Corruption Inquiry Inches Forward

Members of a special legislative committee considering whether Gov. John G. Rowland should be impeached asked their lawyer Friday to draft one or more articles of impeachment because, they said, the governor had not cooperated with their investigation.

The decision came after a lawyer for Rowland refused to testify under oath as a witness before the state House Select Committee of Inquiry about why Rowland and his wife had not turned over almost 10 years’ worth of personal financial records.

Rowland, 46, a Republican, has been under increasing pressure to resign since admitting in mid-December that he had lied about who paid for improvements to a summer cottage.

He has admitted accepting gifts from friends, employees and state contractors. He is also the subject of a federal corruption investigation. Rowland contends that he has not compromised his office and has not given anything in return to the gift-givers.

“What we have sought for many, many months is direct and simple,” state Rep. John Wayne Fox, co-chairman of the inquiry committee, said in a testy exchange with Rowland’s lawyer, William Dow. “It’s information we feel appropriate to do the job we need to do.”

Earlier in the day, before the committee made its decision, Rowland told reporters that drawing up all the information that legislators were seeking had been a monumental task.

“You know how hard it would be to reconstruct documents over the last 10 years for everything you’ve ever spent or bought or purchased,” he said.

There was no formal vote of the committee to take another step toward impeaching Rowland. Fox, a Democrat, asked if there were any objections from committee members. There were none, so he ordered special counsel Steven F. Reich to begin the process.