"This whole process to me has just been incredibly sad," said state Rep. Bill Hamzy, whose 78th District includes Plymouth and northwestern Bristol.

The Republican lawmaker said he learned during a meeting at the Governor’s Mansion this month that Rowland would fight to stay in office despite growing public anger over the governor’s acceptance of gifts from employees and contractors.

At the session at Rowland’s home, a group of GOP legislators had some "very frank and at times heated discussion" with the governor, Hamzy said. He said, "People were not pulling any punches."

He said Rowland compared himself to Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, each of whom landed in hot water after lying to the American public.

Rowland told the GOP legislators that because Nixon resigned in 1974, he will always be remembered as the president who resigned.

But Clinton stayed, fought and eventually triumphed in a Senate trial that refused to oust him from office, Rowland said, according to Hamzy. As a result, Clinton will likely be remembered by historians as "a popular president," the governor said.

"He’s not Nixon. That’s one of the things he stressed," Hamzy said.

At the time, Rowland was meeting with small groups of legislators from both parties to try to stem the tide growing against him. Hamzy said it was "very strange" to be in the Governor’s Mansion talking about the scandal. He said he’s only been there a few other times, always for "far happier occasions."

For Hamzy and the other nine members of the special House panel, the question they face is whether Rowland did anything so serious that he deserves to be impeached.

Figuring that out by the April 14 deadline imposed by House Speaker Moira Lyons, a Stamford Democrat, is going to be tough on the panel, Hamzy said.

"Basically, we’re going to have to start from ground zero" when the committee holds its first meeting Wednesday, Hamzy said.

To begin with, he said, the legislators will need to hire a clerk and start the process of bringing aboard outside attorneys to lend a hand. There are going to be a lot of questions, he said, and few answers at first.

Hamzy said he’s received many calls of support from friends and has been surprised that even pals who normally don’t pay attention to politics grasp the gravity of the assignment he received Monday.

Connecticut’s Constitution doesn’t define impeachable acts. It merely refers to misconduct that violates the public trust, a clause that’s open to widely varying interpretation.

Hamzy said the committee will have to decide what standards it believes are appropriate. He said that he’s not sure the decisions made during the impeachment of a probate judge in the 1980s should be considered a meaningful precedent.

Rep. Arthur O’Neill, a Southbury Republican who co-chairs the committee, told reporters the state constitution allows the House to impeach Rowland even if he did not commit any crimes, but criminality historically has been involved with most modern impeachments. He said the governor’s alleged violation of state ethics laws could be used in any case against him.

Rep. John Wayne Fox, a Stamford Democrat and committee co-chair, said he believes the panel can’t consider something other than impeachment, such as censure.

After hearing from Hamzy Monday, the city’s Republican Town Committee members wished him well in tackling the immense task ahead of him. They clapped loudly for him.

"I hope you’re all still applauding at the end of the process," Hamzy said.