Local Commentary

Mark Guydish

September 27

Conahan’s sentencing pulled back curtain on scheme Mark Guydish Commentary

IF THERE was any doubt that Mike “Cocky” Conahan was the brains behind Luzerne County’s juvenile court scandal, they dissolved faster than Alka-Seltzer at Conahan’s sentencing in federal court Friday.

Mark “Shameless” Ciavarella might have garnered more publicity thanks to his decision to go to trial rather than strike a plea bargain. But this atrocity had Cocky’s fingerprints all over it, like a kindergarten water color on “use your hands” day.

Millions of dollars paid to the two crooked county judges by the builder and a co-owner of for-profit juvenile detention centers got washed through Conahan’s businesses. Comments to a wired witness had Cocky concocting cover-up stories that could blanket the county. It was Conahan who – as president judge – effectively closed the Luzerne County-owned juvenile jail by refusing to send kids there. It was Cocky who signed a secret guarantee that the private facility would get a minimum annual amount from the county.

Conahan’s ability to orchestrate could put Leonard Bernstein to shame. Yet he got off with 10 years less jail time.

Ciavarella gets to play the full gamut of games available in the appeal lottery, something Conahan forfeited – first by signing a plea bargain with a “go directly to jail” directive, and second by saying right before sentencing that (a) “I’m corrupt,” and (b) “I deserve these consequences.”

Picture the testimony at his appeal:

“But you said, ‘I’m corrupt.’ ”

“I should have said I was corrupt. I’m better now.”

“You said, ‘I deserve these consequences’?”

“I meant ‘those,’ as in those consequences I already had endured.”

If Ciavarella and Conahan were joined at the hip on this cabal, it was Conahan who fused their pelvises. Yet “the boss” gets the lighter sentence. Why?

Because Cocky was smart enough to shed every shred of public arrogance, and Shameless simply couldn’t. It’s a tale of two pities.

After a perfunctory, “Don’t send me to jail!” apology, Ciavarella stayed defiant. It was never “kids for cash,” he insisted.

“And someone better start getting that message,” his attorney Al Flora added.

By contrast, Conahan’s lawyer Phil Gelso said: “Whatever label you put on this, there was a lot of damage that came from this, and when you heard him today, he was sincere. He accepted responsibility for that.”

During the sentencing Friday in Scranton, Gelso painted the image of a man repressed, abused and confused. Conahan had readily agreed to psychological evaluation, a process that revealed a litany of travails.

He had been “mercilessly beaten” by his father for failing to stoke a coal furnace. He had been “taught the ends justified the means.” He had come to use “repression and alcohol as a defensive mechanism to keep those insecurities in check and help him ignore the consequences of his actions.” Cocky was a victim of “a perfect storm that allowed this criminal conduct to ensue.” He didn’t mastermind a wretched plot, he just “lost his way.”

Gelso said Conahan “saw grays.” The problem is, he saw grays where none existed. Taking money from a for-profit detention center where you make sure kids are sent? That’s as black-and-white as it gets.

This despicable duo didn’t “see gray,” they saw green. They let money lust trump ethics. If Conahan got the lesser punishment despite playing the bigger role, it’s only because he was more willing to publicly admit his moral blindness.

Cold comfort to the kids he used.

Mark Guydish can be reached at 829-7161 or email mguydish@timesleader.com.

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