TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Good Senator Must Renounce Going Postal

ADVERTISEMENT

By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2008

Regarding Mike Fasano's dunderheaded missive to the judge that ended, mid-trial, the prosecution of Cynthia and Joe Clancy, one word leaps immediately to mind, and that word is: Omigod.

Time for a refresher course on the Federalist Papers for the good state senator from New Port Richey, with maybe a semester of freshman civics thrown in for good measure.

Hello? Seventeen-eighty-nine called. It wants its separation of powers back.

Listen, I get it. There is no bigger heart in the Legislature. Indeed, the senator's sense of empathy may be unsurpassed in the state's history, although records from the late 1800s are incomplete. So what he did - post a letter to the circuit court judge that urged something along the lines of a public couples disemboweling if "even half of what they are alleged to have done" proved true - is absolutely in keeping with his instinct for shepherding his constituents.

Not that symbolically vivisecting the Clancys would restore a day of Eloise Mudway's life, or a dime of her (allegedly) misspent savings. (Expect remedies for both in legislation authored by Fasano: "The Eloise Mudway Fountain of Youth and Make-Whole Act of 2009.") But the routine failure of Florida's executive branch to turn criminal acts against its seniors into prison-sentence cases against the perps has Fasano gnawing nails.

"Seldom do we see deadbeat individuals who take advantage of our seniors go to jail," Fasano says. "They get a slap on the back of the wrist: Pay restitution and go on their way."

Crazy On The Nature Coast
Alas, it also made him a little crazy and, in his craziness, seriously sloppy. To his credit, he concedes his goof. If he'd known it was a bench trial, he says, "I never would have sent the letter."

Still, he is much too much the politician not to hustle up some damage control. Judges routinely receive letters urging them to do one thing or another regarding ongoing trials, and their aides routinely filter them out. Somehow, Judge Jack Day's filter failed; perhaps it was the impressive state Senate stationery. "I just don't know how that could happen," Fasano says. "I wish it hadn't."

He also emphasizes how he couched his plea. "The letter makes it very clear. 'If.' 'If they are found guilty, throw the book at them.' Nowhere do I say that they are guilty. I just wanted to put in my two cents, as anyone can."

The Water Gets Murky

Ah, but that's where the water gets murky. Elective office has its privileges, for sure, among them an all-access pass to any public venue in the state. Want to listen in on Urban Meyer's pre-game pep talk? Right this way, senator.

But when humility and self-restraint fail to accompany privilege and power, the public's hubris detector should begin to beep. Fasano is an expert orator with ready access to a receptive audience. If he thinks judges should whack folks who bilk seniors, tell all of us. To do so in private suggests an "if-you-don't" component, and sniffs of legislative coercion.

This Space respects Fasano for owning the fault. Still, Fasano should renounce the practice altogether.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT