We have considerable sympathy for former City Comptroller Jacqueline F. McLean. Because of self-inflicted misdeeds, she is a broken woman. Her marriage is over, but her financial troubles are not. Yet had one of her former assistants in the comptroller's office been sentenced yesterday for crimes similar to Ms. McLean's, that assistant -- even if he or she had shared Ms. McLean's personal troubles -- almost surely would not have been treated with such leniency.
In the past, betraying the public trust has led to harsh penalties. City Council President Wally Orlinsky went to jail, so did Baltimore County Executive Dale Anderson and Anne Arundel's Joe Alton. In these and other cases, the courts sent a strong message: Elected leaders are not above the law.
The message retired Carroll County Judge Donald J. Gilmore sent yesterday was a confused one.
Initially, he said Ms. McLean's violation of her oath and her theft of public funds were so serious that he doubled the recommended sentence on one count. But in the end he suspended what would effectively have been a two-year jail sentence. Instead, he ordered Ms. McLean to perform 750 hours of community service, preferably at the Sheppard Pratt hospital where she has been treated for psychiatric problems.
"I am extremely ashamed of my actions, so much so I can't any longer drive through the city of Baltimore without crying," the 50-year-old Ms. McLean sobbed before the judge. "I don't believe I will ever, ever be able to forgive myself."
She recalled how noble intentions motivated her first to serve two terms in the City Council and then run for city comptroller because "it would give me an opportunity to help all the people of Baltimore, regardless of color or religion."
But Ms. McLean said she soon realized that the comptroller's office was not what she thought it would be. As her personal life fell apart, she said, "I became extremely frustrated and I became very angry" and self-destructive.
What Ms. McLean did was far more damning than ordinary bribe taking. She put a bogus employee on her office payroll and then pocketed the money. Using a fictional address, she tried to win a city lease so she and her husband could sell an office building they owned. In doing so, she deceived the mayor, the City Council president and the rest of the Board of Estimates. When )) caught, she denied she had done anything wrong.
Ms. McLean may be able to live with her sentence. But many Baltimoreans are likely to have trouble with it.