Politics as blood sport
The indictments of 12 Democrats on political corruption charges were announced yesterday in Harrisburg by Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican.
I have no illusions when it comes to the possibilities for political corruption in Pennsylvania, once considered the most corrupt state in the union. But I also have no illusions about the current crop of Republican prosecutors across the nation, who have shown time and again that they are willing to put people in prison to achieve political ends. The imprisonment of former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama is the most notorious example, but there are many others. Not all prosecutors appointed by the current Republicans are political animals, but how do we know which ones aren't? Are Corbett's deputies dispassionate professionals or hard right Federalist Society ideologues with an agenda?
Corbett's investigation, which he insists looked at Republicans, too, began after the Patriot-News reported in January 2007 that bonuses awarded to Democratic staffers in the Legislature may have been tied to work done in the 2006 campaign. It was a good story. But were the tips that brought it about motivated by true outrage over misspent taxpayer dollars? Or the start of a Republican campagin to retake the state House of Representatives, which they narrowly lost to the Democrats that previous fall after years in control?
Corbett wasn't the first attorney general to hold a press conference to announce indictments. But given the current atmosphere in the country, he would have gone far toward reassuring the public that this wasn't a political witch hunt if he hadn't had blown-up photos of the people indicted up on the stage for all to see, with his own name prominently displayed at the bottom. And one small note of levity: when I see Corbett, I can't help but think of actor Leslie Nielsen.
It is so crucial to keep politics out of criminal investigations because the power to indict is the power to destroy. I look at those photos and see, not criminals, but people who you'd run into at the fitness center, grocery store, or Senators game. Whether they are found guilty or innocent, each of them will owe tens of thousands of dollars, possibly over a hundred thousand dollars, in legal fees. Their lives, and those of their families, will never be the same. Guilty or innocent.