HARTFORD, Conn. June 7, 2004 — A judge ruled Monday that Gov. John G. Rowland must testify before a legislative panel investigating whether he should be impeached for accepting gifts from friends, employees and state contractors.
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Lawmakers have been investigating Rowland for accepting the gifts, including a new hot tub and other renovations at his summer cottage. Rowland has said he has done nothing to compromise his office. The governor is also the subject of a similar federal criminal investigation.
His lawyer argues that the effort to get him to testify before the committee violates the constitutional guarantee that the three branches of government have equal power.
Monday's arguments referenced issues that surrounded Presidents Nixon, Clinton and Johnson and the judge mentioned them in his decision. Rowland lawyer Ross Garber cited a 200-year-old letter from Thomas Jefferson, who refused to travel from Washington to Richmond to testify in Aaron Burr's treason trial.
Arato rejected that argument, saying it took a great deal of time to make that trip in 1807.
"We're talking about the governor walking up a flight of stairs from his office at the Capitol to the Old Judiciary Room," Arato said.
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