So my previous two diaries were about the odd and sometimes illegal behavior of two members of Erie (PA) County Council, one a Republican and one a Democrat. I figured after this bipartisan pair of diaries making fun of my local pols, I would be done with the topic, and now I'd move on to others. Fate had a different idea. Last Friday, while waiting for my car to be serviced, I cast an eye to the front page of the Erie Times-News, and there was County Councilman Ebert Beeman, our Republican pol of disrepute, leaving the courthouse after pleading guilty. "Guilty for what?" you ask. Make the jump to find out...
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From the story in the Erie Times-News last Friday:
Ebert Gordon Beeman, the real one, applied for a Social Security number at age 14.
In December 1972, at the age of 23, though, he asked the government for a new number under the fake name William George Beman, and listed as his parents two people who were not.
With that application, the government said Waterford's libertarian-leaning county councilman started down the path that led him Thursday to stand before a federal judge and plead guilty to four felony fraud charges that could cost him his right to vote, bear arms and hold public office.
Beeman pleaded guilty to four felony counts of Social Security fraud, admitting that he had used the Social Security number he fraudulently obtained in 1972 to apply for two credit cards in 2010 and two jobs in 2007 and 2008.
Whoa! Apparently, I have not been paying sufficient attention! Social Security fraud, of all things!. The article went on to say that there was evidence he was planning on applying for a
third Social Security number under still another name. It's kind of ironic that a man who hates government as much as Beeman does should go all out to obtain more than his share of government benefits.
"Welll," you say, "with this guilty plea, at least he's no longer troubling the County Council, right?" And you would be wrong. There are three qualities of which Beeman appears to have boundless stores: stupidity, veniality, and stubbornness. He is not going either voluntarily or quietly.
Erie County Council Chairman Phil Fatica has officially called for colleague Ebert Beeman to resign -- and Beeman, in an e-mail, reiterated his refusal to do so.
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"He has brought disgrace and shame upon council with his actions," Fatica continued. "I want the public to know we are doing everything we can to remove him. He should just go away, but that apparently is not going to happen."
Beeman, in an e-mail sent to Fatica shortly before 6 a.m. Monday, wrote: "I respectfully decline your request for my resignation. ... It is my intention to fulfill the term that the voters elected me to do."
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While the county's Home Rule Charter states that any incumbent official who holds countywide office immediately forfeits that office with any felony conviction, Andrezeski [Beeman's lawyer] said that Beeman plans to argue the charter runs contrary to the Pennsylvania Constitution when it comes to removing elected officials from office.
The question Beeman and his lawyer are raising is whether Social Security fraud rises to the standard of "infamous crime" under Common Law of Pennsylvania. Beeman's lawyer also mentioned that there have been other Councilmen who have run into legal trouble in the past without having to give up their seats. Myself, I suspect it will take a combination of TNT and a crowbar to remove Beeman from his seat. It leads to bad government, but at least it's entertaining!
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March 20, 2012
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