When is perjury not a bad thing?

It was a screaming headline if ever there was one: "FBI conducts perjury probe." The headline introduced this lead paragraph of the front page story in Tuesday's Vindicator: "The FBI believes some defense witnesses committed perjury at the racketeering trial of former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr."
But the federal agency's total disdain for these alleged perjurers and for perjurers in general was reflected in the statement by FBI Special Agent John Kane, who is in charge of the bureau's Boardman office: "If we allowed [perjury] to happen it would bring the whole judicial system down." Kane went on to say that no one should lie in court, to the grand jury or to the FBI. And the penalty for such lying? Five years in prison.
Yes, it's serious business. The criminal justice system in the United States of America is founded on one word: truth. You swear to tell the truth when you're called to the stand. You're reminded by the judge that you are under oath to tell the truth. Jurors are instructed to separate the truth from fiction when weighing the evidence.
FBI Agent-In-Charge Kane is absolutely right, lying in a judicial proceeding is tantamount to anarchy.
The federal government has an obligation to delve into the testimony of witnesses in Traficant's trial and to throw the book at them if they are found to have lied under oath.
But there's just one teensy-weensy problem with the FBI's pledge to crackdown on these liars: The Big Kahuna (figuratively speaking) of perjurers, the man whose testimony was credited with putting Traficant away for eight years in a federal penitentiary, the political kingmaker of the Mahoning Valley will not be punished for his lie under oath.
Shopping center developer J.J. Cafaro has admitted that he lied in July 1999 in the racketeering trial of former Mahoning County Sheriff Phil Chance. Cafaro's admission of perjury was made during his testimony in Traficant's trial. In other words, one of the government's key witnesses in the trial of the nine-term Democratic congressman was an admitted perjurer.
Cafaro admitted that he lied when he testified under oath that he did not give any cash directly or indirectly to Chance during his race for county sheriff. But in the Traficant trial, he admitted that he did, in fact, funnel cash -- the amount wasn't disclosed -- to Chance's campaign through John Richley, who had worked for the Cafaro Co. and joined the sheriff's department after Chance took office.
Cafaro said he was offered immunity from prosecution for the perjury after he agreed to cooperate with the federal government in its investigation of Traficant.
But even then, the mall developer was not being entirely truthful. He failed to inform federal prosecutors about $13,000 in cash that he had given Traficant. Cafaro's lawyer insists that the transaction wasn't a bribe, but was an "unlawful gratuity." Never mind that the congressman was working on Cafaro's behalf to secure a federal contract for a radar navigation system that one of J.J. Cafaro's companies was developing.
That failure to be entirely truthful with the federal government resulted in Cafaro eventually pleading guilty to providing Traficant with an "unlawful gratuity."
Yes, this star witness for the prosecution admitted to being a two-time liar, yet on Nov. 15, U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. sentenced the man whose money -- he is an executive with the Cafaro Co. -- has given him access to presidents, congressmen, princes and potentates, to 15 months' probation. It is noteworthy that the Cafaro Co. was built by the patriarch of the Cafaro family, the late William Cafaro, who gave enormous sums of money to the local, state and national Democratic parties and contributed to numerous political campaigns, but never was accused of anything untoward.
Not so the son, J.J., who, despite the tap on the wrist from Judge Oliver on the strength of a glowing recommendation from Craig S. Morford, assistant U.S. attorney, the lead prosecutor in the Traficant trial, is today a convicted felon and an admitted perjurer.
By forgiving Cafaro his trespasses, prosecutors may have created a standard for perjury that could go a long way toward undermining the criminal justice system that FBI Agent Kane seems so determined to keep pure: Lying under oath is acceptable so long as it works to the advantage of the prosecution.
All is not lost, however. J.J. Cafaro is now a political leper. No politician would be able to take a campaign contribution directly from him without the voters wondering, "Is it an unlawful gratuity?"