John G. Rowland

John G. Rowland
86th Governor of Connecticut
In office
January 4, 1995 – July 1, 2004
LieutenantJodi Rell
Preceded byLowell Weicker
Succeeded byJodi Rell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's 5th district
In office
January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1991
Preceded byWilliam R. Ratchford
Succeeded byGary Franks
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
from the 73rd district
In office
January 7, 1981 – January 3, 1985
Preceded byNatalie Rapoport
Succeeded byJoan Hartley
Personal details
Born
John Grosvenor Rowland

(1957-05-24) May 24, 1957 (age 67)
Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Deborah Nabhan
(divorced)
(m. 1994)
Children5
EducationHoly Cross High School (1975)
Villanova University (BS) (1979)

John Grosvenor Rowland (born May 24, 1957) is an American former politician, author, and radio host who served as the 86th governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004.

Rowland served three terms representing Connecticut's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991.[1][2] A Republican, he was the first Connecticut governor to be elected to more than two terms since Wilbur Cross, who was elected to four consecutive terms in the 1930s. In July 2004, Rowland resigned from office amid a corruption investigation, and later pleaded guilty in federal court to a one-count indictment for conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, mail fraud and tax fraud.[3] His lieutenant governor, Jodi Rell, replaced him as governor. Rowland served ten months in a federal prison until February 2006, followed by four months' house arrest at his home in West Hartford until June 2006.

In 2014, Rowland was indicted on seven counts for his role in an election fraud case where former congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley, current vice chair of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and her husband, Brian Foley, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 31, 2014, to illegally paying Rowland $35,000 in campaign consulting fees.[4] He was charged with two counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation, one count of conspiracy, two counts of causing false statements to be made to the FEC, and two counts of causing illegal campaign contributions.[5] He was convicted on all seven counts in September 2014,[6] and was subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2015.[7] He was released in 2018.

  1. ^ Honest Services Mail Fraud defined and discussed at Findlaw.com. Accessed March 17, 2008.
  2. ^ "US Dept of Justice Press Release". Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  3. ^ Hussey, Kristin; Santora, Marc (March 18, 2015). "Judge Sends Rowland, Ex-Connecticut Governor, Back to Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  4. ^ "Feds Want Prison For Lisa Wilson-Foley In Rowland Case". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  5. ^ "Ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland Indicted In Alleged Campaign Scheme". April 10, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  6. ^ "Ex-Conn. Governor John Rowland convicted of conspiracy charges". nydailynews.com. ASSOCIATED PRESS. September 19, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  7. ^ Mahony, Edmund (March 18, 2015). "Ex-Governor John Rowland Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison". Hartford Courant. Retrieved April 25, 2015.