Philadelphia has never been known as the poster child for honest elections, but somehow nothing ever seems to be done about it. Well, there has been at least one move in the right direction.
On Thursday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the sentencing of former U.S. Representative Michael “Ozzie” Myers, a Pennsylvania Democrat.
The article reports:
Despite declarations of safe and secure elections, history shows that past Pennsylvania elections were host to corruption.
For example, former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers, a Pennsylvania Democrat, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records, conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election, and orchestrating schemes to fraudulently stuff ballot boxes for specific Democrat candidates in Pennsylvania elections held from 2014 to 2018.
Myers was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond to 30 months in prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay $100,000 in fines, with $10,000 of that due immediately, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.
Directly after Tuesday’s Philadelphia hearing, Myers, 79, was taken into custody.
Myers served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until 1980 when he was caught taking bribes in an FBI sting operation. That was part of an old, completed investigation.
The article notes:
In a 1980 FBI operation dubbed the ABSCAM Investigation, undercover FBI agents disguised themselves as businessmen and Arab sheiks and ultimately criminally charged seven members of Congress, alleging the politicians had accepted money from the phony sheiks, promising favors in return.
Myers was among those charged and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The FBI had videotapes showing the members accepting cash or stocks. In one, an agent handed Myers an envelope stuffed with hundred-dollar bills amounting to $50,000, saying, “Spend it well.” Myers responded, “Pleasure,” according to a report at the Library of Congress.
In response, the House ethics committee unanimously recommended expelling him.
The article concludes:
After leaving prison, he started a political consulting firm.
There is nothing I can add to that!