Posted: Wednesday, 22 April 2009 11:59AM
What's Done Is Done
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
“Stevie,” said the voice on the line, using the familiar old neighborhood salutation reserved for coal fields family and friends.
But the man behind the voice was neither.
I had met Mike Dunn once or twice and remember after all these years his big handshake and wide smile.
“What’s doing?” I asked, already sensing that the man behind the informal greeting wanted something.
Dunn had been a big shot in the operating engineers union when the union carried great weight in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I had met him once or twice after moving to Wilkes-Barre to write for the Times Leader. He was quick to tell me how much he had respected my late Uncle Patty, a hard-nosed but quiet union man whom everybody called Brock, or Mud, because he had played tackle in the first Dream Game in Scranton.
I was writing news columns back in the 90s and had criticized Dunn’s son Brian who was running for school board. I believe my concern was that he was a state revenue enforcement agent whose credibility depended on his staying above politics.
Don’t ask me how he got his job, because I don’t know. All these years later, though, I’m not naïve enough to believe that politics didn’t have something to do with it.
“Your uncle Pat was some guy,” Dunn said.
“Yes, he was,” I said.
Dunn proceeded to tell me about the jobs they worked together when Brock was a steam shovel operator. He mentioned the big job at the bubble gum factory and, of course, the power plant.
Unions were locked up with politics back then. The mob had a piece of the action, too.
Brock was a working man who didn’t have time for either.
Dunn was a hustler, though.
And now he was trying to hustle me.
Although he didn’t come right out and tell me what to do, he explained how back in the old days people took care of each other. He explained that people looked out for family and friends and that life went better for those who did. The call was meant to be friendly. Dunn was inviting me into the first inner circle of a multi-circular world.
But I stopped him.
“I don’t believe you meant to insult me when you called,” I explained. “I don’t think you have any idea how deeply you’ve offended me.”
“But because you tried to influence me to do the dishonorable thing, I’m going to do something for you,” I said. “Not only am I going to continue writing about your son, but I’m going to watch him ten times closer than I intended to watch him.”
Dunn stammered and then got quiet. We hung up on bad terms and never spoke again.
Dunn’s dead now. And his boy is in serious trouble.
Federal law enforcement officials yesterday charged Brian Dunn with taking bribes and wielding influence over contracts and hiring as a board member of the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, where he served in the past as president.
Too many people in Northeastern Pennsylvania consider wielding influence to be part of public service. Theoretically that can be true. But influence peddling can also be a crime.
True public service depends on honesty. Real public service depends on honor.
In some circles, Mike Dunn was considered to be an honorable and honest man. My Uncle Pat likely even saw him that way. Because that’s how business got done in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, as well as in the many little patch towns that make up the anthracite coal region.
Not all corruption is illegal. Nepotism, cronyism and favoritism all poison the sweet spring of public trust. But the most serious corruption is criminal.
The federal public corruption probe in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties must continue for as long as it takes to cleanse the region of the poison of public profiteering. Continuing public scrutiny, including an aggressive press, also is necessary to cast light on the countless shady deals that twist public service into a private club which only those who possess political clout are allowed to enter.
For too many good people, the good old days weren’t all that good. Because they lacked connections they missed out on jobs and equal opportunity.
We must put such corruption behind us.
Mike Dunn’s days as a fixer are done.
The future might finish his son as well.
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