Former Connecticut Governor Indicted On Campaign Charges

[April 11, 2014]  By Ellen Wulfhorst

(Reuters) — Former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, who spent time in federal prison for corruption, was indicted on Thursday on charges of illegal campaign activities, authorities said.

Rowland, 56, a Republican, is accused of trying to conceal payments made to him for working on two congressional campaigns, the office of the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut said.

Rowland was governor from 1995 until 2004, when he resigned.

He pleaded guilty to corruption and spent 10 months in federal prison.

The indictment charges Rowland, who also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991, with working illegally on the 2012 congressional campaign of Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley.

It said Rowland arranged to be paid by creating a phony contract with the candidate's husband, Brian Foley. The contract allowed Foley to route payments to Rowland through a real estate company he owned and through offices of an attorney who worked for a nursing home company that Foley also owned, it said.

From September 2011 to April 2012, Rowland allegedly was paid $35,000 for his campaign work, it said. The money is considered campaign contributions not reported to the Federal Election Commission and in violation of federal campaign finance laws, it said.

The former candidate and her husband pleaded guilty last month to charges involving illegal campaign contributions.

The indictment also said that in 2009, Rowland schemed to work for the campaign of another congressional candidate and conceal his payments by drafting a sham contract making it appear he was working for a separate entity referred to the "Animal Center."

A spokesman for current Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, released a statement saying: "This is another sad chapter in a story that Connecticut knows all too well."

Rowland faces two counts of falsification of records in a federal investigation, each of which carries the possibility of 20 years in prison. He also was charged with conspiracy, causing false statements to be made to the FEC and causing illegal campaign contributions.

He was slated to be arraigned on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in New Haven.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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