Terry Cowgill

Johnny II - The Movie

January 25, 2008 on 3:06 pm | In State |

Regular readers know that I’ve long predicted that a certain convicted felon ex-Connecticut governor would soon enough return to his native city to become mayor. Well, it turns out I wasn’t very far off in my prognostication.

Just when you thought that the return of a political couple couldn’t get any more odious than the current reascension of Bill and Hillary, now we get word that Connecticut’s disgraced ex-boss, Johnny “Hot Tub” Rowland, will soon re-enter public life. Presumably, his wife Patty, pictured with Johnny above, will be a de facto part of the package.

The Nutmeg State’s blogosphere has been buzzing about Waterbury Mayor Sam Jarjura’s decision to put Johnny back in the middle of it all as the city’s economic development coordinator.

Hartford Courant reporters Ed Mahony and Jon Lender got some astounding quotes from a Farmington town councilman, a Republican who was involved in the FBI investigation that caught Johnny with his hand in the tiller. Get a load of this:

“This is a disgrace,” said Farmington Town Council Chairman Michael Clark. “It is like kicking sand in the eyes of every hardworking taxpayer in Waterbury … John Rowland says he has had a spiritual rebirth. Well, the spiritual rebirth I want to see is when he puts his hand on a Bible and promises to tell the whole truth to a grand jury, honestly and completely, which he has never done.”

I couldn’t have possibly said it that well. To throw a guy like Rowland right into the middle of the very environment (money and politics) that got him trouble in the first place is disgraceful indeed. It’s like taking an on-the-wagon drunk and telling him to put on an apron and get behind the bar.

And Courant blogger Colin McEnroe is cruisin for a bruisin’ from his employer. Yesterday The Courant ran what McEnroe called “a galactically stupid editorial” that said Rowland’s appointment to the $100,000 a year job was “hard to swallow,” but “society owes former felons a second chance to prove that they have been rehabilitated.”

I agree that convicts should get a second chance, but does society “owe” convicted felons a six-figure sinecure whose job description (economic development czar) is based on establishing and maintaining trust between the city and a prospective employer or investor? And we’re talking about Waterbury, which has perhaps the worst reputation for corruption in the state.

If The Courant wants to give Johnny a second chance, perhaps new owner Sam Zell could give him a job as a Sunday Courant columnist or as a short order cook at the company commissary in Chicago. Johnny could make Zell’s breakfast every morning. How do “Eggs McEnroe” sound?