Monday, March 11, 2013

Power

Last week's blog on thieving Fred Rosetti generated a bit of a buzz, so let's follow up on that.

It is my assertion, with evidence to back it up, that a lot of people knew Fred Rosetti was stealing from NEIU 19.  He got away with it for years, and nobody tried to stop him.

Gov. Bob Casey used to say "What did you do when you had the power?"  It was used in reference to elected officials and their ability to make things better for their constituents, especially people in need.

If you really think about it, we all have the power.

Unfortunately, we all have the fear.

Jerry Sandusky could have been stopped years before he was arrested.  People were afraid to speak up for fear of running afoul of Penn State's football culture.

Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan operated a multi million dollar criminal enterprise right under the nose of the district attorney.  The FBI had to come in and give county officials the 411.

Crime rarely operates in a vacuum.

Fred Rosetti, apparently, could have covered his tracks better.  The people who could have put an end to his stealing had the power, but they were afraid to use it.  Think about it.  Fred Rosetti admitted to stealing taxpayers money from an organization that provided educational services to special needs children.  He took from you.  He took from the kids.  This case cried out for someone to exercise their power.  All we saw in court last week was second guessing.

One of the saddest sentences ever has to be "I should have done something."