Friday, January 09, 2009

Today I have a sense of déjà vu. I wish I could say this is the last corruption case, but I fear it is not."

That was Alex Acosta during his press conference re Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty and her husband, Kevin, accusing them of a "wide-ranging and long-running" conspiracy to enrich themselves through the misuse of her political position. Here is Vanessa Blum's article on the case:

Mary McCarty, 54, an influential Republican powerbroker and longtime commissioner, is charged with conspiring to deprive the citizens of Palm Beach County of their "intangible right to her honest services," federal prosecutors said. She faces up to five years in prison.Prosecutors charged Kevin McCarty, 59, with taking part in and failing to report his wife's crime. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison.The new details emerged one day after McCarty resigned and said she would plead guilty to honest services fraud, making her the third county commissioner in recent years to leave office under the cloud of federal corruption charges.

McCarty could plead guilty as soon as next week. She is being prosecuted under the same statute that landed former commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell five year prison terms.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Acosta has not stopped corruption in the SDFL during his tenure (as he freely concedes in the above quote) then I do not think he should be retained by Obama. He has had a number of years to do so and failed. Why should the new President retain a law enforcement officer who has failed in stopping corruption?

Anonymous said...

Because you can't completely eliminate corruption.

Anonymous said...

Stay tuned folks... this isn't the end.

Anonymous said...

End of corruption up here in PB County? Not in my lifetime. So petty too!