Ex-Gov. Rowland scheduled to be released from custody

Three-term governor is twice-convicted felon

Former Gov. John G. Rowland is scheduled to be released from federal custody on Sunday.

The twice-convicted felon has been in a halfway house and will have served about 19 months of a 30-month sentence if he is released as expected.

The former three-term governor was found guilty in September 2014 of campaign fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Rowland reported to prison in September 2016 after exhausting his appeals.

Rowland tried but failed to consult for congressional candidate Mark Greenberg in 2010. Two years later, he went to work for candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley. Rowland claims he was a campaign volunteer and was being paid for business consulting under a contract with Brian Foley, the candidate's husband.

The jury agreed with prosecutors that the contract with Brian Foley was a ruse to hide Rowland's position as a paid campaign staffer.

Rowland was elected to the state House of Representatives at 23, and later to Congress and then as governor — always as a Republican in a Democratic state. His political advice remained highly regarded, but the first conviction on corruption charges made him politically toxic. Candidates feared — and Rowland agreed — that they would be guilty by association if opponents learned they were buying advice from a felon.

Rowland's defense lawyers argued at his 2014 trial that federal agents are obsessed by a belief that he received an unjustifiably lenient sentence after his 2004 conviction. Rowland pleaded guilty to taking about $100,000 from businessmen looking for tax breaks or state contracts while he was governor.

He resigned as governor and served a relatively brief, seven-month sentence for that conviction.