Four guys smiling, having a few drinks together.
The only problem was, two of the guys were judges, one an attorney and one a convicted drug dealer.
It was a Molotov cocktail in the making.
One of the judges in the now infamous photo was none other than gangster judge Mike Conahan who is awaiting trial in the “kids for cash” scandal that resounded throughout Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Conahan is off the bench and soon will be spending time in federal prison, the other is Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., who was running for retention in yesterday’s general election.
The picture surfaced in late September and made it into the Citizens Voice newspaper. It was then that I knew Peter Paul was done. There wasn’t a thing he could do to save himself. As I wrote in my blog post, Peter Paul said the photo was circulated “to embarass him”. No Peter Paul, it was done to alert the voters in the county that your circle of friends is questionable.
In the end, 55.5% of voters said “No” to retaining Peter Paul and come January, he’ll vacate the chambers he dolled out justice in since 1999. An educated, well mannered, intelligent, young man just had his career killed because of a photo. And more importantly, because of the company he keeps.