"It was roughly a ten-to-one ratio of emails that went to the campaign, as opposed to going to the client that was paying the freight."
Mark Pazniokas
The prosecution has rested its case in the federal campaign corruption trial of former Connecticut Governor John Rowland.
The former governor and convicted felon faces seven federal charges, including allegations he conspired to hide payments for work he did on the 2012 fifth district congressional campaign of Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley. Prosecutors say Rowland worked on the campaign, but was paid through a consulting deal with a nursing home company owned by her husband, Brian Foley.
On Monday, prosecutors showed the jury a chart showing the hundreds of calls Rowland made to the campaign, and the several dozen calls he made to executives at the nursing home company, Apple Health Care.
“What they showed the jury was the heavy email volume that went to the campaign once he signed on as a consultant to Apple, as opposed to the nursing home company itself,” said Mark Pazniokas, a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror who is covering the trial. “It was roughly a ten-to-one ratio of emails that went to the campaign, as opposed to going to the client that was paying the freight.”
Pazniokas said the intent of the prosecutors was to reinforce their premise: that Rowland was actually working for the campaign, and hiding it from federal elections officials.
Rowland's defense attorney contends the Republican did legitimate work for Apple. He planned to call the company's executive vice president, Brian Bedard, as his first witness.
“The defense hinted that they may have a very short witness list,” Pazniokas said.
One question is whether Rowland will be on it.
Pazniokas said the judge told Rowland that his prior federal conviction would be fair game should he take the stand. “In Mr. Rowland’s case,” he said, “she was very specific, saying look, the downside here, obviously, is the fact you can be cross-examined at some length about your conviction in federal court on a corruption charge. But in the end, it’s his call. In any case, it appears we are drawing to a close regarding the trial of John Rowland.”
Testimony resumes on Tuesday.