Way to Go, Pete

Does a breach of the public trust mean anything? Does lying to federal probation officers mean anything? Is there any such thing as white collar crime with serious consequence?

Or is it merely the case when when of the white-boys-in-chief gets prosecuted and pleads guilty to a federal felony our judges simply don't care?

John G. Rowland, former governor of the State of Connecticut, now felon, was sentenced yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Presiding over the sentencing was judge Peter C. Dorsey. A Slap on the Wrist

Rowland faced a sentence of 15 to 21 months under the federal sentencing guidelines. Last year he plead to one count of conspiracy to steal public services. The governor was living high on the hog, taking gifts, and basically treating the state as if it were little more than a feudal estate.

Prosecutors presented scores of witnesses to a grand jury, impeachment proceedings consumed millions of dollars in state funds, and then Rowland plead on the eve of a rumored indictment.

Just before sentencing, the Government filed a motion to depart upward on the grounds that the Rowland had shielded assets from the probation officer. The Government sought three years.

The sentence imposed by Judge Dorsey amounted to a downward departure. It is an insult.

Rowland was no ordinary white-collar criminal. He was the state's highest elected official. He asked for, and was given, the trust of the people of the state. Then he abused the trust.

For this he gets leniency? Wow. I think I'll run for governor.  Then I, too, can steal with impunity.

Comments

[Steven G. Erickson]

I blog on FreeSpeech.com

For a period of months from Oct. 2003, if you put “Governor Rowland” in a yahoo search engine, the stuff I wrote about Rowland came up as #2, just past his official site.

I contacted the US Atty for Connecticut Feb. 21, 2003, and the newspapers citing that I had a corruption connection between the head of the Connecticut State Police and the Gov’s Office.

I assume the ball was already in motion at that point, but there is a small chance I could have been ground zero for Rowland's demise.

I emailed, wrote, and called Fox news regarding Rowland for about 3 months. O’Reilly did a talking points memo, called, “The Death of Shame in America” asking Connecticut resident to march on Hartford and demand Rowland resign, mid Dec. 2003, at about the same time artwork accompanied my own blasting of Rowland in a letter to the editor printed in the Journal Inquirer.

Again, plenty of people were probably contacting Fox and other networks regarding Rowland's corruption.

If you put “Arthur L. Spada” in a yahoo search engine, what I wrote is still #1. I wrote every legislator asking that Spada be removed. I contacted Rell’s office everyday for about two weeks, when Spada was due to talk to Rell about his job.

Corruption goes way beyond Rowland if he only got a year.

An average citizen doing 1/1000 as serious a series of offenses, would be doing decades in prison.

I’m not sure Martha Stewart did anything wrong other than pissing off someone feeling too important to be slighted by Martha.

I was at the Capitol in Hartford today. I asked to see Rell and was given a pen.

Later, Lt. Gov. Sullivan shook my hand and asked how our shared parenting bill efforts were doing, repeating my name as we passed in a hall.

Judge Jonathan Kaplan took my friend, Christopher Kennedy’s, kids away for lodging complaints against a judge.

Kaplan cited that because my friend is Irish and because he lodged a complaint against a judge, he should not see his 3 kids, also stating on the record, because Chris is Irish, he is unstable, like the country, Ireland.

His wife was give immunity for stabbing Chris Kennedy of Ellington Connecticut to prosecute Chris for a Class C felony, Risk of Injury to a minor, for having yelled in front of his kids.

Chris, an engineer at Pratt and Whitney, faces prison and loss of everything at the end of the month.

I tried to have Kaplan fired and lost $500,000 in Connecticut real estate and was thrown in prison, 3 years probation, for having used pepper spray. We talked in your office about that.

I want to raise some hell and then leave the country and be free and American, elsewhere.

Thank you,
Steven G. Erickson
Email: trvl@hotmail.com