PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW EDITORIAL: Only in Pennsylvania, the State of Corruption, could a high-ranking former state official be given probation for engaging in that time-honored public service crime of accepting a bribe. Yet that’s the sentence recommended by prosecutors and agreed to by a Dauphin County judge after Mitchell Rubin, the former chairman of the state Turnpike Commission, pleaded guilty Thursday.
Mr. Rubin, 62, of Philadelphia, originally was charged with 10 counts in a pay-to-play scheme in which contracts were awarded in exchange for political contributions and gifts. Nine counts were dropped when he agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor count of “commercial bribery.”
Despite the offense carrying a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, Judge Richard Lewis sentenced Rubin to two years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and a $2,500 fine. There was no agreement to testify against others; Rubin offered a non-apology apology “for anything I did wrong.” … (more)
