The jury could begin deliberations as soon as Wednesday in the conspiracy trial of former governor John Rowland.
For a second consecutive day, the man who says he feared that former Gov. John Rowland would be replacing him as the top executive at Apple Healthcare continued testimony as the defense’s key witness in Rowland’s federal campaign conspiracy trial.
Rowland, a convicted felon, is accused of conspiring to violate and obstruct federal campaign-reporting laws by failing to report his $35,000 in consulting fees from Brian Foley as a Lisa Wilson-Foley campaign expense. Rowland denies the accusations and is arguing that he performed valuable service for Apple Healthcare, and that his work for the campaign was done voluntarily.
Brian Bedard, second in charge of the chain of 26 nursing homes, continued to paint a picture that was different than the one his boss, Brian Foley, did.
Bedard contends Rowland, with whom he says he met eight times during the six-month consulting deal, was doing meaningful work for Apple Healthcare, despite Mr. Foley's assertions that it was all a ruse and Rowland was actually being paid to work on his wife's 2012 congressional campaign.
Among the substantive meetings, Bedard testified that he met with Rowland and others inside Apple Healthcare on the subject of how to attack the problem of Medicaid as it relates to the state slowing down nursing home payments which. Bedard said if that happened it could be crippling to the company, which has a payroll of almost $2 million every week.
Rowland’s attorney, Reid Weingarten, asked Bedard if he believed Rowland’s involvement in any Apple Healthcare issues was a cover for work he was actually doing for Lisa Wilson-Foley's campaign. Bedard said no.
The Weingarten asked, “Did you ever think that?”
"Not for a split second,” said Bedard.
On cross-examination, the prosecution looked to discredit Bedard, who had previously testified that he had not helped draft the Rowland consulting agreement. The prosecution showed the jury an email Bedard had sent to Brian Foley dated Oct. 18, 2011. The email read “working on consulting document between John and Apple," which the prosecution said was a contradiction to the prior testimony.
Also during cross-examination, Bedard admitted that Rowland, unlike all other consultants for Apple Healthcare, never met with key company directors. Just him.