Posted: Wednesday, 02 September 2009 11:03AM
The Jig Is Up
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
The handshake was thick and strong, the grin was wide and toothy and the gold medallion around Jerry Bonner’s neck always shined in the powerful summer sunlight of countless political clambakes.
In those days Bonner was a crown prince of county politics.
When I moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1985, I knew that political insiders ruled the coal region. And as long as nobody stopped them, places like Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton would never change.
Now some of the crooked powerbrokers among them are headed to federal prison.
Yesterday, federal law enforcement officials indicted Bonner, 66, on charges that he took and shared a bribe with an unnamed contractor who paid off Bonner and another member of Luzerne County Housing Authority.
Neither the contractor nor the other housing authority member is identified.
But their names are circulating on the street, whispered in the dark corners where dirty politics and corruption take seed and spread like poisonous plants that strangle the life from an otherwise fertile valley.
Although Bonner’s charm withered long ago his clout remained
He and I had a falling out over a gambling charge that state police filed against him in 1994 after cops raided the Carriage Stop Inn that where Bonner plotted into the early morning hours with politicians, businessmen and others who knew how the game was played and played it.
But Bonner was a volatile man whose fiery Irish temper was feared as well as respected.
Few men or women wanted to get on his bad side.
Bonner simply knew too much.
Working the system as well as anybody, Bonner always seemed to come out on top.
Even the gambling charge went away after district magistrates ruled that state police offered no evidence that Bonner actually owned the Carriage Stop that was as closely identified with him as the flashy jewelry around his throat.
So Bonner wormed his way deeper and deeper into the Democratic Party and the political system that controlled damn near everything in the county he helped rule.
From 1986 to 1988 he served on the state Democratic Committee. Luzerne County commissioners named him to the county board of assistance. He ran successfully for county jury commissioner. In 1993, county commissioners appointed him to serve on the county housing authority.
Bonner is the current chairman of the county housing authority and still serves as a jury commissioner, for which he is paid $10,133 a year and receives health insurance.
Whether Bonner was organizing golf tournaments or contributing to political campaigns, he was always in the know. Many secrets passed over the Carriage Stop bar. And Bonner knew them all.
Now he’s facing up to 10 years in a federal penitentiary and people are wondering if he’ll share what he knows about the ongoing federal public corruption probe. Bonner won’t do well in jail. He’s aging and knows that his golden years are better spent putting on a soft green rather than peeling potatoes in a hard prison kitchen.
Bonner’s indictment also serious raises questions about what exactly he did as a jury commissioner and as the chairman of the housing authority.
Who oversaw his work?
What perks came with the jobs?
Did he attend publicly-funded conferences out of state?
If so, who went with him?
Did they learn anything that benefitted county taxpayers?
As much as anybody, Bonner represents the old world neighborhood tough guy who controlled politics for too long in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Political gorillas have historically intimidated people throughout the coal fields, keeping good citizens who could have made a real difference from serving in public service.
Bonner now has a big decision to make. Does he plead guilty and cooperate? Or does he polish up the medallion, put on the big smile and stroll into a courtroom like he owns the joint the way he did when he held court at the Carriage Stop?
And what about the unnamed housing authority member allegedly involved with the bribe?
Is he a tough guy, too?
Or will he cry in his beer the way so many goons often do when the jig is up?
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Corbett
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