Posted: Wednesday, 08 April 2009 11:10AM
Fear Strikes Out In Hard Coal Country
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
One after another and without pause, people called “Corbett” yesterday to talk about their knowledge of buying teaching jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s public schools. Most calls came from Luzerne County but a few detailed what they’ve heard for decades in Lackawanna County.
Emails arrived as well, telling stories about cash for teaching jobs in Wilkes-Barre, Dunmore, Pittston, Hazleton and elsewhere.
Nobody admitted to buying a job.
But people said they knew people who had or that they themselves considered it but backed out at the last moment.
One man said he made the deal through a political fixer because he wanted his son to stay in the area. But his son refused to compromise his integrity and left the area.
Another man said his father, a coal miner, arranged a meeting because he, too, wanted the best for his boy. But his son also refused to spend his parents’ hard-earned cash on a bribe that helped poison the integrity of people who possessed little else in terms of wealth.
A Hazleton man emailed the name of a well-known long ago politician who had instructed his middle-man to tell the “customers” to place the cash in an envelope and place it in his desk drawer when he briefly left the room. That way he could find it in the morning and not know for sure who put the money there.
And, yes, the callers said, they believed that teaching jobs were still for sale.
Yes, they said, the federal grand jury that is sitting in Scranton and apparently looking into criminal allegations in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District definitely should pursue allegations of jobs for sale there and elsewhere in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Wilkes-Barre Area School District Superintendent Jeff Namey appeared before the grand jury Tuesday morning.
He showed up carrying files and left without them, according to a reporter with whom I spoke in the hallway of the federal building. Namey told another reporter that the experience was “not pleasant.”
I’m sure it wasn’t.
But Namey should feel good if he told the jurors everything they wanted to know. Namey should feel good if he helps stop the rumors that have dogged the honorable profession of teaching for generations.
Rumors have circulated for a few weeks that some teachers are cooperating with FBI agents looking into allegations of job selling. At least one teacher’s name is being spoken in hushed tones as people wait to see if the story is true.
Links between the investigation and the Luzerne County Courthouse are being talked about as well.
The stories might be part of a regional myth that adds to the stereotype of our culture of corruption – a stereotype that holds more fact than fiction.
The stories might be true.
And if they are, the job selling must stop. And those responsible for placing a price tag on the public trust must themselves now pay. But they must pay with their freedom. They must go to jail.
The ongoing federal public corruption probe into the public service of Luzerne County public officials must continue.
I’m concerned, however, about another rumor.
The story is on the street that only two FBI agents are handling the investigation that has already netted four high-ranking county officials, including two former county president judges who have pleaded guilty in a $2.6 million kickback scheme and have agreed to go to prison.
Twelve FBI agents assigned full-time to Luzerne County is not too much to ask. Justice Department bosses might want to add a couple of organized crime specialists while they’re at it.
Mafia goons and their associates still carry some weight in town and their heavy paw prints are everywhere. The old bosses are dead and the new bosses are mostly in jail. But their presence is still alive and well in hard coal country.
At least some of the gangsters are singing. Although their tune is raw and out of key, the notes might signal a sweet song of justice long overdue.
People called “Corbett” yesterday to talk about the thugs of old and the fear that controlled the lives of good people for decades. People don’t seem as afraid as they used to be.
In this tough place, that’s progress.
In our hard neighborhoods, that’s a real good start.
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