John Perzel
John Perzel (File)
In this plea bargain, the kingpin rolled over on the pawns. û
Assorted thoughts on legislative corruption:
Not enough time: We understand how the criminal justice system works.
If you plead guilty and cooperate with investigators, you often get a reduced sentence.
We can't really fault that practice. It saves taxpayers' money and makes it easier for authorities to put other criminals behind bars.
And yet, in the case of former state House Speaker John Perzel, this practice just feels wrong.
Last week he was sentenced to 2½ to 5 years in prison for his role in the scheme to use tax dollars to help Republicans win election - using publicly funded technology and state employees. He'd pleaded guilty to multiple counts of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest.
And so it is off to jail for yet another high-ranking member of Pennsylvania's corrupt Legislature.
Good.
He deserves the time in prison for making a mockery of the public trust he and other legislative "leaders" held in their greedy hands.
In fact, he deserves more than a minimum of 2½ years.
That's on the low end of the sentences imposed on other elected officials snared in the investigations into legislative abuse of taxpayer resources to run election operations. Former GOP Rep. Brett Feese was convicted last fall and sentenced to at least four years in prison. Former Democratic Whip Mike Veon is serving at least six years in prison on his 2010 conviction and was recently convicted in a second corruption trial.
Usually in the let's-make-a-deal/cop-a-plea scenario, authorities go after the pawns to roll over on the kingpin.
In the Perzel case, it seems to have worked the other way around.
He was the top Republican dog in the Legislature when these shenanigans were going on.
But he gets a sentence of just 2½ years.
Well, we can only hope he ends up serving more than his minimum sentence - like, maybe the full five years.
Where's the reform talk? This sad spectacle of former legislative lions now caged in penitentiaries reminds us that it is an election year for all seats in the state House and many state Senate seats.
You'd think, after the embarrassment and outrage of Bonusgate and other investigations by the state Attorney General's Office, that candidates would be talking a lot about reform measures in their campaigns this year.
But not so much.
Most incumbents in the York County legislative delegation - which at one time included Rep. Steve Stetler, D-York, who will go to trial later this year on Bonusgate charges - have not really been leaders on legislative reform issues.
Term limits, reapportionment reform, a constitutional convention to reform or maybe shrink our large and very expensive Legislature: These are issues we'd like to see incumbents and challengers embracing and debating in this campaign season.
How about it?