PureBunkum

Next up, Luzerne County heads to Lifetime Movies?

Thursday night, the Mark Ciavarella case entered Bill O’Reilly’s ”No Spin Zone.” The O’Reilly Factor, which airs on Fox News, draws over 3 million viewers a night.  The Today show, which broadcast our local scandal Wednesday, reigns in the morning while O’Reilly is the king of nighttime cable TV.

As hard as he’s trying to fight the designation, Mark Ciavarella is now known from coast to coast as the “Kids for Cash” judge.

O’Reilly, like several other news outlets, played the emotionally-charged video of Wilkes-Barre’s Sandy Fonzo screaming at Ciavarella that her son committed suicide.  He shot himself in the heart, she shouted at Ciavarella, who had put him in detention when he was 17.  Fonzo demanded to know if he remembered her or her son.  He told reporters he didn’t.

The intro to O’Reilly’s show said, “A corrupt judge accused by a mother of murder.  Wait until you hear this.”  Then O’Reilly pointed his finger at the audience and uttered his signature line, “CAUTION, you’re about to enter thee no spin zone.”

O’Reilly’s show is headquartered in New York City, but this week he’s in L.A.  So, maybe we need to cut him a little slack for his announcer saying that Ciavarella was accused of murder.  This is Hollywood after all.  Hey, Democracy Now! called Ciavarella a federal judge.

Anyway, the Ciavarella piece on O’Reilly followed one criticizing the Barack Obama administration for declaring a federal law banning gay marriage as unconstitutional.  Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who’s also a lawyer, was clearly disgusted.  She said this president has decided to enforce a federal law but not defend it.

That surprises her?  Obama does what he pleases and makes up his own rules as he goes along, because not only is he the Boss, he also knows what’s best for the rest of us.

Moving on, O’Reilly then told his viewers about “a very troubling case in Pennsylvania.”  He and Kelly watched the video of Fonzo’s shocking confrontation with the judge following his guilty verdict  just one week ago.

Kelly shook her head.  O’Reilly called Sandy Fonzo a hero.  “We applaud that mother,” he said.  ”Who can blame her for her anger?” Kelly said.

O’Reilly also said if he were Fonzo, he probably would have “gotten physical” with Ciavarella.

“He feels no remorse for what he did,”  said Megyn Kelly.  Uh oh, if she detected that, what does the person who really counts think – U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosick?

Kosick rejected an earlier plea agreement from Ciavarella and the equally, if not more, contemptible former judge, Michael Conahan, because he didn’t believe they took responsibility for their  actions.  Both would have served about 7 1/2 years.  Now they face 15 and 20.

If they’re lucky.

- Betty Roccograndi

“I don’t know that lady,” the composed judge said of the hysterical mother who just screamed that he’s to blame for her son’s suicide.

Today, America got to know former judge Mark Ciavarella.

Sandy Fonzo, of Wilkes-Barre, told her story on  ”Today,”  the national morning news show, headquartered in New York City and hosted by Matt Lauer and Meridith Vieira.

Locally, we all witnessed Fonzo’s heartbreak, in her voice and on her face, as she watched in disbelief as Ciavarella was heading home after being convicted of racketeering and money laundering.

“Are YOU kidding me,” she shouted as a U.S. marshal led her away.  

Fonzo had stood silently on the steps of the federal courthouse in Scranton, waiting to see Mark Ciavarella hauled away in handcuffs.  That’s why she left work early.  But when his  attorney, Al Flora Jr., said that this was not a “cash for kids” case, the devastated mother became undone because her kid killed himself last summer.

Whether fairly or not, she blames Ciavarella, who sent him to a detention center at the age of 17.  Fonzo said her son, an all-star wrestler, became bitter and depressed and was never the same because of it.  Last June he shot himself in the heart at the age of 23.  Fonzo screamed at Ciavarella that now she wasn’t a mother, that now she wasn’t anything.

 ”You ruined my f…ing life.”  “Do you remember me?,  she demanded to know.   “Do you remember my son?”

Ciavarella remembered neither.  It was a new low in an already rock bottom scandal.

To her credit, Today’s Ann Curry sympathetically asked Fonzo whether any other factors could have played a role in her son’s death,  saying that with suicide, there usually are.  But Fonzo stood firm, answering that after Ciavarella sent him to a detention center, her young son’s life spiraled downward.

Sandy Fonzo also spoke by phone Tuesday to Amy Goodman, the host of an obscure show on DirectTV, called Democracy NOW!  Goodman introduced the segment saying a federal judge is free on appeal after being convicted of taking cash for kids.  We can’t believe everything we read in the newspapers or hear on TV.

 The Today show perpetuated the “Kids for Cash” moniker and called it probably the biggest judicial scandal in American history.

Locally, we bore witness to Fonzo’s sad, sad loss.  Now, people throughout America heard about it on the number one-rated Today show.

One thing is pretty certain.  There likely won’t be a lot sympathy across the country for a former Luzerne County judge who faces a minimum 12 to 15 years in prison because of  his insatiable greed.

With the national media’s interest in this case, we’d love to see 60 Minutes come to town and do some digging.  There’s probably still so much more to learn.

Betty Roccograndi

It was utterly heart-wrenching watching and hearing an anguished mother fall apart at the sight of Mark Ciavarella heading home.

No one knew Sandy Fonzo was in the crowd until Ciavarella’s attorney, Al Flora, said, “This was not a cash for kids case.”  That remark was apparently more than this devasted mother could bear. 

Fonzo screamed at the former judge, who was just found guilty of racketeering, that her son killed himself.  She screeched in pain that it was his fault, that her son never recovered after being sent to a juvenile detention center at the age of 17.  Last June, at the age of 23, he shot himself in the heart.

She left work Friday afternoon so she could watch Ciavarella hauled away in handcuffs.  She needed to see that.  Instead, U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik allowed him to go home with his pregnant daughter, pending his sentencing.

“Are YOU kidding me?  Are YOU  kidding me?”  Fonzo wailed.  “You ruined my f….ing life.  You killed my son.  I’m not a mother.  I’m not anything.”  She couldn’t stop.  ”Do you remember me?  Do you remember me? Do you remember my son?”  she cried hysterically.  She told the stunned Ciavarella that  her son was an all-star wrestler and that now he’s gone and her life is ruined.

Ciavarella did not remember her.  “I don’t know that lady,”  he said.  He said he didn’t know the facts or the circumstances of her son’s case.  He really should have kept his  mouth shut and never admitted that.  Not while a broken woman was overcome with grief.  Thankfully, Fonzo didn’t hear Ciavarella say he didn’t recall her son’s case, especially after she just screamed that her world has been shattered by his suicide.

Despite being convicted of some serious charges and facing a prison term of between 12 and 15 years, many are angry that the so-called Kids for Cash angle of this case never really came into play.

Ciavarella was reputed to be tough as nails with the juveniles who appeared before him.  School principals and even some parents commended  him for it.  A high-ranking probation department official was prepared to testify for the prosecution that Ciavarella insisted some juveniles be sent to detention despite her protests.  But he was the boss.  The prosecution didn’t call her because it wanted to nail Ciavarella on racketeering and money laundering, and it did.  The defense declared a victory because he wasn’t found guilty of 27 charges.

And now Ciavarella and the community at large await his sentencing.

Maybe Ciavarella didn’t remember Sandy  Fonzo or her son, but he’s not about to forget her any time soon.

And if he’s still feeling victorious after Friday’s verdict, after coming face to face with this grief-stricken, now childless mother, then Ciavarella is an even more hardened criminal than anyone thought.

- Betty Roccograndi

We’ve learned two very important lessons from the Mark Ciavarella racketeering trial, actually three.

1.  Friendships can turn on a dime – or on a prison term.

2.  Be careful, especially if you’re a law enforcement officer.  Anything you say, can, and will, be used against you in a court of law.

3.  And my favorite, what goes around, comes around. 

Disgraced or disgraceful - your call - Ciavarella, the former king of the courthouse, and Robert Mericle, the wizard of KOZ, once enjoyed a close friendship.  After years of hard work, both made a name for themselves in Luzerne County – maybe a little more recognition than either had planned.

