CORRUPTION IN CONNECTICUT
The following is a
compilation of websites which will help you to navigate through the revelations
on Corruption in Connecticut!
HARTFORD
COURANT ARTICLES
http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-rowland-sg,1,5729566.storygallery?coll=hc-headlines-newsat3
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-impeach0617.artjun17,1,3778232.story?coll=hc-headlines-newsat3
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WATERBURY
REPUBLICAN,
and
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLES
See More Current Articles by Waterbury Republican Below
Rowland panel subpoenas at least 21. June 7, 2004
By Susan Haigh
Associated Press.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/8h-v.htm
Rowland panelists doubt he'll testify. June 7, 2004
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/regionalnews/8gfh.htm
Rowland lawyer's subpoena in case will set
precedent. Monday, May 31,
2004.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/8hlf.htm
Developer paid Rowland firm. May 24, 2004
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/8f-7.htm
UConn paid for
Rowland's NCAA trip. Saturday, January
03, 2004.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/7d3x.htm
Rowland denounces impeachment committee. Wednesday, March 24, 2004.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/7yxw.htm
Rowland fights impeachment panel subpoena. Friday, May 28, 2004.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/8gsz.htm
Children of Rowland land-deal partners
reportedly got state positions.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/7cpg.htm
Loan to Rowland friend investigated.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/top/7k-b.htm
Rowland a bit
foggy about stogies. By Susan Haigh Associated Press.
http://www.rep-am.com/webarchive/statenews/7zkq.htm
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Rowlands' late payment eyed Contractor uses term
'cover-up'
Thursday, June 17, 2004
By Trip Jennings
© 2004 Republican-American
HARTFORD A heating contractor who worked at
the Rowlands' Bantam Lake cottage in 1999 came close Wednesday to publicly stating
what some have suspected for months. The first couple's tardy attempt last year
to pay for upgrades completed years earlier at the lakeside cabin looked at
best dubious, and at worst suspicious. "I
interpreted it as, um .. a way to, I hate to use this
word cover-up that there was, uh, that someone else paid," Christopher
Link of New Britain told lawmakers on the House Select Committee of Inquiry on
Wednesday. Link Mechanical Services last September received a $5,680 check four
years after being paid for putting in a water heater and making improvements
with a note from Gov. John G. Rowland's wife. "Chris, My
apologies for the mix up thank you for your patience and understanding,
Patty." Link's statement propelled William Dow of New Haven on his feet, shattering the quiet of what until then had
been a somber affair. "This is
such high profile matter. With all due respect to Mr. Link, his suspicion is
not something upon which this committee should rely," said Dow, Rowland's
personal attorney, admonishing the two co-chairmen of the committee for
allowing Link to give his interpretation of Patty Rowland's note.
Link's timid answer and the clamorous reaction represented
the most dramatic moment in a week and a half of public hearings based on
findings from a four-month legislative investigation into possible impeachable
conduct by Rowland. His testimony also
touched on the issue that sparked Rowland's precipitous slide from three-term
Republican governor to target of a legislative inquiry, that of thousands of
dollars of free work to their Bantam Lake cottage by state contractors and
state employees. The work included free
gutter and drainage work, a new ceiling, a free water heater and hot tub.
Altogether, the work came from a company owned by the Tomasso
family, whose firms have caught the eye of federal prosecutors, as well as from
PJ Delahunty, a deputy commissioner of the state
Department of Public Works at the time. Rowland's
former co-chief of staff, Peter Ellef, and his deputy
Lawrence Alibozek paid the $5,680 Link Mechanical
Services charged to install the water heater and other improvements. Alibozek of New Hartford has since pleaded guilty to
accepting gold and cash in exchange for steering state business to certain
contractors. Two years after that,
Rowland got a hot tub a birthday gift from his scheduler Christine Corey and
her husband, Paul.
Waterbury electrical contractor Ron Shortell
testified Wednesday that Vincent DeRosa, Rowland's
then-driver, steered him to the job of upgrading the cottage's electrical
system in 1997. Shortell
was paid last September, six years late. Asked why he never confronted Rowland over the
past-due bill, Shortell, who occasionally shared
drinks or played poker with the governor, explained, "He's the
governor." Also disclosed Wednesday was the major role DeRosa
played in the cottage improvements. Along with putting Shortell
onto the electrical work, DeRosa bought the Rowlands' hot tub paid for by Corey. DeRosa, once chief
of Rowland's security detail in 1997 and the eventual homeland security
director, told the Republican-American in December he only helped clean up
around the cottage yard. "One of
the amazing things the penalties and sanctions by the ethics commission seem to
have had no effect to these people," said Rep. William Hamzy,
R-Plymouth, and one of the inquiry committee members. "That's one of the
more amazing parts of this whole situation." Work on the cottage began
just months after Rowland had paid his first $2,000 state ethics fine for
accepting upgraded concert tickets at the Meadows Music Centre. A 184-page transcript of a deposition of
Rowland aide Jo McKenzie, released Wednesday, meanwhile, revealed intriguing
insights into how business is conducted in the Rowland administration. McKenzie
testified she intervened on behalf of the Tomassos
regarding the garage at Bradley International Airport, a state project that is at the center of a federal probe
into state corruption. The Tomassos were seeking to amend a contract that would have
yielded more revenue for their company. Ultimately, nothing came of it,
McKenzie testified. The attorney
deposing McKenzie pressed why a person responsible for running the governor's
residence would meet with the Tomassos "about an
amendment to a contract that the state had." "I can tell you that that happens here
at the Capitol," McKenzie said. "People that, you know, that have
worked with will definitely be called on to do different things for friends, it
certainly just isn't Jo McKenzie." McKenzie also admitted to giving Patty
Rowland a loan of $10,000 and buying the governor $3,000 to $4,000 in suits and
ties. She also divulged that employees
in Rowland's office bought a canoe for the governor by passing around an
envelope. McKenzie said a similar
passing around of the hat occurred to help purchase a rebuilt Ford Mustang.
She also acknowledged her role in the cottage improvements.
She accompanied Ellef to pick out a stepping stone
for the 1,200-square-foot home and visited the cottage one day in the company
of Patty Rowland and William Tomasso, one of the
principals in the Tomasso companies. How is it Tomasso came to join you there, asked the attorney. "Probably on the instruction of Peter Ellef," McKenzie answered of Rowland's former co-chief
of staff. Tomasso
referred the heating job to Link Mechanical Services, which did the work and
was promptly paid. Before the first
couple attempted to pay Link last year, McKenzie said she was called over to
the governor's residence about whether they owed money to Link. Patty looked up the contractor's number in
the phone book, McKenzie testified. She
recalled asking the first couple why they wanted to pay so long after the work
was done. "I didn't get very clear
answers, so I just kind of, like, you know, I've told you, I try not to pry
into their affairs," McKenzie answered. Link returned the check with his own note. "After going through our records, we
found that the invoice was paid in full," reads a Nov. 26, 2003 letter from Link Mechanical Services. "Enclosed you
will find the refund of $5,680.00."