We have hundreds of pages of transcripts of recordings made
while the FBI was investigating former Senator Big Mouth, Tommy Bromwell, for corrupt activities. Among all the profanity-laced, Soprano-like comments - "He got major juice, I mean major juice" - and claims - "I control the [expletive] Liquor Board" - and boasts - "I'm a rainmaker" -
Tommy Big Mouth also expressed awe and respect for some of the many Maryland
politicians who have broken the law over the years.
One might even speculate that he thinks getting nailed by the feds is a
good career move.
On the first page of the transcript of the recording from June 14, 2001,
Tommy's talkin' about certain guys from the Marvin Mandel days in Maryland and
how they, like Mandel, went to prison on corruption charges. Tommy says: "All
these guys that went to jail, right, for 18 months. They're all [expletive]
millionaires, OK?"
That doesn't sound like irony to me.
That sounds like awe.
That sounds like admiration.
Which gets me to thinkin' that maybe Tommy Big Mouth doesn't see prison as
such a bad thing, especially if your sentence is relatively short, as they are
for most white-collar crimes.
Sounds crazy, I know, but can we say such a thing is not true?
Spiro T. Agnew was found to be nothin' but a [expletive] sticky-fingered
bribe-taker, first as Baltimore County executive, then as Maryland governor,
then as vice president of the United States. He didn't even go to prison. And
after he didn't even go to prison, he was for a long time sittin' pretty and
tanned like [expletive] George Hamilton in California, makin' gobs of
consultant's money and hangin' with [expletive] Frank Sinatra.
Then there was Mandel, Agnew's successor as governor. After a corruption
trial, prison and disgrace in the 1970s, he received a presidential pardon,
his [expletive] conviction was overturned and he landed on his feet as a lobbyist in
Annapolis and as a member of the [expletive] University System of Maryland's
Board of Regents. He violated regents' policy by working as a paid lobbyist
during three legislative sessions, but he's still around, relaxed and happy, lovin' life and livin' large.
The same goes for a whole litany of political crooks.
Most of them did their time, then bounced back. Shame does not seem to be
something with which they are afflicted. In the Bromwell transcripts, Maurice
"Mo" Wyatt is mentioned. Mo was one of Mandel's henchmen back in the day, and
he was convicted of bribery in 1980. Wyatt hardly lost a step. These
days, Bromwell noted in the FBI recording, Wyatt could be worth $20 million,
and he's still a "player" in Maryland politics and deal-making.
Why should bribing a judge hurt anyone's career, after all? Ex-offenders
deserve a second chance, don't they? I've been sayin' that for more than two
years in this space.
America, it's a great country, and in this state, the Democrats take care
of each other pretty nicely. When he became governor, for instance, William
Donald Schaefer pardoned Wyatt. Who said Schaefer wasn't a sweetie?
So you can see why Tommy Big Mouth would be so impressed, and maybe not so
worried about suffering a similar fate today in federal court.
We've had successful and rich Annapolis lobbyists fall in and out of grace.
Ira Cooke bounced back from trouble with the law, at least until the next
time. Same with Bruce Bereano, who was convicted of mail fraud several years
ago, served a 10-month sentence and paid a $30,000 fine. Bereano was last seen
shilling for Big Tobacco in Annapolis. I'm sure he'll never be seen on
Rowe Boulevard with a cardboard sign that says, "Will Lobby For Food."
Gerry Evans, the corporate lobbyist, was found guilty of nine counts of
fraud and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. He's back.
"It's going great, having my best year ever," he told The Sun's Laura
Vozzella a few months ago.
And Ed Norris, the former Baltimore police commissioner who went down on a federal rap, has his own [expletive] radio show now, which is more than I can say for me, and he sometimes uses the airwaves to tell people what a [expletive] sham the case against him was.
Tommy Big Mouth might be in big trouble now, but he'll be OK, and he
[expletive] knows it.