Mark and Rob were both successful and looked out for each other as good friends do.  When Mericle heard a local attorney had plans for a new juvenile detention center, he wanted in.  So he went to his buddy, Judge Mark.

Mericle:  You have to recommend me for this project.

Ciavarella:  I don’t know, Rob.  What’s in it for me?

Mericle:  $2 million.

Ciavarella:  Okay, buddy.

But Mericle wasn’t Mark’s only friend.  He was also chums with colleague Michael Conahan, who was no stranger to the already unfolding events since he was orchestrating them.  Conahan was the one who closed the county-owned juvie center because it stood in the way of a for-profit one, and he stood to rake in some of those profits. 

When he celebrated Christmas Eve like everyone does – taking a road trip with Attorney Robert Powell to the site of the future juvenile detention center, he told Powell that they’d have to take care of  Mark.  (Wow, come to think of it, that could have meant a lot of things.)

When Mericle came through with the promised “finder’s fee,” Ciavarella, so excited about his good fortune, didn’t think twice before flying to Conahan’s office and giving him half.  Now, that’s a friend!

But, alas, all didn’t turn out well for the four musketeers.

Facing 39 counts of criminal charges, including money laundering and extortion, Ciavarella could go away to prison for a very long time.  His friends would prefer not to join him so they did what any good pal would do in that situation.  They decided to testify for the prosecution.

You  know what they say.  All’s fair in love, war and saving your own hide when a prison sentence is staring you in the face.

 As for the foot-in-mouth comment.

This one is really interesting.  Federal prosecutor Gordon Zubrod may have handed Ciavarella the reasonable doubt he needs to walk free, or, at the very least, a second chance during the appeal process.

For some reason, during Mericle’s sentencing hearing on a charge of failure to report a crime, Zubrod, sounding like Mericle’s attorney, said the $2.1 million Mericle paid the  judges was a legal, business-as-usual finder’s fee.

Ciavarella and  his lawyers must have thought they died and went to heaven.  Heaven is playing a key role in this corruption trial.  Ciavarella described the initial $1 million “finder’s fee” Mericle offered him as “manna from heaven.”

The ”Cash” part of the “Kids for Cash” corruption trial, is at the heart of this case.  Two corrupt judges take cash to send kids down the river.

Ciavarella’s legal team has argued that innocent Mark was out of the loop and unaware of the back-room deal Conahan and Powell concocted.  If the jury believes that, we’ll have to conclude that they’re a little loopy.

Presiding Judge Edwin Kosik allowed defense Attorney Al Flora to tell the jury that Zubrod had called the finder’s fee legal.  This could easily divide the jury as the 12 determine whether Ciavarella is innocent or guilty of some of the more serious charges against him.

So now, this former judge, who allegedly bullied teenagers and minors who appeared before him, nervously paces the halls worrying how this will all turn out.

It’s very possible this time it will be his family watching in horror as he’s dragged away in handcuffs.

- Betty Roccograndi

Alleged racketeer Mark Ciavarella said when developer Robert Mericle offered him a $1 million finder’s fee related to a for-profit juvenile detention center, he looked at him, thanked him and then thought he died and went to heaven.

He actually said, it was like “manna from heaven.”

And what did the grateful judge do?  Why, he did what anyone who just hit the lottery would do.  He ran through the hall of the Luzerne County Courthouse and offered half his manna to another judge, Michael Conahan, who’s already admitted to racketeering.  What a guy, that Ciavarella.

“I wouldn’t be much of a friend,” he testified Tuesday, if he didn’t cut Conahan in on his good fortune since he “was the individual who made it all happen.”  He said Conahan got the investors in place and did all the planning for the new juvie center.  Is that even a judge’s job?

When he took the stand Tuesday, Ciavarella admitted to tax evasion and lying about the the source of the finder’s fee “because it wouldn’t look good.”  He denied that he took a bribe or extorted Robert Powell, the center’s co-owner – because that REALLY wouldn’t look good.

