Philadelphia is so corrupt that exposing corruption in the newspaper is kind of worthless
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Philadelphia is so corrupt that exposing corruption in the newspaper is kind of worthless
When you're a reporter in Philadelphia, you learn pretty quickly that "All the President's Men" is just a movie, depicting ancient history. For me, I found out in 1997, when I broke a story about then city controller and mayoral hopeful Jonathan Saidel and his girlfriend, who'd used campaign funds to make a down payment on a house and also fudged the campaign report to cover their tracks. My first lesson in Philly Politics 101 was that they indicted the girlfriend, but not Saidel. My second lesson came at the preliminary hearing. The girlfriend called two character witnesses -- then-Mayor Ed Rendell and U.S. Congressman Bob Brady, The charges were tossed.
I think of that experience a lot -- especially when I read a story like this:
The Daily News obtained the video of the Sept. 11, 2007, raid and search of Duran's Super One Market, in West Oak Lane, and posted it on Philly.com in 2009 as part of the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "Tainted Justice."
An FBI-led task force was launched at the start of the series after the Daily News reported that a longtime drug informant had accused Officer Jeffrey Cujdik of sometimes lying on search-warrant applications to gain access to suspected drug homes.
The probe mushroomed when the Daily News reported allegations that Cujdik and other members of the Narcotics Field Unit took cash and merchandise from corner stores after disabling surveillance cameras. Then came allegations from three women who said that a member of the squad, Thomas Tolstoy, fondled, groped or sexually violated them during raids.
The FBI interviewed Duran and other merchants shortly after the Daily News' reports, but never followed up, Duran said. None of the alleged victims has been asked to appear before a grand jury. And none of the women who alleged abuse by the police was ever contacted by the FBI or the District Attorney's Office.
So...unfortunately the prize judges who awarded Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman a Pulitzer for their reporting don't have subpoena power or the ability to indict people. No, that job belongs to a ciminal-justice and political system that stinks to high heaven, that only serves to comfort the already comfortable and to afflict the already afflicted.
And sadly, it goes beyond Philadelphia. Watch "Frontline" on PBS, and see the story of how Obama's Justice Department has miserably failed at going after the crooks on Wall Street who tanked the world economy for you and me. It makes me sick to my stomach. Journalists can and do expose corruption -- but they can only do so much. Our present system is broken beyond repair. The people in high places who protect their own need to be held accountable.
Have a great weekend, for cryin' out loud!
What difference at this point does it make?— Mr. Smith- best post of the day. lol — rysagr
- There was not one bit of physical evidence these officers committed a crime. There is only accusations from people charged with crimes (obviously with nothing to gain by making the cops out to be the bad guys), and opinions of the "unbiased" reporters. . That is why the officers were not charged with a crime. No matter how many times the story is printed doesn't make it true.— Downer
- I think capturing these crimes on videotape might be considered evidence, but what do I know....— will
- I guess surveillance tapes of crooked cops are different from surveillance tapes of real criminals? One might also question how these cops afford expensive cars and second homes in Avalon on their city salaries. Maybe their grandmas left them a big inheritance...There seems to be plenty of evidence, but as Mr. Bunch says, the corruption in this city is legion.
— InNane - Wow, Will and I actually agree on something.— Moe_Syzlak
- We get the government we deserve. Lazy uninformed complacent voters deserve the self serving creeps we elect.— non excidet
- I agree with Mr. Smith. .... If HRC can be so brazen and say it doesn't matter to protect the President, why not Philly pols?— Mirror
- Income inequality and now justice inequality (although that's not so new) are ruining America.— Archimedes
- I just found a letter today from a senior City Planner who told me there was a conspiracy hatched in the old Donna Reed Miller office because I found out and got sick and collected evidence about a contaminated site that was illegally dug up next to my house for development. They broke a lot of laws and the people involved are very high profile, so they did the whistleblower retaliation thing for the last 7 years and still going strong. I sent the letter to all City Council Members today. People have been very vicious with me and half the time I'm in hiding. I already had enough evidence to put a few in jail, but this was a gem. I plan on writing the whole thing up. City Council and Mayor and D.A, are all in collusion and actively involved in hate crimes toward me. Maybe they thought I would die or go away, but I kept at it and now have all the pieces I need. I always give them a chance to make amends but I'm not sure the mentality is capable of such a thing. I have all evidence with agents who will do proper thing with it, so the Council has been alerted that no more harm should come to me or it will be worse for them. This story shows the core of the corruption game in Philly.— annerosemay
- Philadelphia is run by a corrupt, unethical machine, with Bob Brady at the front, but Janie Blackwell and members of the JBM in charge. As long as everyone gets paid, Brady is permitted to keep his face as the Democratic party chair. His real job is to keep Community Block Grant money from congress flowing into the city so that bogus nonprofits can be funded. It is injustice. Those who suffer most are crime victims, low income folks and single parent families. Note of these groups are on the radar of most elected officials. Too many people just don't care.— StevenG
- Everyone should go to the Frontline website and wtach the report on Wall Street and how the Justice Dept is obviously refusing to go after the criminal executives on Wall Street. There is plenty of evidence to put these people in jail yet none have been charged with a crime. Public employee pension fund invetments got slammed by this fraud. Tax payers bailed out these banks and now we have Governor Corbett saying we need to cut pension budgets. PA is still suffering from the enormous loss of income tax revenue the fraud caused. The statute of limitations will run out soon and only the NY AG has filed a lawsuit.— MikeP
- Sometimes stories need some real digging to get to the bottom. While there is some investigative reporting here, it's hardly complete and in-depth. If this is as egregious as is being reported (today) then WHY has it taken so long for the paper to follow up? Something isn't right....— elbrewador
- Our political system is broken beyond repair. It needs to be scrapped. I just don't understand why people would want to expand government given these circumstances.— FletcherT
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