Hartford Radio: Feds Urge Four Year Sentence For WTIC Talker

John Rowland

Describing former CT Governor and former WTIC 1080 AM talk show host John G. Rowland as an ethically challenged politician who has repeatedly broken his trust with voters, federal prosecutors are arguing that he should serve from roughly three to four years in prison for his most recent conviction for political crimes, according to The Hartford Courant.

"As a former congressional representative, governor, and radio talk-show host, Mr. Rowland displayed great political talent alongside a troubling disrespect for the law," federal prosecutors argued in a long document filed Friday with Rowland's sentencing judge. "He has repeatedly shown a willingness to manipulate the political process for his own personal benefit, undermining the fragile trust that binds citizens to each other and to their elected representatives."

Late Thursday, Rowland filed his own long plea for leniency.

The correct sentencing range for Rowland, according to his lawyers, is 18 to 24 months. But the defense lawyers are asking Arterton to scrap the advisory guidelines and sentence Rowland to less.

Rowland's prosecutors argue that Rowland should be sentenced to a stiffer 37 to 46 months in prison, a punishment that recognizes that two of the seven crimes of which he was found guilty by a jury in September involve obstruction of justice, or attempts to block the work of federal investigators.

The prosecution also wrote that it has reserved the right to seek a "further enhancement" of Rowland's sentence based on his use of his political talk show on CBS Radio's WTIC-AM to promote the 2012 congressional candidacy of Lisa Wilson-Foley. Foley and her husband, Brian Foley, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide secret payments to Rowland for his political consulting services.

Rowland used the radio station to "harshly criticize" Wilson-Foley's "principal opponent in exchange for pay," the prosecution wrote in its legal filing.

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