NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Former Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced to a
year in prison and four months under house arrest Friday for selling his
office in a corruption scandal that destroyed his career as one of the
Republican Party's brightest and fastest-rising stars.

The judge imposed the sentence after Rowland pleaded for leniency and
confessed he had lost his way morally and developed "a sense of
entitlement and even arrogance."

"I let my pride get in my way," he told U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey.

Rowland, 47, pleaded guilty in December to a corruption charge,
admitting he sold his influence for more than $100,000 in trips to Las
Vegas, vacations in Vermont and Florida, and improvements at his
lakeside cottage. He resigned last summer amid a gathering drive to
impeach him.

The judge cited Rowland's public service and his children in handing
down the sentence, which was less than the 15 to 21 months called for in
the plea bargain, and well short of the three years prosecutors said he
deserved.

Rowland was also sentenced to three years of probation and fined
$82,000, and was ordered to report to a federal prison in Fort Devens,
Massachusetts, on April 1.

After hearing the sentence, Rowland hugged his wife, Patty, who was
sobbing, and his two daughters, who were also in tears. His wife mouthed
to him, "It will be all right."

Rowland becomes one of more than a dozen former governors to be sent to
prison. Among those jailed in the past few years: Edward D. DiPrete of
Rhode Island and Edwin Edwards of Louisiana.

"Officials are expected to serve not his own interest or the interest of
his friends, but the highest interest of the community," the judge said.
"Gratuities were accepted as if they were his due."

Federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy, in arguing for a longer sentence, told
the judge: "Honest government matters. It has to matter. Send that
message. Send it loud and clear. Without that rule of law, we are all lost."

Rowland was the boy wonder of Connecticut politics, sprinting through
the ranks. He was a congressman at 27. He became the youngest governor
in Connecticut history at 37.

Though a Republican in a heavily Democratic state, the charismatic
Rowland enjoyed high approval ratings. President Bush appointed him to
White House advisory committees and affectionately called him "Johnny."

But federal prosecutors said Rowland ran a corrupt office, with aides
steering state business to companies in exchange for cash, gold coins
and expensive gifts. Rowland's former co-chief of staff, Peter Ellef,
and state contractor William Tomasso are under indictment and could get
up to 20 years in prison.

As the investigation against members of Rowland's administration
unfolded, each week brought new and damaging information. He was forced
to admit that contractors paid for his home improvements and that state
employees bought him a hot tub. Memos revealed that he had accepted
Cuban cigars from a state contractor for years.

Rowland's fate was ultimately sealed by $15,549 in gifts from Tomasso
and $91,493 in free airfare from the charter company Key Air. Rowland
stayed at Tomasso's homes in Florida and Vermont four times in 1998 and
2002. Tomasso and other contractors and state employees provided
renovations for Rowland's cottage that included a cathedral ceiling, a
heating system and gutter work.

A Key Air executive appealed to Rowland for tax help in 2001 or 2002,
and eventually won a tax exemption from the governor.