A Washington, DC teachers union official was sentenced to serious jail time (11 years) for massive embezzlement. And the case is by no means unique, even within that one union local. Eric M. Weiss of the Washington Post reports:

Former Washington Teachers' Union official Gwendolyn M. Hemphill was sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison for helping embezzle more than $4 million from union coffers and using some of the money to buy lavish personal items.

The sentence was two years longer than that received by Hemphill's boss, former union president Barbara A. Bullock, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to a leading role in the scheme and was the government's star witness during Hemphill's trial last year. [....]

Prosecutors, who had asked for a sentence of 19 years, said they will not comment on the outcome of the case until a third former union official, James O. Baxter II, has been sentenced.

Teacher unions are one of the foundations of the modern Democratic Party. Democrats might do well to ponder how strongly they wish to emphasize the slogan "culture of corruption."

Ed Lasky   5 23 06