Rowland for hire

Good Lord!

I read this piece from Helen Ubinas this morning on our favorite former Governor/disgrace John Rowland but forgot to post about it until Genghis and T-Party brought it back to my attention.

I'm with you GC, I went numb when I saw Rowland's site and I'm just as speechless.

How Ubinas could muster up the energy to write anything about Rowland's site is beyond me. My body blacked out the site from my memory to sheild me from the pain.

In a web page meant to entice folks who might want to hire the former governor as a motivational speaker, Rowland goes on about "his exceptional public service career." There's a slew of photos showing him as a man of the people, and a page devoted to the "landmarks of his legacy."

Landmarks of his legacy? How about the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, a $57 million boondoggle to benefit his contractor friends, a juvenile jail so flawed it's been ordered closed?

Or the Bradley International Airport garage, another sweetheart deal for his buddies?

Or his choice for chief justice of the Supreme Court, a Waterbury pol whose effort to skew the system for the benefit of a pal has brought disrepute on the entire judiciary?

How about his legacy as the state's only governor to be driven from office and sent to jail?

He deals with that on his website with one short, sweet, euphemistic paragraph: "Facing preliminary investigative hearings by a legislative panel he stepped down from public office on July 1, 2004. On April 1, 2005, he began serving a sentence of one year and one day at Loretto, Pennsylvania, after accepting a plea agreement."

Sorry, no photo to celebrate that Hallmark moment.

It got me thinking about how some other folks who found themselves in hot water might have explained their falls from grace:

Richard Nixon, facing an inquiry about a burglary, relocated to California.

Louis XVI, facing a certain public disenchantment, lost his ability to wear a crown.

Bonnie and Clyde, facing questions about their banking practices, were sanctioned by federal authorities.

Hey, everyone - including corrupt pols - get to go on with their lives; at least if they're not beheaded. And Rowland did his time.

But come on, to betray the public trust and then turn around and cash in on your bad behavior? Talk about the arrogance of power.

This jerk is now making money as a motivational speaker and is CHARGING PEOPLE to hear him speak.

Why isn't he still in jail?

(Note: Ubinas' name is spelled with a tilde over the n but I'm unable to get the accent to display correctly on the site).