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24 May 2012
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Natural Remedies
CDC Greed
(won't answer the FOIA)
ELISA = arbitrary cutoff.
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Overview
TUSKEGEE - By Jerry Leonard
1998, CIA Oilmen & Israelis plan to overthrow
Saddam for the oil.
Bush/Gore Oil/War-(Oct,2000)
Bush's own explainer (Oct
2000) re:
Iraq Oil
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http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:RcI52gNmwqcJ:www.ctnow.com/news/politics/hc-jacklinopedwedmarch19.artmar19,0,854646.column%3Fcoll%3Dhc-utility-news-politics+Rowland+scandal+Governor&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Rowland Should Have Quit While He Was
Ahead
March 19, 2003
The latest parlor game
being played at the state Capitol these
days is guessing who the R stands for in
TREA, the landscaping company that was
set up in 1999 allegedly to accept
payments in exchange for steering
lucrative state contracts to the Tomasso
Group of New Britain.
Sources have told The Courant that the T
is for Tomasso; the E is for Peter
Ellef, the former co-chief of staff to
Gov. John G.
Rowland who is under investigation;
and the A is for Lawrence Alibozek, the
governor's onetime deputy chief of
staff who has pleaded guilty in federal
court to conspiring to accept cash and
gold and concealing his booty from the
IRS.
So who could Mr. or Ms. R be? It's not
who you think, Statehouse pundits say.
If the initial stands for anyone (and
there's no indication it does), it's not
the fellow who occupies the plush office
on the second floor of the Capitol or,
for that matter, the woman who occupies
the lieutenant
governor's office one floor above.
But that doesn't mean John
Rowland shouldn't be held
accountable for this latest
scandal to rock his administration.
With apologies to Bruce Springsteen,
Rowland is Connecticut's Boss, the
guy in charge, the honcho whose desk the
proverbial buck stops at. Yet his alibi
is always the same - I didn't know
nuthin' - even when the wrongdoing has
occurred right under his nose, in his
office suite.
For instance, Ellef made 476 calls on
his state cellphone to Tomasso,
including five on the day a
multimillion-dollar contract was
awarded. On another occasion, Ellef used
the
governor's official stationery to
correspond with Chinese trade
emissaries, improperly referring to
Michael Tomasso as the state's "chief
China business advisor," subpoenaed
documents show.
After eight
scandal-plagued years,
Rowland's use of plausible
deniability has grown old. Whether it
was his son helping himself to surplus
military equipment or Ellef squandering
$220 million of CRRA ratepayer money or
former Treasurer Paul Silvester
illegally wheeling and dealing state
pension money,
Rowland has always claimed he's the
unwitting bystander.
Can a
governor keep insisting he's out of
the loop and be taken seriously?
Sure. John
Rowland is living proof that it's
possible to fool most of the people most
of the time. Four years ago, I wrote
that Connecticut's "Hydra-like state
treasury
scandal" would be
Rowland's political undoing. Boy,
was I wrong. I badly misread the
public's willingness to accept ethical
lapses and corrupt practices. Voters
couldn't have cared less when they
marched off to the polls last November
and happily pulled the lever over his
name.
Now the
governor's job-approval ratings are
in the tank, according to a new
Quinnipiac Poll. But the plunge is more
a result of the state's stalled economy
and related budget woes than of the
budding Tomasso
scandal. Most of the polling was
done before the news of Alibozek's
guilty plea became public.
If
Rowland is truly unaware of what's
happening at the epicenter of his
administration, as he says he is, it's
reflective of a failure of leadership
and his disengagement from the process
of governing.
Most everyone in and around the
corridors of power knows that Ellef and
Sidney Holbrook,
Rowland's other discredited co-chief
of staff, had free rein. Agency heads
reported to them - and lived in fear of
them. The dynamic duo called the shots
while
Rowland was off golfing with his
fellow Republican governors and bunking
at the White House.
His lack of interest makes you wonder
why he opted to run for a third term.
Had he left office in January, he would
have been remembered as the
governor who cut taxes, refocused
attention on the cities, upgraded the
University of Connecticut and reformed
welfare. Barring a dramatic turnaround
in the state's fortunes, that legacy is
in jeopardy.
Moreover, it may be too late for him to
bail out. Just a few months ago,
Rowland was at the top of his game.
Not only had he crushed his Democratic
opponent in the November election, but
he helped GOP candidates around the
country do the same. Speculation was
rife that
Rowland would be rewarded with a
high-level post in the Bush
administration.
Don't count on him getting that plum job
anytime soon. He's radioactive.
President Bush would be daft to risk a
messy confirmation hearing for a
political crony who has a second major
corruption
scandal unfolding on his watch.
Rowland should have gotten out while
the going was good.
Michele Jacklin is The Courant's
political columnist. Her column appears
every Wednesday and Sunday. To leave her
a comment, please call 860-241-3163.
E-mail:
jacklin@courant.com
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