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 Rowland attended numerous meetings with top executives of Apple
Healthcare in 2011 and 2012, and offered “helpful advice” to the
company, its chief operating officer Brian Bedard said on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, after nearly two weeks of testimony in U.S.
District Court in New Haven, the prosecution rested its case against
Rowland, 57, who served prison time a decade ago on political
corruption charges.
Prosecutors contend that the former Republican governor worked as a
political adviser on the 2012 Republican congressional campaign of
Lisa Wilson-Foley while being paid $35,000 through a phony contract
with Apple, her husband Brian Foley’s business.
Federal campaign law requires candidates to disclose all paid
consultants. Prosecutors say Wilson-Foley and her husband hid
Rowland's role as a paid adviser to avoid negative publicity for her
campaign, which was unsuccessful.
Rowland, who says he was a volunteer on the Wilson-Foley campaign,
has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of violating federal campaign
laws.
In his testimony, Bedard said Rowland actively participated in
Apple's efforts to modernize and deal with the threat of
unionization, and made other recommendations.
“The healthcare and nursing home industry was changing and Brian
hired him as a consultant to help us move forward,” Bedard
testified. “He knew the politics and practical ways to speed along
Medicaid payments that were often delayed by between nine months to
a year.”
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Bedard was asked by defense attorney Reid Weingarten if he believed
Rowland’s involvement with the company was a ruse designed to hide
his role as a paid consultant for the Wilson-Foley campaign. “No,
never, absolutely not,” Bedard said.
Earlier, Rowland’s defense team gave notice that it would ask U.S.
District Court Judge Janet Arterton to dismiss all charges against
him due to a lack of evidence.
Rowland served as governor from 1995 to 2004, when he pleaded guilty
to accepting gifts from people who had been awarded lucrative state
contracts. He served 10 months in prison.
In March, Wilson-Foley and Foley pleaded guilty to conspiring to
make illegal campaign contributions, and Foley agreed to testify
against Rowland at trial.
(Editing by Frank McGurty and Eric Walsh)
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