Connecticut State Attorney General George Jepsen’s office said former governor John Rowland can keep his government pension after being convicted in a campaign fraud case.
Jepsen determined that the campaign violations Rowland was convicted for earlier in the month were outside the scope of his government duties.
“Mr. Rowland’s conviction does not subject his pension to revocation or reduction under Connecticut’s pension revocation law. By its terms, that statute only applies when an individual is convicted of crime relating to his or her state or municipal office,” said Jaclyn M. Falkowski, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General. “Mr. Rowland was convicted of conduct undertaken in his private capacity, and his crimes do not, under the statute’s definitions, relate to his former public office. Therefore, under the terms of the revocation statute, there is no legal basis for the Office of the Attorney General to seek revocation or reduction of Mr. Rowland’s pension.”
Rowland will be sentenced in January.He plead guilty to criminal charges in 2004 after resigning from office and served one year in Federal Prison. The law allowing the revocation of pensions was enacted after he left office and would not apply.
The statute is available here: http://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_011a.htm
