Wilson-Foley Digs Deeper.
Logic and the habits of federal investigators have become Lisa Wilson-Foley and John Rowland’s enemies. The Torrington Register Citizen asked a former federal prosecutor to interpret Wilson-Foley’s statements on the grand jury investigation of former Governor John G. Rowland’s dealings with the Simsbury Republican’s campaign for Connecticut’s open Fifth Congressional District seat and her family nursing home business. Wilson-Foley and her campaign have said neither has been contacted by investigators. Rowland claims the same. If they possess no knowledge of the substance of the investigation, they cannot claim it is not aimed at them. To the contrary, silence suggests a gathering storm. Quinnipiac University professor tells the Register Citizen “Sometimes targets are not contacted until all the other ducks are in a row. I don’t think that tells you anything concerning if someone is a target, particularly when a grand jury investigation is ongoing.”
Meyer points out that someone in the sphere of a federal criminal investigation usually hires a lawyer to make inquiries. Wilson-Foley, who says she has retained no one to represent her, could calm Republican nerves with more complete answers for the party rank and file. Investigators told Republican rival Mark Greenberg, who received a subpoena seeking information about Rowland, that he was a fact witness in the investigation. Nothing to worry about in that. Wilson-Foley ought to ask what interest they have in her. She can share the response with primary voters.
As is often the way with federal investigations in the public spotlight, questions continue to outnumber answers. If Brian Foley, Lisa Wilson-Foley, and John Rowland enjoy the long, close personal friendship that they claim in the heat of this controversy, what was Rowland’s role in Wilson-Foley’s 2010 campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor? A friend, especially an experienced one, would help a friend in her first campaign. Rowland wanted to work for Greenberg, so he wasn’t reluctant to return to the business that was his ruin.In light of their friendship and Brian Foley’s admiration for Rowland’s insight into the nursing home business, why did Foley wait until his wife was revving up her campaign for Congress to offer him a consulting contract? Rowland’s been chasing consulting and other deals since leaving prison more than five years ago. He was not reluctant to ask friends and others to throw him something that looked like there was work involved in exchange for steady payments.
Events and curiosity about them require Wilson-Foley to begin providing serious answers to lethal questions if she is to remain a contender in a race that has kept the FBI busy on both sides.