The reaction to the speech? Mostly disappointment he didn't resign.
NEWINGTON, Conn. -- His poll ratings sinking, Governor John G. Rowland apologized last night in an address broadcast live on television and radio, asking forgiveness for deceptions that created a "nightmare" that has affected everyone in the state.
"I lied, and there are no excuses," said Rowland, his voice calm.
But if the reaction of a mixed-age, family-dotted dining room at an Applebee's restaurant is any indication, the governor has lost the patience of many middle-of-the-road constituents.
"This guy's been lying forever," said Vincent Sinopoli, 67, of Rocky Hill, who rushed to the television near the bar when Rowland appeared at 6 p.m. to deliver a short speech. "He did wrong, and he should know better."
Rocked by a federal criminal subpoena on Tuesday, Rowland took to the airwaves last night to appeal to Connecticut voters for another chance. The appeal came even as Senate President Kevin Sullivan, a Democrat, publicly asked for the first time that the Republican governor resign.
"One of the first lessons we teach our children as parents is to never tell a lie," Rowland said. "In all of this, nothing weighs heavier on my heart than my failure to speak truthfully about these issues.
"I humbly ask for a renewed opportunity to earn back your trust, to redeem myself in your eyes, and to continue to lead this state," the governor added.
But neither Sinopoli nor Beverly Accareio, a dining companion from Newington, was prepared to accept Rowland's apology for lying about free work he accepted on his vacation home from friends and contractors who do business with the state.
"I thought he was going to resign," Accareio said. "How can you trust him anymore? I'm sorry, too, that he lied."
As Rowland's speech captivated the restaurant patrons in this suburb of south of Hartford, some diners muttered words like crook and liar as the governor spoke. Katie Tarca, 21, a college student from New Britain, said the question of trust is too difficult to overcome now. "We can't think that our taxpayer dollars are going to contracts for people who gave him" free gifts, Tarca said.
"He should be held accountable," said her dining companion, Susan Chmura, an elementary school teacher in Berlin.
(...)
Yesterday, I compared the speech to Nixon's Checkers apologia. No credit to me... everyone and his mother did the same. see below
From the
Hartford Courant (most important paper in CT):
Lawmakers said the solemn speech was clearly the most important of Rowland's long political career, and one Republican described the performance as "a Checkers speech without the dog."
He was referring to a famous televised speech by Richard M. Nixon in 1952, when he was a Republican candidate for vice president, to rebut allegations of campaign finance improprieties. Nixon denied virtually all the charges, but he admitted accepting a gift of a cocker spaniel named "Checkers" that he refused to return because the dog had been given to his young daughters.
Rowland's speech comes as federal prosecutors and the FBI are widening an investigation into bid-rigging and bribery within the Rowland administration. Rowland's former deputy chief of staff has already pleaded guilty to accepting cash and gold coins in exchange for steering state contracts to a politically connected company. This week, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena demanding all the governor's personal documents regarding the cottage renovations, along with his tax returns and records of his personal investments.
Despite his apologies, Rowland's comments Wednesday fell on deaf ears among some Democrats who have been pushing for impeachment. The House Democratic caucus will meet today in a closed-door meeting about Rowland's future, and House Speaker Moira K. Lyons, D-Stamford, is expected to decide as soon as next week whether to appoint a bipartisan House committee that could start the impeachment process.
"The governor's made-for-television speech was just another feeble attempt at damage control, and it is too late for apologies and spin," said House Majority Leader James Amann, D-Milford, one of Rowland's most outspoken critics. "The people of Connecticut will no longer be fooled."
Rowland's emotional speech came the same day as a new poll showed that more than half of the state's residents think he should resign. It also followed hours after four significant calls for his resignation, including two by freshmen legislators who became the first state Republican lawmakers to call for him to step down.
(...)
