Conn. Governor's Ouster Sought

Members of a special legislative committee that has been considering whether Gov. John G. Rowland should be impeached asked its lawyer to draft an article of impeachment Friday because he has not cooperated with their probe.

The decision was prompted when a lawyer for Rowland refused to testify before the House Select Committee of Inquiry, which has been trying to obtain the personal financial records of the governor and his wife.

There still would be many steps before Rowland might actually be impeached. The article could be presented to the committee some time next week. A committee co-chairman said the panel then could vote merely to accept it, to recommend it to the House, to delay action or to reject it.

The attorney, William Dow, asked the committee to quash a subpoena seeking Rowland's financial documents. The panel turned him down and instructed its lawyer to draw up the impeachment article.

Earlier in the day, before the committee made its decision, Rowland told reporters drawing up all the information that legislators have been seeking has been a monumental task.

"You know how hard it would be to reconstruct documents over the last 10 years for everything you've ever spent or bought or purchased," Rowland said.

But the committee said it should not be so difficult.

"What we have sought many many months is direct and simple," said Rep. John Wayne Fox, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the inquiry committee. "It's information we feel appropriate to do the job we need to do."

There was no formal vote of the committee to take another step toward impeaching Rowland. Fox asked if there were any objections from committee members. There were none, so he ordered special counsel Steven F. Reich to begin the process.

Dow criticized the committee for the scope of its probe and not having a standard for impeachment.

"I'm enraged," Dow said. "Essentially I've been accused of not acting in good faith with this committee."

Reich has complained that the slow pace of producing documents by Rowland and his wife, Patricia, were impeding the committee's investigation.

But Dow said Rowland had turned over everything in his possession from 10 years worth of financial transactions. The 2,800 pages of information includes Rowland's tax records and credit card information.

"He doesn't have an army of lawyers or a legion of investigators," Dow said.

Rowland has been under increasing pressure to resign since admitting in mid-December that he lied about who paid for improvements to a cottage he purchased on Bantam Lake in Litchfield County.

Rowland, 46, a Republican is serving his third term.

By Susan Haigh