There are eerie similarities between the cases of two former local clerks of courts — one in Carbon; the other in Schuylkill — and their troubles with the law. Both have been accused of stealing taxpayers’ funds and using them for their personal use. Both were in office for more than 25 years. Both retired before completing their terms. Both are Democrats.

Former Carbon County Clerk of Courts William McGinley, 60, of Jim Thorpe, remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail as he awaits further court action. He waived his preliminary hearing before District Magistrate Eric Schrantz, which was scheduled for mid-February. McGinley’s formal arraignment was scheduled for March 5 but has been delayed until 10:30 a.m. April 11.

Former Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach Jr., 69, of Lake Hauto, appeared in U.S. District Court in Scranton March 22, where he agreed to plead guilty to two of 20 charges. Lukach will go before U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani, who is presiding in the case. No sentencing date has been set.

The Schuylkill County controller’s office began an examination of Lukach’s records in 2013 and found irregularities, which set off an FBI investigation for, among other things, mail fraud, culminating in the 2018 charges.

The Carbon County controller, Robert M. Crampsie, notified District Attorney Jean Engler that he had not received certain required funds from McGinley, which touched off an investigation by the state Attorney General’s office.

Lukach faces up to 40 years in prison and could be assessed a half-million dollars in fines under terms of his plea deal. Most court observers who have experience in these types of cases speculated that it would be unusual for Lukach to receive that much jail time; others, however, said federal court judges are showing little patience for official malfeasance these days, which could lead to a lengthy prison stay.

They point to the 15-year sentence handed down last fall in federal court to former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who was convicted on 38 of 47 charges involving pay-to-play schemes to get campaign funds from companies and professionals seeking city business.

Just as McGinley, Lukach was accused of stealing money from various accounts which he handled and using the funds for personal expenses.

Voters elected Lukach in 1987 and re-elected him six times until his abrupt retirement in 2014, one day after the state police and FBI searched his office for three hours and carted away boxes of evidence.

McGinley, who was in the office for 28 years until his retirement in 2018, was charged with six counts involving the embezzlement of $46,875, according to prosecutors. He admitted to investigators from the Attorney General’s office that he took the money to gamble. He also indicated that he wants to repay the stolen funds. Taxpayers have been reimbursed (except for the $1,000 deductible) by the county’s insurance carrier.

What taxpayers will never recoup will be the thousands of dollars the county had to lay out to clean up the mess and disarray that McGinley left behind in the clerk’s office.

I am renewing my call for much stronger oversight of these and other row offices, whose officeholders are responsible for handling millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds each year. I want to make it abundantly clear that there are many row officers both past and present who have been excellent stewards of the public’s money, but there have been too many instances statewide where officeholders have yielded to temptation and broken the law.

Not only that, but they avoided detection because of weak controls. Who has oversight of row officers? The usual answer I get when I ask this question is: no one in particular.

Many are surprised that the county commissioners do not provide this type of supervision, but the commissioners say their hands are tied, because row officers answer to the electorate, just as they do, and it is up to the public to give these elected officials a report card when and if they choose to run for re-election. A dishonest row officer can do significant damage in four years.

The state needs to put into place much stronger rules, regulations and oversight as to how these row offices are run.

Along with these stronger controls, let’s limit row officeholders to a maximum of three four-year terms. This prevents them from becoming lifelong, immovable public servants who get way too comfortable.

I also propose that any row officer convicted of embezzlement or misappropriating public funds forfeits his or her county pension. This will make anyone tempted to step outside the law to think twice before losing this valuable, lifelong perk.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com