Posted on 01/12/2004 5:32:07 AM PST by Theodore R.
Connecticut GOP Backs Investigating Gov.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Republican state senators have unanimously backed a state House proposal that would convene a bipartisan committee to investigate the corruption scandal surrounding Republican Gov. John G. Rowland.
The Republican senators did not ask for the three-term governor to resign.
"The governor, like any private citizen accused of wrongdoing, is entitled to due process and a thorough investigation of the facts," Senate Republican Leader Louis C. DeLuca said Sunday.
Republicans in the state House on Friday proposed that a select committee investigate the scandal. State Senate Democrats as a group have already called on the governor to resign and said they would support an impeachment investigation.
Dean Pagani, Rowland's chief of staff, said Sunday that if an investigative committee is formed, the governor hopes the process will be fair. Rowland is under fire for accepting gifts from politically connected friends and contractors.
If impeached in the House, Rowland would stand trial in the Senate, which has 21 Democrats and 15 Republicans. A two-thirds majority would be required to remove him from office.
Meanwhile, Rowland's office said the governor has no plans to step down from two advisory panels to the Bush administration. Rowland serves on the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and a homeland security committee of state and local officials.
Rowland will also continue to serve as state chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign in Connecticut. That position is bestowed upon the highest-ranking Republican in the state.
"We have no plans to change our campaign leadership. It remains the same," Kevin Madden, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, told the Connecticut Post.
Rowland has faced increasing calls for his resignation since last month, when he admitted accepting gifts to improve his lakefront summer cottage. He initially said he paid for all the cottage work himself, but admitted last month that politically appointed state employees, friends and a state contractor provided improvements as gifts.
Some of those gift-givers are at the center of a federal investigation into contract steering by officials in Rowland's administration. Rowland has maintained that while he accepted gifts, he did not return any favors for them.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
We should all be proud of the stark contrast between the way Republicans in Connecticut are dealing with this situation and the performance of Democrats in the Clinton years.
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