Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.
The tears and emotions came too late for Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, two former Clark County commissioners who were sentenced to years in federal prison Monday for their role in a strip-club bribery scandal.
The time for such soul-searching was before they betrayed the public and sold their votes to strip-club owner Michael Galardi. The Associated Press described Herrera as appearing "choked with emotion" while he apologized to the court, and it reported that Kincaid-Chauncey "daubed her eyes" while telling U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks that she regretted the pain she caused her family and friends.
Kincaid-Chauncey was sentenced to 2 1/2 years, and Herrera got four years and two months. Additionally, they were fined and sentenced to probation after their release. Both were convicted in May of multiple charges associated with the FBI's G-Sting investigation, which also resulted in charges against Galardi and former Commissioners Erin Kenny and Lance Malone.
Public corruption occurs too frequently to expect for a moment that all elected officials will be restrained by their consciences from betraying the people who placed their trust in them. But whenever high-profile cases such as this result in the public humbling of former officeholders, the ruination of their reputations and the indignity and unpleasantness associated with prison time, we can hope that such penalties will scare others straight.
There will be future scandals, of course, but maybe now at least a few of the weaker public officials will be deterred from temptation, just by thinking of what's become of the once highly respected Kincaid-Chauncey and the once high-flying Herrera.
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