Philly pols of color and cases of corruption

LET'S TALK ABOUT a stereotype: Philadelphia's minority politicians are crooked.

Discuss among yourselves.

Profiling? Political stop-and-frisk? Or just overstating what looks like a pattern?

And, yeah, I know the broader stereotype is that all politicians are crooked.

But I bring this up because pols of color currently are in a perp parade.

There's former Reps. Ron Waters, Harold James and J.P. Miranda, former Sen. LeAnna Washington, Rep. Michelle Brownlee, Rep. Louise Bishop, former Traffic Court President Judge Thomasine Tynes and head of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. Vanessa Brown.

That's eight. In a relatively short period.

Each is proven or suspected as something less than "a drum major for justice."

Each is charged or pleading to some form of public corruption.

The numbers are such that one defendant, Rep. Bishop, is arguing in court that prosecutors target blacks.

I'd note that in 2013, eight white legislative leaders (Bill DeWeese, Brett Feese, Vince Fumo, Bob Mellow, Jane Orie, John Perzel, Steve Stetler, Mike Veon) were in prison at the same time.

Those were the days.

Was race mentioned then? No. Because such mention's reserved for things with disproportionate impact on minorities, such as police shootings or strings of corruption cases.

And these days, for politicians, it seems black is the new orange.

It's not the first time.

In a 2012 New York sting case, an African-American lawmaker cooperating with authorities secretly recorded seven fellow legislators. All were black or Hispanic.

In 2009, the U.S. House Ethics Committee had seven investigations underway. All were of African-American lawmakers.

So, you see how suggestions of targeting arise, how stereotyping happens.

It's just that current suggestions and stereotyping are wrong.

That includes Bishop's argument, pinned to the fact that a state sting caught only African-Americans taking money from an undercover informant.

Philly District Attorney Seth Williams took the case after Attorney General Kathleen Kane declined to prosecute, claiming it was racially tainted.

But Williams, who's black, calls the claim "disgusting" and notes that half the targets approached with money were white.

"It just so happens, those who accepted are the people we see now," he says.

Also, the agent who ran the sting, Claude Thomas, who's black, is suing Kane for defamation.

She said that he said he was ordered to target blacks. He says that never happened.

Also, at least three representatives of color turned down money: former Rep. Tony Payton, Rep. Angel Cruz and Rep. W. Curtis Thomas.

So, there's that.

There's also all the Philly pols of color not facing corruption charges, including 14 members of the Legislature.

And if you want a profound contrast to current images, look at freshman Philly Sen. Art Haywood: didn't come up through Democratic ranks, didn't have party support in his election, isn't pleading to crimes.

"I think I am an example; that's not all black elected officials do," he says with a smile.

He's busy aggressively advocating change on gun violence, school funding, the minimum wage, taxing natural-gas extraction and more.

Last week, he offered a Senate resolution on gun-violence awareness (there were 1,200-plus shootings in Philly last year).

On the same day, he challenged the natural-gas industry with data from Carnegie-Mellon showing high rates of return and low rates of taxes paid. He called frackers "freeloaders" who should be taxed more to help pay for schools.

Many Philly lawmakers speak out on major issues: Sens. Vince Hughes and Tony Williams, Reps. Thomas, Dwight Evans, Cherelle Parker and Jim Roebuck chief among them.

I understand the inclination to see such activity as merely noise against long odds.

I also understand the truth of Martin Luther King's assertion (which happens to be on a poster outside Haywood's Harrisburg office): "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

And all should understand broader truths: Corruption comes in all colors but not all pols are corrupt - even in Philadelphia.

Blog: ph.ly/BaerGrowls

Columns: ph.ly/JohnBaer