Panel inches toward impeachment of Connecticut governor
Investigators: Rowland not cooperating
From Jonathan Wald
CNN
 |  Connecticut Gov. John Rowland |
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(CNN) -- A special committee investigating allegations of bribery and bid-rigging by Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland has asked its lawyer to draft an article of impeachment for what it calls Rowland's failure to cooperate.
The co-chairmen of the committee decided to act Friday after Rowland's personal attorney, William Dow, refused to tell the House Select Committee why the governor had not produced subpoenaed documents or who was responsible for gathering the documents.
The governor's office insists it is complying with the committee's request.
The committee instructed lawyer Steven Reich to prepare the article of impeachment when Dow asked for the subpoena to be quashed.
The three-term Republican governor admitted earlier this year in a televised address that he lied about who paid for renovations to his summer home.
After originally claiming he paid for the construction himself, Rowland, 46, confessed that state employees and people wanting to do business with the state paid for the installation of a hot tub, a heating system and cathedral ceilings.
The committee issued a subpoena on February 26 for all financial statements belonging to Rowland and his wife, Patricia, over the past 10 years.
Co-chairman of the committee and a Republican House representative, Arthur O'Neill, said the committee wants to know if Rowland's financial condition would give him the motivation to solicit gifts.
"It's hard to see his failure to produce the documents as entirely accidental," O'Neill told CNN. "Either he wasn't looking for the documents or he isn't making serious efforts to get them, in effect meaning he is obstructing the committee's investigation."
The governor says he is not withholding the documents. "The governor has turned over 3,000 pages of financial records," said John Wiltse, Rowland's spokesman.
"The governor and the first lady have been doing their best to produce these documents -- it's a time-consuming process to gather them from the past 10 years."
The article of impeachment would still have to go through several stages before Rowland could be impeached.
After the article is presented to the committee sometime next week, "The panel can then delay action, reject it or accept it -- at which point it would be voted on by the full House of Representatives in Connecticut," O'Neill said.
Rowland has already been fined for accepting a set of free concert tickets and a below-rate hotel room. Last year, one of his top aides pleaded guilty to taking gold and cash from companies in exchange for steering state contracts their way.
Connecticut's ethics commission is also looking into the sale of a condominium in Washington by Rowland, a former congressman, for an above-market price.
A poll released by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, at the beginning of April showed support for Rowland drop to record lows, even among Republicans.
Seventy percent of the registered voters surveyed said Rowland should resign, a 3 percent increase from the last poll released February 19. Fifty-nine percent of the Republican voters said the governor should quit, up from 51 percent in the last poll.
