Opinion

OUR OPINION: COUNTY SCANDAL

December 3, 2009

The high price of corruption

CORRUPTION, WE are told, pollutes Afghanistan’s government, preventing the nation from making social and economic progress and sentencing most of its people to lives of unremitting uncertainty, civil war and poverty.

Might corruption’s stranglehold on Luzerne County also have been a decades-long deterrent to growth and prosperity?

The question of self-inflicted stagnation became even more compelling Wednesday, as area residents read new revelations about mysterious county contracts and, separately, learned of more criminal charges.

Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael T. Toole became the third county judge – and 20th person overall – to be implicated in this year’s wide-ranging public corruption crackdown. Federal investigators accused Toole of honest services fraud and filing a false income tax return. He has agreed to plead guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Meanwhile, people in and out of The Times Leader newsroom grew more skeptical about past business dealings between Luzerne County government and a suspicious New York firm whose owner has not responded to our reporter’s repeated attempts to contact him.

Long Island-based B & M Investigations was paid $55,000 to prepare a pre-employment procedure report, which county officials can’t find or confirm the existence of, and do background checks. County Solicitor Vito DeLuca recently reviewed some of the firm’s work and said, “To me it appears to be a ridiculous waste of money.”

Viewed independently, these dubious developments would be distressing enough. But add to the mix some high-profile cases of embezzlement of public funds. Plus, the many accusations of bribery within public school boards.

Then, multiply the problem by five years, 10, or 50.

Does anyone know for how long taxpayer money has been redirected from its intended purpose(s) here and instead enriched certain crooks?

How many businesses – potential employers of Luzerne County residents – steered clear of the place because they refused to line the pockets of public officials? How many natives abandoned the region because they were denied job opportunities?

How many tax dollars paid for shoddy work by dishonest contractors who obtained jobs through the buddy system, not the bidding system? Has our money been diverted to “phantom workers” who do no work at all?

Which of us has received a fair trial, and whose cases were predetermined? Whom can we trust?

In short, how much has corruption cost us?

We might never be able to calculate the full damage. But, in many respects, endemic public corruption appears to have left Luzerne County and its residents impoverished – and perhaps in need of outside help.

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