El Som points out that maybe I was being a little hard on Jennings, and as I think about it, I agree. The tough part of Jennings job in this case was prosecuting corruption that was so “ho hum” and run of the mill. In fact if McGuiness had committed all of the same crimes in ANY OTHER elected office it would not have caused a ripple. If ever discovered or discussed, the corruption would have been waved off. The excuse making on process grounds, and procedural technicalities would have held, as usual.
Kathy had the bad judgment to practice her waste fraud and abuse directly in front of a staff that perceives its job to be discovering instances of waste fraud and abuse. When over half of the office became whistle blowers the din of whistles blowing became much too loud to ignore.
And yet, if you gave Kathy a shot of sodium pentathol and asked her if she did anything untoward, she would happily say she didn’t. She thinks giving friends no-bid contracts, rigging up pretend make-work jobs for relatives, and paying for stuff with the company card is what is suppose to happen. They are typical perks. And chintzy, penny-ante perks at that. When Kathy peevishly slammed the $20 on the table to pay off part of her Sirius XM bill she must have been thinking, “Pete doesn’t have to deal with this nit-picky bullshit.” And looking around at legislators getting on boards and making bank from organizations that are funded by the very legislative body they serve on – would she be wrong?
Becoming involved in politics appears to be a huge pain in the ass these days. Aren’t people who go into it deserving of some little (and sometimes large) tangible perks? They clearly think they are.
Kathy’s trial concluded on the same day that John Kowalko served his last day in office. There is a symmetry to that. I’m not saying that Kowalko was a saint, but he was cognizant of the fact that his role as a public servant was to serve the public. It is a sentiment that must seem quaint and old-timely to McGuiness et al.
