Opinion: We should have seen this Rowland scandal coming

A familiar kind of summer is coming to Connecticut. The light’s getting stronger, flowers are pushing up from below the ground, and former Gov. John G. Rowland is caught up in a corruption scandal that cost him his job.

I suddenly feel 10 years younger.

We can be forgiven for thinking we’ve seen this play before, but there’s no excuse for acting surprised about it. It’s a little different this time around, but the story is at its heart the same kind of clumsy grab for money as it was in 2004. Instead of misusing the power of his office to get favors in exchange for contracts, among other things, the latest scandal is about Rowland allegedly misusing his afternoon radio show to favor a congressional candidate, Lisa Wilson-Foley, who was circumventing campaign finance laws to pay him.

As of this writing, Rowland has not been charged, but there’s a lot of speculation that it’s only a matter of time. He held on to his radio show for a few days before dropping it on Thursday, and he has thus far refused to comment because he wants to “respect the process.”

That may change quickly as well.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.

Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats.