DN Editorial: BENCH STENCH

The recommendations for change found in a scathing report of Philadelphia's Traffic Court omit one reform that would make the most sense: change the name of Traffic Court to Traffic Carnival, and start calling the "judges" who preside "carnies."

That may sound harsh, but consider the performance of this court, documented by a 35-page report by Chadwick Associates done at the behest of Supreme Court Justice Ron Castille, where the rampant practice of fixing tickets created, in the words of the report, a "two-track system of justice, one of the politically connected and another for the unwitting general public . . ."

Or, as we like to call them, "shills" and "marks."

It's hard to know where to begin with this sideshow. The report suggests that in 2011, during an FBI raid of one traffic judge, all seven judges who were sitting at the time of the raid were subjects or targets of federal scrutiny, although none of them had, when the report was issued, advised the courts that they were.

Chadwick was hired in September 2011 to review the integrity of the court's operations; in the months that followed, the administrative judge was removed, with Common Pleas Judge Gary Glazer appointed to reform the court. Another judge resigned, another was suspended, and two lost certification by the Supreme Court. Only three judges out of seven remain.

According to interviews of court employees, every single judge participated in fixing tickets for the connected. Chadwick attempted to interview all seven, with only limited success. One, Christine Solomon, who had flunked her first attempt at a test that would allow her to adjudicate cases, has a son who got 29 acquittals on 38 traffic citations. Not one of three interview attempts with her was productive.

The report also cited politicians who frequently asked the court for special consideration - including Bob Brady, who in an Inquirer report, denied he sought special favors - as well as Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and state Sen. Mike Stack. The wife of Supreme Court Judge Seamus McCaffery was acquitted of a violation, though McCaffery said he didn't intervene.

But that's the problem when a court is corrupt: you can't tell the truly innocent from the politically connected "innocent."

The Chadwick report documented some of the changes already instituted by Judge Glazer, a former prosecutor, who has instituted ethics training and has the thankless task of changing the culture. Structural changes, such as dissolving the court or elminating the position of Traffic Court judge, are more complicated, requiring constitutional amendments and referendums.

So slow culture change is most likely to be the most effective path to true reform. That leaves the larger question: who will be in charge of changing the larger culture -of a city and a political universe that says it's OK to pervert justice for your friends and family? That claims granting political favors is just the way we do things in Philadelphia? Those favors, by the way, siphon money from the city and so costs us all.

Who's going to run this carnival out of town?