Jun 13, 2015 2 min read

The conclusion to be drawn from the tap on the wrist “sentences” imposed by the court earlier this month on disgraced state Rep. Ronald Waters and former state Rep. Harold James is that for our corrupt state “leaders,” there is a license to steal.

For taking bribes from an undercover informant, Waters will serve a mere 23 months of probation, James one year, the charges bargained down to “conflict of interest,” an innocuous means of characterizing the betrayal of the citizenry. Both men are expected to be able to retain their pensions, as others who have been similarly situated have done.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is also complicit in this debacle. Had it not been for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams taking up the prosecutions that she declined to pursue without valid reason, Waters and James could have emerged unscathed and continued to serve (themselves) indefinitely.

Their colleagues are worthy of our contempt as well. They allowed the perpetrators to continue to serve and maintain a high profile for months after they acknowledged their actions in grand jury testimony, not one member attempting to enact a measure to reprimand, censure, expel, or even expose the violators.

Ironically, Waters and another lawmaker who has been accused and appears to be going to trial, state Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, have recently participated in “know your rights” forums throughout the commonwealth, in which instruction is provided as to how citizens should interact with the police, with the goal of remaining alive and not winding up in jail.

So long as government corruption is not taken seriously, it is impossible to respect our system of “justice”.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper Saint Clair