In finally admitting guilt as a corrupted public servant, former Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut could not resist one more attempt at self-serving finesse, resorting to the passive impersonal in declaring, "Mistakes have been made." Facing stiff prison time, the onetime G.O.P. boy wonder did admit to "responsibility" for those mistakes. But Mr. Rowland hardly apologized for the deep betrayal and humiliation he put the state through in personally turning his administration into a thieves' mart for crooked contractors and cronies. Rather, Mr. Rowland asked voters to "understand what we have tried to do" in 25 years of public service,...