DN editorial: State Rep. Acosta drags bar down even lower
She kept her felony conviction a secret, but she refuses to resign.
THE BAR FOR ethical behavior in Harrisburg is now so low that it's underground.
Exhibit A: State Rep. Leslie Acosta, who pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge back in March, neglected to inform anyone, including Democratic Party officials (the charging document was sealed by the court), refuses to resign her office and - wait for it - is running for reelection in November. Unopposed.
Acosta's felonious activity - a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering - was sealed because, sources say, she is cooperating in a larger investigation of Renee Tartaglione, to whom Acosta once reported in her job at a Fairhill mental health clinic.
The 53-count indictment of Tartaglione includes charges she bought buildings occupied by Juniata Community Mental Health Clinic and then spiked their rents - one from $4,800 a month to $25,000 a month and another where she charged $75,000 a month rent, all while serving as the clinic's board president. She is accused of siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit. She served on that board while still working for her mother, then-City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione, a job from which she was forced to resign when she violated a city charter ban on political activity for city employees.
Acosta is accused of cashing checks from Tartaglione for work she didn't perform and kicking the money back to her boss.
Oh, it keeps getting better: Acosta, who announced her reelection bid two months after she was charged, was originally elected to fill the spot of State Rep. Jose Miranda, who himself racked up three felony charges and was sentenced to five years probation.
Although it's tempting to believe a felony conviction is a prerequisite for state elected office in Pennsylvania, the fact is that a felony bars someone from holding office, but conviction isn't considered complete until the sentencing phase, which, for Acosta, comes in January.
Meanwhile, she's not resigning. Her lawyer says that she wants to keep serving her constituents. Gov. Wolf called on her to resign. So did party boss Bob Brady, who didn't know about her felony status until the Inquirer reported it. We're sure he was shocked - shocked! - at yet another glitch in the fetid political machine over which he presides.
Acosta's behavior is despicable, a giant middle finger not only to those constituents she claimed to care about, but to all of us. And if that weren't enough, she got some of her cronies to vote on her behalf on resolutions in Harrisburg earlier this week, even though she herself didn't bother to show up.
We are also disturbed at the fact that she was allowed to hide her crimes for so long. U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky originally sealed the documents pertaining to Acosta's case, although Wednesday, he unsealed a few details. But the full details of her crimes and her plea agreement are still sealed. Doesn't the public trust demand that the legal and criminal justice system not aid and abet elected officials to keep their crimes secret? It seems reasonable to us to expect that sealing records on criminal behavior should be prohibited in cases that involve public officials.
Especially in Pennsylvania, where there are so many of them.