Posted on 12/20/2003 4:55:12 AM PST by RJCogburn
Responding to questions for the first time since his admission that he accepted free work on his private cottage from companies doing business with the state, Gov. John G. Rowland said on Friday that he had no influence in the awarding of state contracts, had obeyed state laws and was determined to serve out his term.
"This governor, I'm sure other governors in the past, do not call commissioners. We do not try to influence contracts," Mr. Rowland said during a news conference. "We have never done that. I have never done that. Period."
At the heart of the controversy that has threatened the future of the third-term Republican governor are questions about the propriety of his accepting gifts from companies getting contracts from the state.
Federal prosecutors have been investigating members of Mr. Rowland's administration for the past year about the awarding of contracts. The governor has not been charged with any criminal conduct, and on Friday, he repeated his insistence that all his actions have been lawful.
But since he was forced to admit that he made false and misleading statements about the renovations at his cottage, Mr. Rowland has been struggling to regain the confidence of both lawmakers and the public. The governor said on Friday that Dec. 2, the day of a news conference at which he now admits he provided untrue information about the cottage, was "the worst day of my life." But he said he could govern effectively and had never considered resigning.
Mr. Rowland also defended his involvement in a business partnership with a paving contractor who has been awarded $1.3 million in state work during Mr. Rowland's tenure. "There is nothing to hide," Mr. Rowland said, detailing his involvement with First Development Group, a limited-liability corporation that he joined in 1996, about a year after taking office. Asked if it was inappropriate to enter into a contract with someone who had business interests with the state, he said, "When I looked at these three individuals, I looked at them as friends."
After talking about his long relationship with each of his partners, he said: "I did not try and influence any contracts. No one has even accused me of violating or trying to affect any contracts."
When Mr. Rowland was asked if he thought that by simply following the letter of the law, he was giving the public adequate disclosure of his interests, he said: "If the legislature wants to change the laws and the rules, that would be fine. All of us live under the same guidelines."
The governor also acknowledged that information about contracts worth more than $100,000 had been sent to his office as part of a "process" and reviewed by his co-chiefs of staff at the time, Sidney J. Holbrook and Peter Ellef.
"They have no legal authority to support, amend, change or affect, so I am not sure what the process means," he said. "In legal terms it means nothing." He added that the review was "done after the contracts had been approved."
Mr. Rowland did not explain why the practice was instituted in the first place, but he seemed to suggest that he did not have any involvement in it. Dean Pagani, the governor's current chief of staff, said later that the practice was stopped in 2001 at the suggestion of the legal staff in the office, who thought it did not make sense for contracts to be sent to the governor's office, even if only for informational purposes.
While Mr. Rowland was composed during the 30-minute news conference, he refused to elaborate about some specific details and stumbled trying to explain his relationship with his former deputy chief of staff, Lawrence E. Alibozek, who has admitted to accepting bribes in return for influencing state contracts.
Initially, Mr. Rowland tried to explain why others paid for work on his cottage by saying, "The truth is, you get friends to help you out when you are doing a project."
Mr. Rowland said he took out a $25,000 loan but quickly went through it. He said he and his wife had always intended to repay the people and companies who helped them, and that is why much of the work was paid for six years after completion.
But when asked if he considered Mr. Alibozek a friend, he said, "I have never socialized with Larry."
Mr. Alibozek and Mr. Ellef, who was forced to resign in 2002 after orchestrating a disastrous deal with Enron that lost $220 million in state money, paid for the installation of a heating system at the Rowlands' cottage valued at $5,680.
Mr. Rowland said that Mr. Alibozek was "very close with Mr. Ellef."
"Mr. Alibozek was not a personal friend of mine," he added. "I didn't know him before he took the job, and I don't consider him a friend."
Mr. Rowland said he could not explain why Mr. Alibozek was buying him things, and said those questions would have to be directed to Mr. Alibozek and Mr. Ellef.
"You can talk to him and find out exactly why they did what they did," Mr. Rowland said. "There will be other authorities that will ask those questions and I am sure there will be more specifics," he said. "You know and I know that there is all kinds of information out there that I don't have privy to. We have given everything that we know about the cottage to the U.S. Attorney, the chief state's attorney's office, the ethics committee and to all of you."
"Lawfull" is only loosely associated with "right", or "appropriate". It may well be that there is no justification for any criminal punishment...but that does not mean that this should just go by.
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