Crime and punishment

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 4 years in prison Thursday. Already in prison in Florida, the sentence was longer than he had expected but not as long as it could have been.

“I come before you as a broken man,” Abramoff said at his sentencing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. “I’m not the same man who happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption.”

Isn’t it interesting that folks are only sorry once they have been caught?

And Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pled guilty Thursday.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Kilpatrick, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and will serve four months in jail. He also agreed to pay the city $1 million in restitution. He cannot hold public office during his five-year probation period, his law license will be revoked and he will give up his state pension

Oh yeah – and he resigned, too. An awful lot lost there just to cover up an affair. (Looking at his MySpace page, I guess the alcoholic drinks and city describe him pretty well.)

Just a little proof that crime doesn’t pay, and that it has no party affiliation.

5 Comments

  1. Posted Friday, September 5, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    Kilpatrick should not have been voted back in…there were way too many questions of ethics even back then. He should be ashamed it took him this long to resign.

  2. Anon E. Mouse
    Posted Friday, September 5, 2008 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    Floriday?

    Now, how ’bout busting Alberto Gonzales?

  3. Posted Friday, September 5, 2008 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    I suspect both of them got off too easily. Kilpatrick for sure (tho’ I doubt he has the resources to pay that fine). And we’ll see about Abramoff, when the rest of the indictments start flowing. No idea why they’re sentencing him before cooperation is complete. Unless . . .

  4. Marijuana Liability
    Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 12:50 am | Permalink

    Florida truly has its priorities set upsidedown. Had Abramoff been sentenced on a marijuana charge, he would have received many more than just four years.

  5. Posted Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 1:36 am | Permalink

    That MySpace profile is probably false.