Fumo Judge Disgrace To Federal Bench

Fumo Judge Disgrace To Federal Bench 

By Chris Freind

Just writing that is enough to make you vomit.

Ronald
Buckwalter is an absolute disgrace to the federal bench, and his
flagrant disregard for justice calls into the question the very nature
of lifetime judicial appointments. There is simply no rational
explanation for his pig-headed decisions regarding Fumo, but making the
sin mortal was chastising the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

That’s like a parent blaming the teacher because his child bombed the test.

The
investigation, which started under then-U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, was
thorough and professional, without so much as a single black mark. The
investigators brought what they believed to be an iron-clad case against
Fumo, and a jury of Fumo’s peers obviously agreed.

In appealing
Buckwalter’s original sentence, the Office again acted responsibly,
correctly noting Buckwalter’s mistakes, and seeking the only thing that
everyone but Fumo and his dwindling posse wanted: justice.

An
appropriate punishment at the original sentencing should have ended the
Fumo saga, but like the referee who feels compelled to upstage the
players and become the center of attention, Buckwalter seemed to want
the headlines for himself.

Mission accomplished Judge. But at what price?

His
disparagement of the U.S. Attorney’s office without a doubt provided
ammunition for future defendants to argue that they too are the victims
of overzealous, politically-motivated prosecutors. Wittingly or not,
Judge Buckwalter opened a Pandora’s Box that will be very difficult to
close.

In calling the prosecution excessive, Buckwalter stated
that Fumo should not have been charged with so many counts, when in
reality, he could have been charged with more. He even went so far as to
label the prosecution’s efforts “unfair.”

Unfair?

No, the prosecution was more than
fair. They didn’t commit the crimes. Vince Fumo did. What’s patently
unfair is letting him off easy because he was an “effective” legislator
(which, by the way, is one of the biggest myths in all of Harrisburg,
but that’s another story.) and because he was involved in charitable
works.

Excuse us, Judge, but what does that have to do with anything?

You
do the crime, you do the time. It’s that simple. And for the other
factors that may have played a role in leniency, they too should have
been irrelevant.

If, because of poor health, Fumo would have died
in prison if given a longer sentence, so be it. If, because he would
have been a very old man getting out of prison had he gotten the lengthy
punishment he deserved, that’s his problem. No one held a gun to Fumo’s
head to embark on a life of crime.

To give Fumo what is
perceived by most to be special treatment is, in some respects, the
biggest crime of all. Not illegal, of course, as sentencing is at
Buckwalter’s discretion, but criminal in the sense that justice was not
adequately served.

Perhaps more than any other city, Philadelphia
has a reputation for rampant, institutionalized corruption. For
decades, the bad guys always seemed to operate with impunity. From
rigged elections to pols illegally living it up on the taxpayers’ dime,
the perception, rightly so, was that the politically-connected could
operate above the law, and the average Joe got the shaft.

But
then a funny thing happened. After witnessing numerous convictions at
the city, county and state levels, most notable in the Bonusgate
scandal, the public started to believe again. Hope was renewed. Turns
out that the people, through their honest, hard working prosecutors,
were fighting City Hall — and winning.

Faith in truth, justice
and the American way, now restored, hit its pinnacle when Vince Fumo,
once untouchable, was brought back down to Earth, led away in handcuffs.
But when the original sentence was announced, the collective breath of
our society was forcibly expelled, the result of an immense kick to the
gut.

Yet hope remained, if by a delicate thread. It wasn’t over.
Maybe, just maybe, things would be made right, and Vince Fumo would
finally “get his” at the re-sentencing. But as before, the people were
left devastated, angry, and dumbfounded. Somehow, Fumo escaped the fate
he deserved.

And with that, all the goodwill and hope that had
been cautiously accumulating evaporated in a heartbeat. Fool me once,
shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.