hot water with federal investigators.
The governor, speaking in reaction to a growing number of news reports, said he has invested more than $30,000 on the four-room"cabin" on Bantam Lake, but has paid full price for all the work
.He said contractors were never offered state jobs, nor would he ever be in a position to hire them.State opposition leaders said Tuesday that allegations of corruption and ethical lapses seem to be distracting at the very least to the third-term governor. During a sometimes-combative 20-minute news conference on the UConn campus here, Rowland said that he has not been contacted by either state or federal investigators.
"It a cabin," Rowland told reporters. "It's 800 square feet. It's got four rooms, there's no winterization. Patty and I like to go out there with our children and enjoy our time out there. There's really not much more to that.
"The Republican governor admitted that it has been a tough year both personally and professionally, but he has been honest throughout his two-plus terms in office.Rowland said he bought the cabin's hot tub "seven or eight years ago" from a Torrington dealer and installed it in the Governor's Residence on Hartford's Prospect Avenue before eventually moving it to the back porch of the two-and-a-half-acre Bantam Lake weekend retreat.
"We've not been accused of anything," Rowland said. "We've not been alleged to do anything."Rowland spoke in response to a report in the Hartford Courant that indicated federal investigators are looking into the underlying value of work estimated in building permits that total about $13,500.He said he has taken out three loans for the work.
The kitchen cabinets that were reported to be custom-built, were boughtoff-the-rack at Home Depot.
"In actuality, we spent more than $30,000 doing improvements to the cottage,'' Rowland said. "We paid for all the improvements."
The newspaper has reported that at least two contractors had been told that if their prices were low enough, they might receive statework."Do you know how hard it would be to get a job to go work at the state Capitol or at the (governor's) residence?" Rowland said, adding that he hadn't even met the contractors.
Last March, a former Rowland deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to accepting gold and cash in exchange for steering contracts including three deals that were awarded to the New Britain-based Tomasso Group.One of those contracts is the long-delayed juvenile court and detention center in Bridgeport.
In recent weeks, former long-time Department of Public Works Commissioner Theodore Anson of Brookfield was removed amid reports that he accepted free architectural work on an addition to his home performed by a major Tomasso subcontractor.
Rowland has paid a record amount of fines and penalties dating back to 1997, when he accepted seating upgrades at a series of rock 'n' roll shows. Most recently, he reimbursed the state thousands ofdollars for vacation visits to homes in Vermont and Florida owned by William Tomasso, president of the construction company and longtime Rowland friend.
Compounding the public troubles, Rowland's stepson was recently busted on a marijuana-possession charge.
"It's been a difficult year," Rowland said. "In the last couple months, there's been pictures of our children going into courtrooms.Some newspapers have sent reporters to our kids schools, interviewing teachers and interviewing some of their classmates. That didn't goover very well."
He became testy when reporters asked whether federal investigators have asked him about the work.
"As I said earlier, we will participate and cooperate with any investigation," Rowland said. "We have submitted thousands and thousands of pages to the feds already, going back over the past year, and we will continue to cooperate."
Tom Swan, director of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, said Tuesday that at this point, Rowland's administration has created a series of corrupt or questionable ethics.
"I believe that John Rowland is starting to run out of excuses,"Swan said. "I think the only one he had left is the dog ate his homework."
George Jepsen, state Democratic leader, said Tuesday that often during renovations values on file with permits are exceeded by consumer costs.
"On the other hand if subcontractors were told to low-ball their prices with the promise to state work, that's legitimate grounds for a investigation," Jepsen said. "The real problem is that governmentis grinding to a halt, becoming paralytic as John Rowland becomes more involved in investigations.Rowland and his senior staff are dealing with accusations and not governing."
Meanwhile, House Democrats have scheduled a press conference today to propose an citizen-based ethics commission.