The Guilt Project: Can I Get a Witness?

 Innocence Projects are a very important development in the human rights arena. Many people are sitting in prison who have been wrongly convicted. Their incarceration destroys lives and serves no purpose, except to the profiteers of the prison industry. But there are also those who commit crimes with impunity, whose crimes create hardship and destroy lives of innocent people. Taking money meant for health care for the poor and enriching oneself is a crime against humanity. Taking money meant to create jobs in a desperate economy and diverting or wasting it to enrich some while cheating the poor is a special kind of crime and should be treated as such.
The news this week from Detroit - or for the past month- is strange and entertaining. It is also infuriating. If crime and punishment were treated in relative terms, no one in Detroit would have to go to prison. Our former mayor is awaiting trial on a series of charges arising from his time spent in office. The youngest mayor in our history, Kwame Kilpatrick committed a series of crimes in office which involve misuse of the city's precious resources. It does seem as if he is the whore who acted without any Johns. Some of his cronies are facing prison and others are already in prison.
Now fast forward:
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano is now associated with countless no bid contracts, amounting to millions of dollars of tax payer money.   Shell corporations, non profits set up to divert money meant for health care for poor people, development projects... we will never know where it went, who took it and where it came from and where it was supposed to go.
We do know this: We trusted elected officials with stewardship of our precious tax dollars. In return, they gave their cronies contracts, gave them special tax credits for properties on which they pay no taxes while the rest of us pick up the tab in the form of our uneven and inequitable  property taxes While rank and file county workers took a 20% pay cut, home foreclosure is up exponentially,. the land bank Ficano oversees scoops up property for pennies on the dollar. People are going without health care and losing their homes as a direct consequence of this unbridled greed. .Ficano can fire people he says let him down; no one is talking about him going to prison.He will likely be able to run for re election.
What is the difference between the millions looted out of county government and the city corruption and the incredible difference in how such crimes are treated?
You do the math.
Don't forget your crayons.