 His lawyers  said in opening arguments that if the prosecution cannot prove bribery or extortion, its racketeering case against their client collapses.

Ciavarella said he admitted to tax evasion because, “I did it.  You got to admit to what you did (especially when the IRS catches you red-handed) and “fight like hell for what you didn’t do.”

One of the things he didn’t do was accept what he swears was a perfectly legal finder’s fee from Mericle and report the income.  Instead he chose to “fight like hell” to hide it.  Unfortunately, he got caught.

Ciavarella testified that he asked Mericle whether it was legal for him to accept a finder’s fee.  Judge Mericle assured him that it was.  Then, not long after, the two proceeded to cover up the ”legal” payment.

Questioned by the prosecution, who have charged the former judge with money laundering, extortion, bribery and racketeering, Ciavarella also explained that he advocated for a new juvenile detention center as Mark Ciavarella, not as Judge Mark Ciavarella.

“I was appearing as a judge, but I wasn’t appearing in my official capacity as a judge,” he said of his appearance in a television news report.  If that isn’t right out of the Bill Clinton playbook.  It depends upon what the meaning of judge is.

At one point, he called the finder’s fee he received a loan, saying that’s why he didn’t pay any taxes on it.

“I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid,” he said.  No, he’s just hoping the jury is.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors have attempted to show that Dumb and Dumber concocted an intricate scheme to enrich themselves by closing the county-owned juvenile detention center and steering delinquents to one that Mericle built and Powell co-owned.

It will be the ultimate irony if Mark Ciavarella goes free because of something the lead prosecutor, of all people, said earlier.

We were stupified then and still are that assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod had said that the $2.1 million that Mericle paid to Ciavarella were two finder’s fees, “not a bribe or a kickback in any sense.”  Whose side was this guy on?

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik allowed defense Attorney Al Flora to tell the jury what Zubrod said.  It was only fair that he did.  If he didn’t, Flora, who’s going to appeal anyway, would have had a lot of ammunition later on.  It sure would have fueled Flora’s contention that Kosik is predjudiced against his client.

On Tuesday, Ciavarella also expected the  jury to suspend its disbelief when he testified that he didn’t even insist that Powell or Gregory Zappala, the other owner of the juvie center, hire Mericle to build their center.  Then didn’t he take that generous finder’s fee under false pretenses?  Mericle should immediately demand a refund.

Mericle probably wants those Cabbage Patch dolls back too after what Ciavarella also said on the stand Tuesday in his own defense.

He said that when he, Conahan and Powell brainstormed in parking lots of a Nuangola rest stop, behind the Crestwood High School and in an abandoned development, they expressed concern about getting Mericle to tell the truth.  This is simply too much.

“We’re not going to solve it if he continues to lie.  If he continues to lie, we’re all dead in the water,” said Mericle’s long-time chum.

Mericle must be kicking himself that he lied to the IRS, federal agents and a grand jury because he didn’t “want to be the one to lay Mark out,” now that Mark had no problem laying Mericle out.   Maybe Ciavarella is miffed because Mericle testified that a nervous Ciavarella told him not to lie,  just review the records that could send  him to jail.  Wink, wink!

One of the best lines coming out of Tuesday’s court session was when assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser asked Ciavarella point blank, “You were a juvenile judge sending juveniles to Robert Powell’s detention center.”

“Yes, sir,” Ciavarella replied.

But later, probably realizing that that didn’t sound so great, he noted that he wasn’t the juvenile court judge on that fateful Christmas Eve in 2001 when Conahan and Powell drove to the site of the future juvenile center with visions of millions of dollars dancing in their heads.

One month later, though, he was.  Conahan, then president judge, made sure he was.

- Betty Roccograndi

Whether he’s found guilty or not, we are learning, without a reasonable doubt,  that Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan were two unscrupulous, contemptible  judges.

The evidence being presented in Ciavarella’s racketeering trial depicts these two as ruthless, self-serving, unethical money-grubbers.  They make the accusations against a third former county judge, Ann Lokuta, whom they drove from the bench, look minor.  Lokuta lost her job for being rude to attorneys, belittling others and having her staff do personal chores for her.  She was loathed by some, but she did not commit any crimes.

