By Richard Weizel
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Reuters) - Former Connecticut Governor John Rowland was sentenced on Wednesday to two and a half years in prison for violating U.S. campaign laws by taking payments from a business owned by the husband of a candidate he advised.
Rowland, a Republican, was convicted in September of seven criminal counts including falsifying records in a federal investigation.
U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton told him to surrender on June 16, and ruled that he would serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence. Rowland was also fined $30,000.
His sentencing came exactly 10 years after Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison for accepting illegal gifts while he was governor, charges that led to his resignation during his third term in office.
Rowland's attorneys said they planned to appeal.
"All of this is happening for one reason, and that is because he is John Rowland, otherwise this would be nothing more than a simple FEC violation," said Attorney Reid Weingarten, referring to the Federal Election Commission.
Earlier this week Arterton denied Rowland's request to be retried because, his lawyers said, prosecutors had failed to turn over key evidence involving the 2012 congressional campaign of Lisa Wilson-Foley, whom Rowland advised.
Rowland was found guilty of negotiating a ruse deal to work for a nursing home company owned by Wilson-Foley's husband, which paid him $35,000 intended to compensate him for advising the campaign. Prosecutors contended that the ruse was intended to hide Rowland's involvement in the campaign.
In addition to advising Wilson-Foley, Rowland had sought to advise another Republican congressional candidate, Mark Greenberg, who testified during the trial that he had rejected Rowland's 2010 offer.
Both Wilson-Foley and Greenberg lost their congressional bids.
While prosecutors on Tuesday pressed for the 30-month sentence, five people, including Rowland's wife Patricia Rowland, youngest daughter, clergy and an attorney urged the judge to order a more lenient punishment.
Arterton, though, said Rowland was a repeat offender who had not owned up to his crimes.
"These charges and conviction are not trivial, not civil and are indeed serious," Arterton said. "As the defense has argued, this was not the crime of the century ... but it was a crime and there must be a deterrent to ensure open and transparent campaigns."