NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) –Six months after being driven from office by scandal, former Gov. John G. Rowland pleaded guilty to a corruption charge Thursday, admitting he traded his office for more than $100,000 in flights to Las Vegas, Vermont vacations and repairs to his vacation cottage.

Rowland, 47, probably will get 15 to 21 months in federal prison, lawyers said.

The once-popular three-term Republican had maintained for months that the businessmen and cronies who lavished gifts on him had received nothing in exchange. With a single word Thursday, he changed all that: “Guilty,” he told the court, his attorney’s hand on his back as he spoke. The plea ends a two-year federal investigation of the former politician, though he could still face state charges.

“Obviously, mistakes have been made throughout the last few years, and I accept responsibility for those,” he said after court. “But I also ask the people of this state to appreciate and understand what we have tried to do over the past 25 years in public service.”

Rowland had not been charged with a crime before Thursday. Under a deal with federal prosecutors, Rowland pleaded guilty to a single count, conspiracy to steal honest services – a combination of mail and tax fraud. He admitted being part of a conspiracy in the executive branch – sometimes directing corruption, other times looking the other way.

The crime carries up to five years in prison. Prosecutors have agreed to ask for no more than two years at sentencing March 11. As a convicted felon, Rowland will be unable to vote or hold public office.

By pleading guilty, Rowland escaped indictment in a racketeering case that had already ensnared his former co-chief of staff, Peter N. Ellef, and state contractor William Tomasso. That case would have exposed Rowland to “a devastating amount of time,” said his attorney, William F. Dow III.

Rowland owes the IRS more than $35,000 and faces up to $40,000 in fines, according to his plea bargain. The agreement does not require Rowland to testify against Ellef and Tomasso.

After signing his bail papers Thursday, Rowland turned to his wife and reassuringly mouthed the words, “All right.”

Rowland resigned July 1 amid a gathering drive in the Legislature to impeach him, a federal investigation that was closing in on him steadily, an almost-daily trickle of corruption allegations, and a drumbeat of demands that he step down.

During the investigation, the FBI uncovered gifts of Dom Perignon and Cuban cigars, a free canoe and a classic Mustang. Prosecutors questioned his poker buddies and former colleagues.

In the end, Rowland’s fate was 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 provided a cathedral ceiling for Rowland’s cottage, a heating system and gutter work.

Key Air is identified only as “Entity A” in court documents, but details of his flights surfaced during Rowland’s impeachment hearings. Key Air never charged Rowland for several chartered flights to Las Vegas and Philadelphia.

A Key Air executive appealed to Rowland for tax help in 1999 or 2000, and Ellef ordered state officials to include in their legislative proposal a tax exemption for the company, according to court documents. Rowland signed the retroactive exemption in 2002.

Company officials declined to comment Thursday.

Rowland also admitted ordering his transportation commissioner to sign contracts with Tomasso for construction work on an airport parking garage. And he admitted looking the other way when Ellef gave Tomasso the inside track on a $57 million contract to build a reform school.

“It’s the old story of the government exerting just tremendous pressure against a vulnerable individual so he can avoid being put to the expense of a trial,” said Jack Fornaciari, Tomasso’s lawyer.

The plea deal has been in the works for months, with Rowland and Dow negotiating the details, said two of Rowland’s friends who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. One friend said Rowland told him that previous offers were rejected because they included mandatory jail terms.

Earlier this week, Rowland asked some friends and family members whether he should accept this latest deal, the friends said.

AP-ES-12-23-04 1853EST