Prosecutors said Ciavarella and Conahan ”turned the Court of Common Pleas into a criminal empire.”  They’re the ones who orchestrated Lokuta’s ouster, just as they had plotted to discredit Jill Moran, former county prothonotary.  Moran, who was both a friend and business colleague of theirs, delivered three boxes of cash to Conahan as she was told.  Conahan and Ciavarella planned to say they never received them.  What fine men they are too.

And as much as Ciavarella is on trial for racketeering, so is the despicable Conahan. 

Actually, Conahan’s coming off as some kind of mob boss, with Ciavarella being the underboss.  Together, they were a reprehensible team, hearing cases despite having blatant conflicts of interest and manipulating a county court system for personal gain, according to the testimony so far.   And a lying Ciavarella, while collecting millions from developer Robert Mericle, told opposing counsel during one court hearing that he only knew Mericle “generally.”

Yeah, generally.  Mericle gave him $2.1 million for one of the following:  finder’s fees, referral fees, bonuses, or as killer witness Robert Powell called them, bogus commissions for him, which were actually kickbacks for Judge Ciavarella.  Generally speaking, Mericle also stuffed $5,000 into travel magazines at Christmas time, and in what was rather a strange gift to his long-time personal friend, generally speaking of course, was a bevy of Cabbage Patch dolls.

Ciavarella, so far, seems to be losing the gamble he took going to trial.  Witness upon witness has portrayed him as a scheming  judge who believed he was entitled to his cut of the profits from Powell’s juvie center.  At one point, he told Powell, “Don’t bulls**t me.”  I know how much money you’re making.

As if that was any of his business.  Or maybe it was.  Maybe Ciavarella felt he contributed to that business’ success and now deserved some of its profits.   And if he did, then - Bingo! - kids for cash was much more than just a clever name.

- Betty Roccograndi

I haven’t done much blogging the last couple of months because of minor surgery, which wasn’t a lot of fun, but mostly because I don’t have a lot of positive things to write about.

I’m mildly amused at the media’s and public’s “shock” at the revelations coming from former Judge Ciavarella’s trial.  Not the alleged extent of Ciavarella’s and Conahan’s violations of the public trust, because if you’re going to steal, you better steal big … and they did.  It’s the outrage and shock you hear from your family, neighbors, friends and people calling radio talk shows and the media.  Give me a break!  Unless you just crawled out from underneath a rock or have been in a coma for 20 years,  this has been going on in Luzerne County for years.

How many times have you heard someone say, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  It wouldn’t shock me if that phrase originated in Wyoming Valley.  Who hasn’t asked a politician or somebody who knows a politician for a “favor?”  We may not have stolen anything or given a kickback, but it’s what we expect of politicians.  Obviously putting kids in a juvenile detention center for financial gain is beyond the pale, but what is acceptable?  Would a small kickback to secure a job be alright, a small percentage to make sure your company secures the contract, a couple of flat screen TV’s, a little home remodeling at no charge, or maybe just a campaign contribution?

These are the people we elected.  They do represent us, don’t they?  For those of you who don’t participate in the political process, by not voting and being apathetic, stop your bitching and outrage.  You forfeited that right.  For those of us who have asked for ‘favors,” is this the representation we expected?  Maybe we should stop asking.  For those of you who actively participate and never asked for a “favor,” then I guess you have a right to be outraged and shocked.  I just hope you haven’t been under a rock.  Unfortunately, I think there are a lot more of us in the first two categories rather than the latter.

The old media is useless and reactionary, and some of them are literally on some politicians’ payrolls.  Even a blowhard like Corbett wants the media to do its  job.  If you’re lucky enough to get caught in traffic and listen to him, you would think Corbett’s outrage is at the people in the latter group.  Hasn’t he been in the media for the last few decades covering these politicians?  I know he hasn’t been living under a rock.

Maybe my minor surgery made me a little ornery, but I find all of this outrage and shock a wee bit disingenuous.  Our new Home Rule politicians better be ready.  Expectations will be high.

–The Plumber