Roraback, among the first to call for Rowland’s resignation in 2004, gets unlikely campaign contribution$

It might have been the $90,000 in luxury air trips to Las Vegas and Florida (who were ON those flights, anyway?) that sent John Rowland, the  disgraced former governor now WTIC radio-head, to federal prison for 10 months.

But the case will always be remembered for the free renovations performed by the Tomasso Group on Rowland’s former Bantam Lake cottage. BTW: the hallmark hot tub was a gift from a subordinate in the Capitol and was OK at the time. Anyway, the Tomasso Group was given three no-bid contracts worth $100 million, including a $56 million “design-build” deal for an unneeded juvenile detention center in Middletown. William Tomasso was later sentenced on bribery and tax charges along with Rowland.

State Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen was among the first to call for Rowland’s resignation. So in the new Federal Election Commission filing, we find Angelo Tomasso Jr. (“retired”) and Michael Tomasso, of the storied company, writing $3,000 checks to Roraback. In addition, Roraback loaned his campaign $25,000 in its 5th District race against Democrat Elizabeth Esty. In Esty’s third-quarter filing, she loaned her campaign no additional money, but had previously loaned it $525,000, according to the FEC .

Read more about Rowland’s corrupt administration:

Click to access Corruption%20Trail.pdf