Sittenfeld walks free as Trump continues to redefine corruption on his terms

Yahoo

5 days ago

President Donald Trump's pardoning of former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld comes as no surprise. It's par for the course for Trump, a man who fundamentally doesn't believe in the concept of political corruption and is on a crusade to stick it to the justice system for his perceived unfair treatment by the courts and prosecutors.
Trump's controversial pardons in his second term have included January 6 rioters and many political allies and loyalists, such as Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was convicted for handing out deputy sheriff badges in exchange for more than $75,000 in bribes. The only shocking thing about Sittenfeld's pardon is that he is a Democrat who has publicly criticized Trump.
"This pardon is perfectly in keeping with Trump's worldview that anyone in office can solicit and take any benefit from anyone they want," said David Niven, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati. "The one surprising element is that Sittenfeld is not exactly pro-Trump. It's not like he's at home polishing his Trump statues."
More: White House: Trump pardons PG Sittenfeld, ex-Cincinnati councilman convicted of bribery
Sittenfeld's conviction on federal bribery and attempted extortion charges ended a promising political career, in which he was the frontrunner for mayor in 2020. The case against him centered on donations to his political action committee, which federal prosecutors said he solicited from an informant for the FBI and FBI agents posing as developers of a downtown Cincinnati project. Prosecutors said Sittenfeld's actions went beyond campaign fundraising and crossed the line into bribery.
In his defense, Sittenfeld didn't deny that the interactions took place, but he argued that prosecutors were reading too much into his conversations with the informants. Steve Goodin, a Clifton resident, attorney at Porter Wright and a former Cincinnati councilman, said this notion of "prosecutorial overreach" may have resonated with Trump given his views on the myriad criminal cases brought against him.
"Trump has a real problem with the way he was treated," said Goodin, a Republican who was appointed to City Council in 2020 to replace a different member who was suspended for taking bribes. "I'm no fan of Donald Trump, but I think a lot of the criminal cases brought against him were not very well thought out, and a lot of people feel the prosecutors were using bad judgment or being political. I think Trump is trying to use the power of the pardon to send a message about what he feels happened to him."
Sittenfeld doesn't have a lot in common with some of Trump's other pardons, either politically or in the scope of their crimes. Maybe Trump wanted to throw Democrats a bone, appear less partisan. There's no real downside politically in freeing a guy who has said he's made peace with being out of politics. And if the conviction didn't wipe out Sittenfeld's standing in the Democratic Party, accepting a pardon from Trump might be the finisher.
Editorial: Sittenfeld trial exposed ugly underbelly of Cincinnati politics
Trump might also have been trying to distract from some of his sketchier pardons, Niven said.
"So many of these other rogue political characters Trump has pardoned were putting money in their own pockets with their corruption. Sittenfeld was right on the line between "this is business as usual" and "this is a step too far," Niven said. "In that sense, this is a much more defensible pardon and less of a grand statement."
Goodin said Trump's pardon of Sittenfeld might have averted an even worse outcome for efforts to tamp down on political corruption. Sittenfeld's case was potentially headed to the United States Supreme Court on appeal, and his attorneys were taking a novel approach with a First Amendment defense of his conviction. Goodin said it's possible the high court could have sided with Sittenfeld and opened a Pandora's box that "would have made quid pro quo prosecutions difficult."
"The pardon cuts off that part of it," Goodin said. "No bad case law coming from the Supreme Court in the short term."
More: Can someone pardoned by president vote again? Can they run for office? What it means
Regardless, it feels like justice for the people of Cincinnati wasn't fully served. Sure, the pardon doesn't clear Sittenfeld's name; his conviction remains. But Sittenfeld spent more time out of prison during his appeals (a year) than he did behind bars (four and a half months). Tamaya Dennard and Jeff Pastor, two City Council members who were convicted of taking direct bribes around the same time as Sittenfeld, can't say the same.
Sittenfeld's pardon is illustrative of the privilege that some people have available to them. What is inconceivable to the average person is always conceivable to people who have money and connections. It's unknown whether Sittenfeld had some relationship somewhere that gave him the ability to make a case to Trump. But neither the politics nor the principle behind why a Republican president with no love lost for Democrats would let a fairly liberal politician from a "sanctuary city" off the hook makes any sense.
It's either connections or, as Goodin put it, "Dead luck."
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Goodin said. "Today, Sittenfeld was lucky."
Opinion and Engagement Editor Kevin S. Aldridge can be reached at [e-mail]. On X: @kevaldrid.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Trump pardon lets Sittenfeld slip past justice | Opinion