Finally, in the midst of the ongoing federal public corruption scandal at the Luzerne County courthouse, I have good news to report.
Yesterday Rep. Ken Smith (D-112th District) paid his overdue Scranton city property taxes.
And I helped.
My state lawmaker had been embarrassed last year when news broke that he hadn’t paid many thousands of dollars in Lackawanna County property taxes. Smith called it a mystery and said he was confused.
Then he blamed his wife because she handles the bills.
Then he coughed up the cash and went on doing the people’s business.
You’d think he would have learned his lesson.
But I recently received in the mail at my Scranton home copies of Smith’s overdue city taxes.
Somebody was still watching, as should always be the case when it comes to sneaky lawmakers and their duty to uphold the public trust. Somebody had taken the time to pull the bills at the collection agency that handles overdue city property taxes.
The least I could do was check it out.
So I called the city treasurer and asked.
Yes, he said, Smith was a scofflaw.
Then I called Smith.
At first he denied owing a couple of years’ worth of back taxes, pointing to the incident the year before. Then he sounded mystified and confused – just like last year. He said he’d check and get back to me.
But he didn’t call, so I got back to him.
Still checking, he said.
I already checked, I said, a task he should have undertaken himself a long, long time ago.
When we connected yesterday he said that it looked like he was wrong, although he still couldn’t figure out what happened or how it happened.
At least this time he didn’t blame his wife.
And then at 4:05 on the dot, just like he promised, Smith called “Corbett” to make a public admission that he had done it again. Despite the responsibility of representing the people and working to help solve the financial crisis that impacts his constituents, Smith found the time to talk about how paying his taxes had simply slipped his mind.
He sounded repentant and sincere. He made no excuses. He admitted guilt, implied it wouldn’t happen again, and quickly prepared to move on.
Smith said he paid something like “five thousand and change.”
A least he came clean and the city is now five grand richer, thanks to me and my tipster, a good citizen who was clearly irked that Smith had ignored his own civic responsibility while making a nice living and collecting a fat paycheck and plush benefits to represent the best interests of the people.
I’m a little irked myself.
Smith really should have known better the first time.
But twice is really too much.
The people will decide whether to hold this offense against Smith when he runs for re-election.
I won’t be surprised if this goof kills his chances at going back to Harrisburg as a state lawmaker. I won’t be surprised if he loses simply because he forgot. I won’t be surprised if voters just forget to vote him back into office.
If that happens, Smith will have nobody to blame but himself.
Then he can go back to working the grill at his family’s folksy Scranton restaurant where Smith admits business is tougher than ever. In these hard economic times, very little remains the same. Nothing has changed, however, about the responsibility to pay taxes.
Of all people, legislator Smith should embrace the basic civic duty of playing by the rules that he helps create. But Smith’s irresponsibility taxes the very system of government that he is well-paid to serve.
Smith’s laziness has become a burden.
If lawmaker Smith can’t stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.
The Morning News with Nancy & Kevin
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