Politicians found guilty should pay their legal fees
For once, Pennsylvania taxpayers won't be left holding the bag for legal fees after an elected official has been convicted of a crime. A judge this week ordered former State Sen. Jane C. Orie to reimburse the state treasury for $110,000 paid to two law firms and an expert witness used in her corruption trial for allegedly using state employees to do campaign work.
For once, Pennsylvania taxpayers won't be left holding the bag for legal fees after an elected official has been convicted of a crime.
A judge this week ordered former State Sen. Jane C. Orie to reimburse the state treasury for $110,000 paid to two law firms and an expert witness used in her corruption trial for allegedly using state employees to do campaign work. The Pittsburgh-area Republican was found guilty on five felony and nine misdemeanor counts and sentenced last month to up to 10 years in state prison.
Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey A. Manning put teeth in his 14-page financial opinion Tuesday by establishing a method and timetable for the state treasury to get the money owed by Orie.
The laudable action by Manning was unprecedented, but it shouldn't have been. A state law on the books since 1996 requires the paying back of taxpayer funds spent to defend any elected official who is subsequently found guilty. But it had never been enforced.
Considering that in the last four years alone, as many as 25 elected politicians and aides have been convicted in Pennsylvania, and many had some of their legal expenses paid by taxpayers, it is hard to fathom why the payback law was not previously invoked.
In the case of jailed former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.), taxpayers were on the hook for $1.2 million for his initial defense lawyer. His campaign fund picked up an additional $1.2 million in legal fees.
Other prosecutors should follow the lead of Stephen A. Zappala Jr., the Allegheny County district attorney who dusted off the statute to aggressively seek the money Orie owed to taxpayers.
Orie has accused Zappala, a Democrat, of prosecuting her for political reasons. Two of her sisters, including state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, await trial on similar campaign-related criminal charges.
In addition to immediately forfeiting $89,000 in pension contributions, Orie, 50, must pay the remaining $91,000 balance in monthly $500 payments once paroled. At that rate, it would take 15 years to pay off the debt.
She must also pay $71,000 in restitution and the not-yet-determined cost of her own prosecution.
The public generally puts tremendous trust in its elected officials, and when that trust is betrayed, it undermines faith in government. The guilty must be held accountable by every available avenue of the law.
