Corruption, a family affair

Our town has some big political names. My judge has a big name, big enough to work 3 hours a day and still get promoted. After our media had run more than half dozen front page articles on our "worst family court in the state", they moved to county government and found my judge's equally famous brother had 90 friends on the government payroll. After another half dozen front pages, they even ran a headline with the famous corrupt brothers together on the front page.

Our TV media ran a story on another corrupt political family name. This one was just a county laborer, sort of the lesser known in the family. I'm sure his name got him his job and got his supervisor to look the other way as he did just about everything (errands, shopping, etc) but his job on the county clock. Well our crack investigative reporter tracked him down pushed a mike in his face and got the door slammed in his face. They took their surveillance to the only untainted county commissioner who said he'd start proceedings to fire him. So the guilty guy, unlike the big names, decided to resign and save embarrassment. That is ironic since his more famous brother was run out of a powerful position for viewing porn on the county computers on the county clock.

What perked up my ears was talk that this laborer who earned $65,000 / year (not bad pay) could be prosecuted for "theft in office" for turning in a false time card. Wow, that would be an interesting precedent that my judge escaped from. He was found to work only 3 hours per day on his $121,000 job, thus stealing $75,000 per year. If he were criminally prosecuted for this it could end his career (well deservedly so).

But my judge did so much worse, he created false "shadow trials" to hide his absence. He allowed the lawyers to steal their clients blind by his absence and lack of supervision. I wouldn't be surprised if his total impact was over a million dollars a year, which adds up in a decade. He allowed over $100,000 to be stolen from me and I'm just one of his many cases.

Here's how I think things will go, and the thieves reactions seems to bear this out. The little guy is in danger, even with his name. He could go to jail. But my judge, the fat cat, will skate free. That's the nature of our screwed up justice system, put shoplifters and laborers in jail, while county commissioners, auditors, and judges get a free pass. I don't condone any theft, they all should be in jail. But they won't be, and that's the sad state of American "justice".