Jeh C. Johnson, only recently confirmed as chief of the Department of Homeland Security, is off to an inglorious start. As our own Jim McElhatton and Kelly Riddell reported Monday, Mr. Johnson’s own right-hand man, Christian Marrone, was previously the right-hand man of a Philadelphia politician with a felonious bent.
The most ethical administration in history — just ask Barack Obama — knows how to pick ‘em.
As the chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Marrone now has 240,000 employees and a $60 billion budget to administer. That’s a lot of responsibility for someone tutored by one Vincent J. Fumo, a Democratic power broker in Philadelphia and master of pay-to-play politics.
Mr. Marrone married his daughter and soon after was rewarded with a series of patronage jobs, including operations director of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
Corruption has been epidemic, perhaps even pandemic, at the turnpike. One former operations manager pleaded guilty to corruption last month and implicated several other employees, contractors and politicians, including Mr. Fumo.
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