Trump Pardons Former Gov. John Rowland

by Staff Report CTNewsJunkie

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a pardon to former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland, Politico reports.

Rowland, a Republican who was governor from 1995 to 2004, resigned in the middle of his third term under threat of impeachment and served two separate prison terms for corruption.

“I am very humbled and appreciative,” Rowland said in a statement sent to several Connecticut media outlets Wednesday evening. 

Rowland first went to prison for accepting gifts from state contractors. Rowland’s second conviction was for violating campaign laws during the 2010 and 2012 Congressional campaigns in Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District. He was accused of hiding $35,000 in payments for work he did on Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley’s campaign through a sham contract with the nursing home chain run by Wilson-Foley’s husband, Brian Foley.

Following Rowland’s resignation, the legislature passed Public Act 05-5 in 2005, establishing the Citizens’ Election Program under the jurisdiction of the State Elections Enforcement Commission. This public-financing program was designed to remove the influence of private and out-of-state money from Connecticut elections.

Connecticut Democratic Party Chair Roberto Alves released a statement saying Trump’s pardon defies logic and facts.

“The former governor’s behavior was condemned by Democrats and Republicans, who in the wake of his arrest and conviction, passed landmark legislation to bring more accountability to elections and state contracting,” Alves wrote. “To erase our state’s reckoning with corruption is disrespectful of Connecticut law and a shameful misuse of pardon power.”

Rowland was one of seven people pardoned by Trump on Wednesday, according to WTNH.