Ramissle
19-03-2005, 00:07
As anyone from Connecticut will tell you, Former Governor John Roland was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for corruption.
NEW HAVENConn. - Former Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison and four months of house arrest Friday for selling his office in a corruption scandal that destroyed his career as one of the Republican Party's brightest and fastest-rising stars.
The judge imposed the sentence after Rowland pleaded for leniency and confessed he had lost his way morally and developed "a sense of entitlement and even arrogance."
"I let my pride get in my way," he told U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey.
Rowland, 47, pleaded guilty in December to a corruption charge, admitting that he sold his influence for more than $100,000 in chartered trips to Las Vegas, vacations in Vermont and Florida, and improvements at his lakeside cottage.
He resigned last summer amid a gathering drive to impeach him.
The sentence was less than the 15 to 21 months called for in the plea bargain, and well short of the three years prosecutors said he deserved. He was also sentenced to three years of probation.
"I am ashamed to be here today, and I accept full responsibility for my actions," he said.
"The John Rowland that stood in that courtroom today is not the John Rowland that I thought I knew. He's not the man the people of Connecticut thought they knew when they elected him Governor three times," said Gov. M. Jodi Rell in a statement issued from her office.
"There is a pervasive sense of sadness about this almost surreal day. Sadness about talent wasted, lives ruined, achievements overshadowed. I am truly sorry for what the state has gone through and for what John Rowland's family has gone through. My prayers are with his family and I wish them courage and strength in the weeks and months to come. The last chapter of this tragic tale has now been written. Now it is time to move forward, not so that we forget what has happened, but rather so that we may continue to restore faith and integrity to government and public service," said Rell.
Rowland becomes one of more than a dozen former governors to be sent to prison. Among those jailed in the past few years: Edward D. DiPrete of Rhode Island and Edwin Edwards of Louisiana.
"Officials are expected to serve not his own interest or the interest of his friends, but the highest interest of the community," the judge said. "Gratuities were accepted as if they were his due."
Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, in arguing for a longer sentence, told the judge: "Honest government matters, it has to matter. Send that message, send it loud and clear. Without that rule of law, we are all lost."
Rowland was the boy wonder of Connecticut politics, sprinting through the ranks. He was a congressman at 27. He became the youngest governor in Connecticut history at 37.
Though a Republican in a heavily Democratic state, the charismatic Rowland enjoyed high approval ratings. President George W. Bush appointed him to White House advisory committees and affectionately called him "Johnny."
But federal prosecutors said Rowland ran a corrupt office, with aides steering state business to companies in exchange for cash, gold coins and expensive gifts.
Rowland's former co-chief of staff, Peter Ellef, and state contractor William Tomasso are under indictment and could get up to 20 years in prison.
As the investigation against members of Rowland's administration unfolded, each week brought new and damaging information.
He was forced to admit that contractors paid for his home improvements and that state employees bought him a hot tub. Memos revealed that he had accepted Cuban cigars from a state contractor for years.
Rowland's fate was ultimately sealed by $15,549 in gifts from Tomasso and $91,493 in free airfare from the charter company Key Air. Rowland stayed at Tomasso's homes in Florida and Vermont four times in 1998 and 2002.
Tomasso and other contractors and state employees provided renovations for Rowland's cottage that included a cathedral ceiling, a heating system and gutter work.
A Key Air executive appealed to Rowland for tax help in 2001 or 2002, and eventually won a tax exemption from the governor.
Personally, I think if I was offered a hottub, I'd take it too. Any thoughts on this?
NEW HAVENConn. - Former Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison and four months of house arrest Friday for selling his office in a corruption scandal that destroyed his career as one of the Republican Party's brightest and fastest-rising stars.
The judge imposed the sentence after Rowland pleaded for leniency and confessed he had lost his way morally and developed "a sense of entitlement and even arrogance."
"I let my pride get in my way," he told U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey.
Rowland, 47, pleaded guilty in December to a corruption charge, admitting that he sold his influence for more than $100,000 in chartered trips to Las Vegas, vacations in Vermont and Florida, and improvements at his lakeside cottage.
He resigned last summer amid a gathering drive to impeach him.
The sentence was less than the 15 to 21 months called for in the plea bargain, and well short of the three years prosecutors said he deserved. He was also sentenced to three years of probation.
"I am ashamed to be here today, and I accept full responsibility for my actions," he said.
"The John Rowland that stood in that courtroom today is not the John Rowland that I thought I knew. He's not the man the people of Connecticut thought they knew when they elected him Governor three times," said Gov. M. Jodi Rell in a statement issued from her office.
"There is a pervasive sense of sadness about this almost surreal day. Sadness about talent wasted, lives ruined, achievements overshadowed. I am truly sorry for what the state has gone through and for what John Rowland's family has gone through. My prayers are with his family and I wish them courage and strength in the weeks and months to come. The last chapter of this tragic tale has now been written. Now it is time to move forward, not so that we forget what has happened, but rather so that we may continue to restore faith and integrity to government and public service," said Rell.
Rowland becomes one of more than a dozen former governors to be sent to prison. Among those jailed in the past few years: Edward D. DiPrete of Rhode Island and Edwin Edwards of Louisiana.
"Officials are expected to serve not his own interest or the interest of his friends, but the highest interest of the community," the judge said. "Gratuities were accepted as if they were his due."
Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, in arguing for a longer sentence, told the judge: "Honest government matters, it has to matter. Send that message, send it loud and clear. Without that rule of law, we are all lost."
Rowland was the boy wonder of Connecticut politics, sprinting through the ranks. He was a congressman at 27. He became the youngest governor in Connecticut history at 37.
Though a Republican in a heavily Democratic state, the charismatic Rowland enjoyed high approval ratings. President George W. Bush appointed him to White House advisory committees and affectionately called him "Johnny."
But federal prosecutors said Rowland ran a corrupt office, with aides steering state business to companies in exchange for cash, gold coins and expensive gifts.
Rowland's former co-chief of staff, Peter Ellef, and state contractor William Tomasso are under indictment and could get up to 20 years in prison.
As the investigation against members of Rowland's administration unfolded, each week brought new and damaging information.
He was forced to admit that contractors paid for his home improvements and that state employees bought him a hot tub. Memos revealed that he had accepted Cuban cigars from a state contractor for years.
Rowland's fate was ultimately sealed by $15,549 in gifts from Tomasso and $91,493 in free airfare from the charter company Key Air. Rowland stayed at Tomasso's homes in Florida and Vermont four times in 1998 and 2002.
Tomasso and other contractors and state employees provided renovations for Rowland's cottage that included a cathedral ceiling, a heating system and gutter work.
A Key Air executive appealed to Rowland for tax help in 2001 or 2002, and eventually won a tax exemption from the governor.
Personally, I think if I was offered a hottub, I'd take it too. Any thoughts on this?