In court, judges sometimes engage in what's known as a "colloquy" - an on-the-record conversation between the judge and the person who's in trouble.
It's time for the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania to engage in a colloquy with Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford A. Means, the latest Philadelphia slumlord to don a black robe.
An illuminating report in the Inquirer's Sunday editions by reporter Nancy Phillips detailed a multitude of problems at rental properties owned by Means.
Among the questions from a higher authority that deserve answers from Means:
Why were you renting rooms in two dilapidated buildings on Greenway Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia without the required city licenses?
Why haven't you listed any rental income for the past 10 years on the financial-disclosure forms required for all judges? Do you understand the phrase "knowing and willful failure"?
Why did an unlicensed rooming house that you owned lack smoke detectors, fire alarms and running water when it caught fire in 2005?
Why haven't you responded to complaints from neighbors about drug activity, prostitution and multiple dwellers allegedly using your single-family properties?
Has the irony ever hit you, judge, when you show up at your crumbling rooming houses to collect rent in a two-seater Mercedes?
How have you managed to avoid being cited for violations by the city? Are you just lucky, or do you know somebody at the Department of Licenses and Inspections?
Is it hard for you to keep a straight face when claiming that you are ethically fit to be a judge?
Also, do you consider Judge Willis W. Berry Jr. a role model?
Berry, another Common Pleas judge with a despicable record as a landlord, ran a galling campaign for the state Supreme Court earlier this year. A city with one slumlord who's been sworn to uphold the law is an embarrassment. But two of them start to look like a pattern.
Why didn't L&I, and other responsible agencies, take effective action against these men until a reporter started poking around?
Fortunately, citizens can file a complaint with the state Judicial Conduct Board at www.judicialconductboardofpa.org/RequestForInvestigation.doc.
The board should haul in Means to answer for his behavior. And then the board members should decide whether Means should be sitting on the bench in judgment of others.