Rowland vs. the Crapper

Governor John G. Rowland recently announced that the state of Connecticut is strong. He presented a $14.2 billion budget plan that didn’t contain anything about the ethical trouble he’s in.

“There has been no retreat from our core values and our core beliefs," decreed the Governor. "There has been no retreat from our efforts to make Connecticut better, to make it stronger and to keep looking forward to the future."

If not investigated, Rowland’s notion of the future would have involved further personal gain. The truth is that Rowland served the state a silver plate of political crap in his address this afternoon. “As leaders, we are most effective when we think of our duties in terms of a new generation, not in terms of the next election,” he said. By ‘duties’ he must mean accepting favors and by ‘new generation’ he probably meant to say his new hot tub.

Apparently, Rowland plans on acting as if that whole incident never took place. I consider myself fairly right-wing on the political spectrum and find Rowland’s abuse of his elected authority deplorable as well as an embarrassment to the Republican Party. The fact that he plans on remaining in office is even more insulting.

The people of Connecticut have to let it be known that political corruption is intolerable. It’s getting to the point where government officials should campaign based off their degree of corruption and ethics, not their stance on political issues.

If he had any dignity and respect for the state of Connecticut, Rowland would resign. Nixon resigned when he realized there was no way out of Watergate; but like a stubborn mule, Rowland’s staying in office to keep his honor. His honor, like his policies, went straight down the toilet along with his administration. Ironically, the honorable thing to do would be to resign. Perhaps he should think about that the next time he’s on the john.

A full text of Rowland's 2/4 address can be found at ctnow.com