The slammer for Lynch

So former Democratic power broker John A. Lynch Jr. is going off to prison for mail fraud and income tax evasion. He was sentenced to 39 months Tuesday. But he will get to spend the holidays with his family before reporting to the federal prison system Jan. 15 and, with good behavior, could be freed in 33 months. And he might even serve his time in a federal prison in South Jersey.

That all might sound like coddling, but the important thing is that the former state Senate president is going to prison for corrupting his office and cheating the IRS . His downfall shows, as U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said afterward, "There is no one above the law.''

Lynch was nabbed for one incident of using his influence by using the mails - something Lynch admits was "a horrible mistake in judgment.'' All for $38,000. But it's too easy to wonder whether this was an isolated incident. Somehow the 171 letter writers who asked the judge to grant Lynch clemency seem to think so. I don't believe it, in Lynch's case and regarding so many other public officials convicted of corruption. They do think they are above the law. Christie is one law enforcement officer who's proving them wrong.