July 19, 2005

Locker room chatter . . .

“Line up,” Corey Kemp said.

“According to size,” Ron White responded.
The two cracked up.

One can only imagine what they were talking about.
It was a code language between Kemp and White when the two greeted each other on the telephone.

Hundreds of secretly recorded telephone conversations taped by the FBI with this greeting were played in a public courtroom during Kemp’s trial.

Lawyer Ron White, Kemp's mentor, died before going to trial.
But those in the courtroom, mostly media, listened to Kemp and White chat about their extra-marital affairs, their business deals and more. It was eerie hearing White's voice.

Obviously, Kemp and White had no idea “Big Brother” was listening to them talk for nine months.

“God forbid if anyone was to tape my phone calls for nine months,” Kemp’s lawyer, William A. Spade Jr. said during Kemp’s sentencing Tuesday. “I use words in personal conversations that I would not use in professional conversations.”

We all do that.

How embarrassing.

Imagine if the private conversations you had on the telephone with friends and others were taped and played for the public.

These conversations that prompted laughter during the very tedious trial were a sharp contrast to the somber mood in the courtroom when Judge Michael Baylson sentenced Kemp to 10 years in prison for denying the citizens of Philadelphia their right to an honest treasurer and stealing from his Reading church.

The judge last week put Kemp on warning that he was thinking of giving Kemp a sentence higher than the federal guidelines.

It’s possible that Baylson was looking for a reason Tuesday to change his mind.

But Kemp did not give him one.

Instead, Kemp probably made his situation worse by showing no remorse.
Kemp told the judge he would NEVER steal from his church or make bad deals for the city.

“In my short 18 months as treasurer I brought in $48 million,” Kemp said. “I was not stealing from my church.”

Kemp apparently made a huge mistake here.

Balyson acknowledged when sentencing Kemp to 10 years in prison that those chatty conversations between Kemp and White were very damaging.

Kemp and White talked about everything, including Kemp giving White $35,000 on a deal when White did nothing.

White gave Kemp the deck, shown at right, which sound like it was really fancy during the trial.


Kemp told the judge the case forced him to lower his lifestyle.

He said he sold his former Robeson Township house, shown here, and was living in very modest housing in Exeter Township.

He said he was hardly making a living.

Baylson had no sympathy for Kemp.

The chatty talk between Kemp and White that broke up the monotony of the trial led to Kemp’s demise.
The talk also carried over to Kemp’s conversations with the Rev. Frank McCracken.

You didn’t think I’d get through this without mentioning good old Frank.

The one comment from McCracken that remained in my brain was the when Kemp and McCracken plotted the church deal.

“Oh Lord Jesus. That’s a lot of money. $360,000,” McCracken said.

But those two didn’t have the locker room greeting: “Line up. According to size.”

I’ll always remember that phrase.

You had to be there to truly appreciate it.

So now that Kemp has been sentenced, it's a good time for me to come up with a new topic to regularly blog on here.

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