What a fabulous feast for those of us who love to feed on tales of urban corruption, alleged though it may be.
Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson takes $15,000 from a developer in exchange for favors: either a party, as he tells it, or for development deals, as the feds maintain.
Johnson’s wife, Leslie, phones to say FBI agents are at their door. He tells her to flush a $100,000 check down the toilet. And while she’s at it, hide another $80K. No worries, she says: “I have it in my bra.”
You can’t make this stuff up. The FBI taped the chat and quoted the cash-in-bra exchange in court documents they used to back up Johnson’s arrest Friday. The Johnson’s have claimed they are clean, and everyone is innocent until proven guilty in these United States, but how delicious.
The good people of our neighboring county to the east are shocked and chagrined. Their charismatic top politician might have been on the take. This is embarrassing, to say the least. But for us in the nation’s capital, it’s a spectacle that can put a few things into perspective.
To wit: When it comes to hard-core corruption, we are neophytes.
Everyone likes to tag politicians with “corrupt.” So if you ask people outside the District about Marion Barry, they might say: “Yeah, he was corrupt.”
Really? During his 16 years as mayor and many more in city council, Marion Barry was never caught taking a dime from anyone. No bags of cash from developers, no fancy shoes from contractors, no jewelry from lobbyists. A bottle of cognac from friends who happen to be doing business with the city? Perhaps. Crack from girlfriends? Absolutely.
Federal prosecutors, beginning with Joe diGenova, despised Barry. They knew he was flawed and vulnerable. They dogged him, bugged him, trailed him. They got zip in basic public corruption.
Ask D.C. residents whether Mayor Adrian Fenty is corrupt, and many will glibly say: of course. They will point to the $80 million in recreation center development contracts that went to his friends, and they will assume he steered them and got something in return.
If that’s true, why did a city council investigation come up empty? Why has Robert Trout, the lawyer chosen by the council to dig deeper, not been able to report any incriminating transactions? Why are the feds who nailed Jack Johnson not on Fenty’s tail?
Yes, we have our corruption. Barbara Bullock fleeced the teachers’ union for $5 million. Harriette Walters stole $50 million from the tax and revenue office. Our political leaders, though flawed, appear to be free of graft.
But we are deep into the game of pay-to-play. Both incoming Mayor Vincent Gray and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown have invited fat cats to pay up to $25,000 each to finance their transition committees.
That’s not corrupt until they ask for something in return — and get it. A slippery slope, indeed.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
