I recall the awe I felt when I first laid eyes on the Luzerne County Courthouse.
My first trip there was in late 1980s. I was a reporter for WILK and we often covered the sad goings on underneath the majestic dome.
The Cottams. The Wolsieffer case. George Banks. Petty criminals. Some innocent. Most guilty.
I remember the way judges were treated on the third floor. They weren’t your average, pedestrian street rabble. People called them “your honor.” When they entered the courtroom, you stood up. When they barked from the bench, the crowd grew silent. With those majestic paintings as a backdrop, you felt a sense of awe about the whole experience. Even the lighting seemed to give them a halo glow.
That was then. This is now. Lady Justice probably wanted to cover her eyes today over the sad spectacle that Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan have cast upon the soaring dome.
I had the opportunity to hear the press conference WILK carried this afternoon from the basement of the courthouse. Personnel twirled the radio antenna to hear the broadcast with clarity. The voice of U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson delivered the grim news that the two men who ran the third floor for the better part of a decade violated the taxpayers in ways that were only whispered about previously. The whispers were right. The message was received with the shaking of heads and a sense of disbelief.
I feel for the men and women of the courthouse who continued to do their job Monday in the aftermath of such news. Two men in black are accused of cheating the government out of more than two million in ill-gotten gains. That’s really putting it quite mildly. Some people say the I.R.S. is the agency you call when you really want to put the screws to someone. Reading the narrative from the U.S. attorney today reveals so much more than tax cheating. That’s bad, but what’s worse is that justice was put up for sale in Luzerne County. And, young people were used like poker chips in this high stakes game of revenue enhancement. Defendants may have been sent away for profit. And, this may not be the end of this caper. We may never be able to look at the robed ones in the same light again. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.
Corbett
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