Posted: Friday, 30 January 2009 11:40AM
Democracy Thrives Best In The Open
Steve Corbett Reporting
Friday, January 30, 2009
The term “open for business” carries dual meaning in the Luzerne County court system.
This week’s federal charges against two county judges in a $2.6 million kickback scheme allege that some members of the judiciary will sell their oath of office to the highest bidder.
That’s bad business.
Upholding the public trust is good business.
The best business in America is doing the people’s business with justice for all.
Two former president judges now face prison. If Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan abide by their plea agreements and plead guilty on Feb. 12, they will serve at least seven years in federal prison.
The state Supreme Court has suspended both men from all judicial duties. And the remaining county judges will meet at noon today to choose a new president judge.
The jurists will make history today.
For the first time, the selection process will be public.
Judge Chester Muroski said in a press release announcing the decision to go public that the actual vote is secret in accordance with state law, but the results will immediately be announced in open court.
The new leader of the pack will then be sworn in during a formal ceremony.
We had a hand in the decision to go public.
For that you should feel proud.
When news of the meeting broke earlier this week, we on “Corbett” raised a public broadcast ruckus and demanded that the meeting be made public. We argued that if the judges truly wanted to regain public trust, they would start by doing the people’s business in the open.
Democracy thrives best in the open with as few secret meetings as possible.
A cloak of darkness by robe-wearing blackguards is what created the county government scandal that threatens to gut good government for countless years to come.
The days of clandestine court decisions behind closed doors must end.
Listeners to “Corbett” threatened sitting judges up for retention with punishment unless openness prevailed. All the judges apparently got the message. The decision to open the vote to the public was unanimous. And it’s doubtful that they would have initiated the new open door policy without some irate public prodding.
I would like to see the actual vote made public but I’ll take what I can get – for now.
County judges operate in a sphere of power that is far too self-absorbed. They look out for each other as well as for friends and family members. Sometimes the judges smooth the road to county jobs for those to whom they dispense favors, jobs that otherwise might go to more qualified candidates who unfortunately lack political connections.
Luzerne County is a pit of political poison that threatens to kill the body politic of good government.
The ongoing public corruption probe will help heal the political process that for too long has damaged the public trust and disappointed people who need to believe in the system.
The new president judge has his hands full. I say “his” because the only woman on the county bench, Ann Lokuta, recently lost her job when a state disciplinary board stripped her of her power and her pension.
Lokuta said the two judges now charged worked against her because she helped federal officials in the corruption investigation against her former colleagues. After Monday’s press conference announcing the charges against the judges, she even threw out the name of Billy D’Elia, the reputed head of the local Mafia family whose daughter’s wedding she said she had attended.
D’Elia is currently doing time in federal custody for money laundering and threatening to have a witness murdered. D’Elia is also cooperating with authorities.
The public trust is in dire trouble in Luzerne County.
But we’re fighting back.
More arrests are expected and more public officials are expected to go to jail.
Doing the people’s business properly takes courage, commitment and honesty.
Good men and women with these attributes exist.
Working together, we will seek and destroy the enemies of the people. Working together, we will create a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
|
Corbett
E-Mail
Print
