Ten months

Knucklehead ex-politician Jim Exline is back in the news.

WEST PALM BEACH — Former City Commissioner Jim Exline was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison on Friday for not reporting to the IRS a $50,000 payment from a developer and then funneling it through a jewelry store.

Exline, who minutes before the sentence was announced had tearfully pleaded for leniency from U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, was ordered to surrender by July 20. He must pay a $3,000 fine and serve a year of supervised release when he gets out of prison.

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But Friday, he learned that prison was indeed his fate. The sentence came after federal prosecutors, intent on making sure the punishment included time behind bars, revealed more details of his crime. The new details included a meeting between Exline, developer John Sansbury and an accountant in an effort to keep the payment hidden.

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Exline, 42, pleaded guilty March 19 to a single felony, willfully failing to report income. Under the law, he could have been sentenced to anything from no time to three years in prison and been assessed a fine up to $250,000.

The facts of this particular case - including Marra's decision that the crime's level of sophistication merited a stiffer penalty - carried the guidelines of 10 months to 16 months in prison and a fine of $3,000 to $30,000. But Marra was not bound by those parameters.

Ten months of having your freedom taken away in addition to being publicly disgraced, isn't a small penalty but I feel its still inadequate. Exline used his office for public gain. As we've seen locally of late, he isn't the only one. Just a dumb crook who got caught, and I'm sure there's more out there in local politics. They should have to spend alot more time in jail for betraying the public. Maybe if politicians had to spend 25 years in jail for taking a bribe, they'd think twice. Ten months and Exline will be free but will the citizens of this county be free from corrupt politicians?

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