New Haven Independent

It is the perfect job for Rowland. The city gets a convicted felon, who during his tenure as governor surrounded himself with a collection of the truly corrupt; and in return Rowland gets a job doing what he does best …doing “deals.”

For a once-proud city which has fallen into disrepair and default ever since the last brass mill closed in the mid-1970s, it is sad to see this is the best leaders think they can get.

Fresh out of prison, Rowland had hoped to make money on the speaking circuit. He is one of a small group of governors chased from office under threat of impeachment. While in prison Rowland apparently “found” God; he hoped his locating of the Almighty coupled with the story of his transgressions as governor would make him a sought after motivational speaker.

He might have been motivated, but he was the only one.

Faced with going back to the family business of selling insurance, John obviously needed to find salvation and a paycheck. What better place than government service?

It’s obvious that Rowland knew and knows lots of people he met during his meteoric rise from unknown Congressman to corrupt disgraced governor. I’m sure that Rowland figured if he could just find a few people who could forget his ability to surround himself with the truly corrupt, he could land himself a plum job.

And Rowland certainly knew how to find those with no ethical compass. His deputy chief of staff, Lawrence Alibozek, took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and other goodies for bid-rigging and contract steering. The goodies included limo rides, vacations for him and his mistress (who was also a state commissioner) and forty gold coins he buried in his backyard. Like no one was going to find them.

Co-Chief of Staff Peter Ellef was hauled off to jail after pleading guilty to participating in a bribery scheme.

And the former governor’s part in all of these shenanigans? Recall that Rowland resigned as governor in June 2004 and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to conspiring to collect $107,000 in gifts and services from businessmen like New Britain’s William Tomasso, who got hundreds of millions in contracts and tax breaks from the Rowland administration.

Recall that it was Tomasso’s company that did free renovation work on Rowland’s Bantam Lake summer getaway. Rowland bought it for $110,000 and sold it, much improved, for over $500,000.

Tomasso is doing 31/2 years in the Federal pen for conspiring to commit bribery and tax fraud.

Now before you think that I hate John Rowland, let me set the record straight. I’ve interviewed him dozens of times. He is an incredibly personable and smart individual. Looks you right in the eye and has a great handshake. He is so personable it is hard not to like him. Unfortunately based on his past acts he is at best an unethical individual with truly horrible people-selection skills. Having John Rowland as a city’s development administrator is like having an embezzler run the auditing department at the bank.

But by picking Rowland as development czar, Waterbury continues its long and storied history of picking the “best and brightest” as public servants. Who can forget the likes of Mayor Joe Santopietro, who along with six others was convicted in 1992 of conspiring with bankers and developers to trade favors for bribes and kickbacks disguised as loans? He was indicted again as recently as June of 2006 in what prosecutors say was a mob-backed scheme to carve up Connecticut’s trash-hauling industry.

What about Waterbury’s most recent “darling” felon; winner of the “Truly Ick” contest? In 2001, the FBI stumbled on former Mayor Phil Giordano’s proclivity for having sex with a prostitute. It was his particular penchant for being “serviced” by two girls, one 8 … the other 11 … one the niece of the prostitute, and both brought to the mayor’s office, that made most of us turn cold when we heard the story.

The FBI had been investigating the mayor and his administration for the comparatively bland allegation of corruption. They halted it and arrested Giordano on the sex charges in order to stop the assaults on the two kids.

So with a history of electing soon-to-be-felons, it seems only logical Mayor Mike Jarjura would push to hire Rowland. He has already passed the requirement. He has already pleaded guilty and done his time. Jarjura freely admits the city interviewed only Rowland for the job. After all, how many people can you find with his “qualifications?”

Thornton Wilder said it best: “Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools, and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

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