Conn. Gov. Pays for Mom's Smokes
04/08/02
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. –– Gov. John G. Rowland has found a way to silence the loudest critic of his new cigarette tax: He pays for her smokes.
The governor's mother, Cerie Rowland, told The Associated Press last month she was mobilizing her bridge club to oppose the 61-cent increase her son had proposed to help close the state's budget gap.
According to the Record-Journal of Meriden, Rowland good-humoredly told state agencies at a luncheon on Friday that the secret to keeping his 70-year-old mother quiet is as simple as paying her off with cigarettes.
"I have bought her silence. It cost me $60 a month more. I buy all her cigarettes." Rowland said. "Believe me, it was worth buying her silence on this."