John Rowland’s new gig: wedding salesman

Former Gov. John Rowland leaves federal appeals court on March 18 in New York. Former Gov. John Rowland leaves federal appeals court on March 18 in New York. Photo: Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press Photo: Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close John Rowland’s new gig: wedding salesman 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

The star of “Say Yes to the Dress” was there along with hundreds of wedding vendors who were hawking everything from carriage rides to honeymoons.

But a man few would expect to find at the 31st Annual Connecticut Bridal Show was also there, working the floor. John G. Rowland, former governor, twice-convicted felon, was busy pitching fairy tale weddings to unsuspecting couples inside the cavernous convention center.

While Rowland, 58, awaits a ruling on the appeal of his conviction for campaign fraud, he has been biding his time as a banquet salesman for a country club owned by a Waterbury auto dealer and crony, Hearst Connecticut Media has learned.

“Hi, this is John Rowland calling from Chippanee Country Club in Bristol,” Rowland said in a phone message, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, to one couple who asked not to be identified.

Rowland gave the couple a full court press of phone calls and emails, said a source familiar with the interaction. The pair met Rowland at the bridal show in January at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, a building he broke ground for in his former life as governor.

“We’ve sent you some information and I just wanted to touch base and see if you’re still looking,” Rowland said in his voicemail. “We’ve just finished our renovations at the club and I’d love to have you and your fiance come up for dinner or have your family come up for a drink and tour, any day or any weekend, whatever works. We’ve got very flexible pricing as well. So it’s (phone number). And that’s John Rowland at Chippanee Country Club in Bristol. Thank you.”

Rowland did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the club’s general manager or owner Fritz Blasius, a longtime Rowland confidante who operates Loehmann Blasius Chevrolet Cadillac in Rowland’s native Waterbury. In 2015, Blasius bought the member-owned club, which had fallen on hard times and was in danger of closing.

Free on bond while his appeal is pending, Rowland is facing 30 months in prison for getting paid under the table as a political consultant on the 2012 congressional campaign of fellow Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley. It’s the second felony conviction for Rowland, who resigned as governor in 2004 and was incarcerated for 10 months for accepting bribes from state contractors.

By many accounts, Rowland has racked up at least $500,000 in legal bills from his latest brush with the law. That’s led many politicians and lawyers in the state to wonder how Rowland, who was the youngest governor in Connecticut history and was once mentioned as a vice presidential candidate, can afford a gold-plated defense.

“He, like anybody else, has a right to make a living,” said Ronald Schurin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. “If somebody thinks that John Rowland will be a good salesman for a place as a wedding venue, who are we to stand in the way?”

The hard sell

The Connecticut Bridal Show Expo touts itself as the largest event of its kind on the East Coast. The cost of a 10-foot-by-10-foot booth started at $1,375. Jenks Productions Inc., the Connecticut-based company that puts on the show, did not respond to a request for comment.

The event is a major showcase for formal wear shops, photographers, florists, caterers, limousine operators, stationary printers, DJs, banquet halls, jewelers, Botox clinics, beauty salons, dance instruction studios and even male Chippendale-style dancers. Several country clubs had a presence at the wedding expo, where the price of admission was $12 per person.

True to his reputation as a retail politician, a persistent Rowland invited potential clients for free meals and drinks at the club. The message: be our guest.

“Dinner could be any Wednesday, Friday or Saturday or just come have champagne any day or time,” Rowland wrote in an email to the same couple that was obtained by Hearst. Attached to the message was a menu.

In 2014, a jury found Rowland guilty of conspiring with Wilson-Foley to hide his work on her 5th District campaign from the Federal Election Commission by receiving $35,000 in payments from a nursing home owned by the candidate’s husband, Brian Foley.

Rowland is no stranger to lavish weddings. Eleven days after he was first elected as governor, Rowland married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Largay, at an inn on Block Island, R.I. It was the second marriage for both.

Rowland’s eldest daughter, Kirsten Rowland, moved up the date of her January 2015 wedding to before his original sentencing date. The judge who sentenced him then agreed to push back Rowland’s date for reporting to prison so Rowland could attend his step-son’s wedding.

Political observers such as UConn’s Schurin, whose own son got married a year ago, say Rowland’s wedding planner niche is unconventional.

“That’s American capitalism,” Schurin said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy