Panel to Investigate Connecticut Governor

The Connecticut Legislature will form a bipartisan committee to investigate the scandal surrounding Gov. John G. Rowland and recommend whether he should be impeached, the leader of the state House said Wednesday.

“It is the most difficult decision that I’ve had to make,” said House Speaker Moira Lyons, a Democrat.

Lyons’ announcement came after she met privately Wednesday morning with the Republican governor.

Rowland had asked legislators not to hold impeachment hearings, warning it would create a partisan rift within the legislature, but he did an about-face Tuesday and said he endorses a process that is fair and objective.

The three-term governor last month admitted accepting gifts and free work on his vacation cottage from politically connected friends, state employees and a contractor, something he initially denied. He has maintained that he never returned the favors and has apologized several times for lying about the gifts.

Federal agents say Rowland is a subject of an investigation.

Two of Connecticut’s three Republican members of Congress have called on Rowland to resign, as have at least 11 of the state’s 15 Republican state senators.

In a brief statement Wednesday, Rowland commended the legislature for “setting up this very fair and deliberative process.”

“I want the people of this state to know something,” he said. “I will continue to do this job, to the best of my abilities, each and every day.”

Dean Pagani, the governor’s chief of staff and spokesman, has said Rowland remains committed to finishing out his third, four-year term, which expires in January 2007.

The formation of the committee of inquiry is one step below starting the impeachment process, a second option that Lyons said she had been considering. Lyons said the House will meet in special session as soon as next week to form the committee, which she said will have subpoena powers.

House Minority Leader Robert Ward said he agrees the committee is an appropriate next step. “Certainly as a Republican leader, we take no pleasure in this,” he said.

If impeached in the state House, made up of 95 Democrats and 56 Republicans, Rowland would stand trial in the Senate, which has 21 Democrats and 15 Republicans.

Public opinion of the governor has plummeted. A University of Connecticut poll released Monday found 63 percent of state residents think Rowland should resign. The poll, conducted after Rowland’s admission, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

On Tuesday, the State Ethics Commission issued a draft ruling that public officials cannot accept expensive gifts from employees or state contractors. Two Democrats asked the commission last month for a legal opinion about whether Rowland broke state ethics rules when he accepted those gifts.

Rowland’s legal counsel, Ross Garber, disagreed with Ethics Commission Executive Director Alan Plofsky’s opinion, saying the law only prohibits an officials from taking gifts from those doing business with their agency. The contractor involved in Rowland’s situation did not work directly for the governor’s office.