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BALTIMORE. James Scott, a member of the Maryland house of delegates, was arrested on the charge of conspiring to distribute some 40 pounds of heroin. Last week State Senator Clarence Mitchell III was indicted for failing to file income-tax returns for four years.
NEW YORK CITY. Queens District Attorney Thomas J. Mackell was indicted last week on charges of hindering the prosecution of a get-rich-quick swindle in which members of his own staff, including his son-in-law, had invested. Mackell's office is also under investigation in connection with two gangland killings in which no action was taken. Meanwhile, Ted Gross, who recently resigned as the city's commissioner of youth services, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from companies seeking city contracts.
ALBANY, N.Y. The New York State commission of investigation issued a report two weeks ago documenting "systematic and organized burglaries, larcenies and thefts" of public funds by six city policemen. The commission sought to have the cops removed for trial to New York City, where they will not be protected by the Albany Democratic machine, which sponsors most of the judges elected in the area.
CHICAGO. Republican U.S. Attorney James ("Big Jim") Thompson is making a shambles of the once mighty Daley Democratic fiefdom (TIME, April 2). Former Governor Otto Kerner was convicted last month of taking a bribe from a race-track owner. Cook County Clerk Edward Barrett was convicted of receiving kickbacks on the purchase of voting machines. The Chicago Sun-Times has been running an exposé of city officials who are accused of selling tax-delinquent lands to political chums at bargain prices. Among the alleged profiteers: Thomas Keane, chairman of the city council's finance committee and a Daley intimate (see THE PRESS).
Despite what seems to be an epidemic of political corruption, most policemen and criminologists believe that it is not on the increase. "We are not dealing with anything new," says Miami Criminologist Charlotte Tatro. "The goal in our society is money, and if people can't get it by legitimate means, they are going to turn to illegitimate means." What is new is society's increased sensitivity to corruption. "We have changed our expectations," says Ernest van den Haag, professor of social philosophy at New York University. "We no longer accept corruption as part of the political process."
Pinched by inflation and taxes, citizens are scarcely in a mood to tolerate the enrichment of politicians at public expense, and prosecutors are receiving public backing to hunt down venality aggressively. There is plenty of political mileage to be gained, especially if it is discovered in the opposition party. It is no coincidence that Republican district attorneys−notably New Jersey's Stern and Illinois' Thompson−have dug up scandals in Democratic machines. Says Ralph Berkowitz, special assistant to the state's attorney in Cook County: "We are exposing things that for years were only suspected. The old sense of immunity is gone." As it disappears, the public appetite for prosecutions will probably be whetted. In that case, considerably more instances of the corruption that was condoned in the past will come to view in the courts.