Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, forced out of office in a 2004 corruption scandal and jailed twice on federal charges, was among those pardoned by Trump on Wednesday.
“I am very humbled and appreciative,” the 67-year-old Republican told WTNH-TV in a statement. “I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends that have been through a great deal over the years. This is a wonderful final resolution.”
The former politician was one of seven people granted clemency Wednesday — including tax-evading, fraudster reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley and former New York Congressman Michael Grimm, a Staten Island representative who served seven months in prison, also for tax evasion.
Rowland served two terms in the Connecticut State Legislature and three in the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the governorship in 1994. He was heralded as the country’s youngest governor when elected at age 37, then became the first Connecticut governor in 200 years to win three four-year terms. Ten years after that first victory, however, Rowland logged another milestone: the first sitting governor in Connecticut to be served with a subpoena, amid a federal corruption investigation.
The political prodigy resigned at age 47, during his third term, to avoid possible impeachment after admitting he had accepted gifts and favors from state contractors. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to steal honest services and was sentenced to federal prison for a year and a day, serving 10 months before being released to four months of house arrest in February 2006. Post-prison, he refashioned himself into a popular AM radio commentator.
A decade later, Rowland was again before a judge, this time convicted by a New Haven federal jury of conspiracy and falsifying records to hide illegal payments he’d received for working on a political campaign. He was sentenced to 30 months, or 2½ years, behind bars.
His pardon ignited a sense of betrayal on both sides of the political aisle.
“The public trust has to be upheld,” retired FBI supervisor Mike Clark, later a Republican on the Farmington Town Council, told the Connecticut Mirror. “Rowland betrayed that trust several times.”
“John Rowland left an indelible stain on our state and its government,” former state Rep. Michael Lawlor, a Democratic attorney who served on the committee seeking Rowland’s impeachment in 2004, told The Hartford Courant. “Donald Trump is the least credible person in the country to remove it.”
With News Wire Services
