By Ralph Seeram
One of the fascinating things about the U S justice system, is that it gives meaning to the term ?no one is above the law?, especially when it comes to ?white collar? crimes. There seems to be no tolerance for politicians, public servants or corporate executives who betray public trust or fail to carry out their fiduciary responsibilities.
It doesn?t matter if you are a member of Congress, Senator or Congressman, State Governor, Mayor or State Representative; you are going to prison if convicted of any improprieties.
I was reminded of this a few days ago as I was reading about the release from federal prison of a former Governor of the state of Illinois. Ex Governor George Ryan was released from prison after serving about six years of a six-and-a-half-year sentence.
Ryan was a Republican Governor for one of the larger States in the U S. He was a popular Governor, and is remembered for deeming Illinois capital punishment laws flawed and emptied death row. That started a heated nationwide debate over the death penalty. Ironically, in 2011 Illinois abolished the death penalty.
Now what was Ryan?s crime? He was convicted in 2006 of racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements to the FBI. The jurors found that Ryan had STEERED STATE BUSINESS TO INSIDERS as Secretary of State and then as governor, for vacations and gifts.
He was also accused of stopping an investigation into Secretary of State employees accepting bribes for truck drivers? licences. Note the operative word STEERED STATE BUSINESS. Does this sound familiar to the Guyanese public? Think of New GPC, Marriott Hotel, NICIL and the dozens of contracts awarded to friends of the government.
No doubt there are some in Guyana who would like to see that type of justice meted out there. Many would like to see those who misuse taxpayers? funds for their own benefit, in prison garbs.
Time will tell. Ironically Ryan?s successor Governor Rod Blagojevich is now serving 14 yrs in Federal prison. He tried to extort money from prospective successors for President Obama?s then vacant seat.
Quite a few Guyanese, including some attorneys, felt the brunt of the US courts in New York. They learnt the hard way that the justice system is far different from Guyana. Drug lords in Latin America and the Caribbean fear facing the courts in the United States. Unlike their native countries you can?t bribe your way out. Not that the US justice does not have its fault, especially when it comes to the?? imprisonment of Afro Americans. Never the less the system works.
This week in Orlando Florida, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened an investigation into the Mayor and County Commissioners (councilors) of Orange County. Orlando is situated in Orange County. The investigation was initiated because of texting. Sometime last year 50,000 voters signed a petition to be placed on the November ballot. The petition if passed would have forced employers to give their employees paid sick leave.
This measure was strongly opposed by some of the state?s largest employers including Walt Disney. The Mayor and Commissioners had to discuss the measure before placing it on the ballot as required. During the deliberations there was a frenzied exchange of texts between the lobbyists for Walt Disney and other large corporations and the Mayor and Commissioners?
They were basically taking orders from the lobbyists. The local newspaper The Orlando Sentinel got wind of it and did an expose article. You see, Florida has what you call a Sunshine Law.
Every public business has to be discussed in the open, no secret talks, no backroom deals, public business has to be open and transparent, and those discussions becomes public records.
Therein lies the problem, when it became known that they were discussing the ballot measure by texts the officials decided to delete the texts that then created another offence tampering with evidence, destroying evidence.
What was outrageous was the fact that council members decided to delay the measure until after the deadline to place it on the ballot was passed.
What is ironic about this affair is that the Mayor Teresa Jacobs ran on a platform of open and clean government. That was before big corporations started to donate to her campaign. Some of the deleted texts have been recovered and most if not all of those officials are looking at jail time if convicted.
I mention these incidents to show the difference between good governance here in the US and Guyana.
To his credit President Donald Ramotar has been opening up the government. However he has a long way to go to regain public confidence. Can we see a Cabinet minister charged with corruption under this regime? That may convince taxpayers that the PPP government is serious about corruption.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com
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