Kerrigan's return to payroll shows no sense of shame
Is Mahoning County so devoid of talent -- or so devoid of ethics -- that Pat Kerrigan, Youngstown's disgraced and crooked judge, is back on the public payroll?
Board members of Lien Forward Ohio, a regional government council that was formed last October to help redevelop abandoned property, could find no one else in all of Mahoning County to serve as interim director of the program at $28 per hour.
No title searcher, no clerk, no retired businessman, no former loan officer looking for part time work was to be found in all of the county who was willing to work 25 to 30 hours a week for the pittance of $700 to $840. Is that what we are to believe?
Or is it simply that it does not matter to the elected county and city officials who serve on the Lien Forward board that Kerrigan is a man who betrayed the public trust in outrageous ways?
Defiant and unrepentant
As a sitting Youngstown Municipal Court judge, Kerrigan was indicted on eight counts related to kickbacks and bribes. He refused to relinquish the bench until forced to do so.
Even after he pleaded guilty to three charges of extortion, he continued to collect his salary, maintaining that he was entitled to be paid until his sentencing.
It is Kerrigan's blatant disregard for the law, his contempt for the taxpayers and his tone-deaf sense of propriety that sets him apart from run-of-the-mill corrupt politicians. His greed on the bench and off marks him as a man who should never be trusted with another public dollar.
It is true that Kerrigan did his time (plea-bargained down and reduced as it was to a piddling 13 months). And it is equally true that he is pursuing a doctorate at Kent State University. He boasts that he could make three times as much working for area lawyers than he will at Lien Forward. Good for him.
To the extent that he is rehabilitated, he is welcome to market himself to any private employer who will have him.
He has no business on a public payroll. It is arrogant of him to think that he should. Those who have aided and abetted his reach back into the public purse should be concerned about the standard they have set.
The best that can be said about Kerrigan's hiring is that it is temporary. The shorter, the better.