Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland was ordered to serve 2½ years in prison for hiding his involvement in two congressional campaigns, exactly a decade after he was jailed for illegally accepting gifts.
Rowland, a Republican who led Connecticut from 1995 to 2004 and served as a congressman from 1985 to 1991, is the second former governor to be sentenced to prison this year. Virginia's Robert McDonnell got a two-year term in January for public corruption.
Rowland, 57, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven, according to U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly. Rowland was also ordered to pay a $35,000 fine and spend three years under supervision after his release.
Rowland was convicted in September of hiding from the Federal Election Commission his work as a paid consultant on two campaigns. Jurors found him guilty of falsifying records in a U.S. investigation, conspiracy, causing false statements to be made to the FEC and causing illegal contributions.
"It is disheartening that an individual who once held two of our country's highest elected offices, and who also served time in prison for a previous federal conviction, chose to deceive voters and violate laws that were established to ensure fair and open elections," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gustafson said in a statement.
Rowland, of Middlebury, Connecticut, resigned in his third term as state legislators were considering whether to impeach him. He pleaded guilty in December 2004 to fraud for accepting $107,000 worth of gifts, including cut-rate vacations, chartered jet flights and renovations to his summer cottage from state contractors and others.
He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2005.