Governor Between Rock And A Hard Place Baby Boomer Fined For Accepting Discounted Tickets To 6 Concerts

Gov. John Rowland, the first baby boomer to hold Connecticut’s highest office, admitted on Friday to violating the state’s ethics law and blamed something that has swayed so many in his generation: rock ‘n’ roll.

Rowland, who at 39 is the United States’ youngest governor, has agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for accepting discounted tickets to six concerts at the Meadows Music Theater in Hartford from a lobbyist and others. He also said he would donate the value of the tickets - $1,919 - to charity.

Rowland is the first Connecticut governor to run afoul of the state’s ethics law, which prohibits state officials from accepting gifts totaling more than $50 from a lobbyist or a person who does business with the state. But at a news conference he cast his actions as an inadvertent error, driven by a passion to hear the music that he loves.

“When a friend of yours for 20 years says, ‘Hey, I got tickets for the Jimmy Buffet concert next weekend, do you want to go?’ there’s not a second that you actually think you could be violating the state’s ethics code,” Rowland said.

Rowland and his wife, Patricia, received $250 box seats at a reduced rate to hear Buffet, the Eagles, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Reba McEntire and Celine Dion at the Meadows, a popular open-air arena.

In total, 27 tickets went to Rowland and members of his office.

Six members of Rowland’s office received tickets and will also be making a payment to a charity that equals the cost of the tickets. While Rowland and his aides paid for the tickets, the state’s Ethics Commission found the payments were far short of the value of the seats.

When the governor attended concerts with staff members, officials said, they all were escorted to empty box seats for security purposes.

“I’m not in the habit of arguing with my security people about where to sit,” Rowland said. “You’ve got 15,000 people drinking beer. Maybe there might be concerns about where I sit, especially with some of my budgets and some of my positions on issues.”