Wolf signs pardon for man denied McKeesport council seat
Corry Sanders received a notice from Gov. Tom Wolf in the mail Monday afternoon, saying that he had officially been pardoned of a drug conviction dating back to the 1990s. The longtime McKeesport barber was elected to his city’s council five years ago but was denied his seat due to the decades-old drug charges.
Monday’s pardon, which was unanimously recommended by the state Board of Pardons in September 2019, came as “relief” to Mr. Sanders, he said.
“The mail lady knocked on my door around 1 p.m., and I’m normally not home, but I was this day,” said Mr. Sanders, 50. “The mail lady needed me to sign for it, and I saw the envelope and it said Harrisburg, and I kind of jumped out of my skin. I had my own private moment since my kids weren’t around, and I shed a few tears.”
According to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Mr. Sanders was “over the moon” after receiving his pardon in the mail. (Mr. Fetterman has been a longtime public supporter of Mr. Sanders.) His was one of dozens of pardons signed by Mr. Wolf last week, Mr. Fetterman said.
“He’s exactly the kind of person who could help a community like McKeesport,” Mr. Fetterman said Wednesday. “In
2019, he was discouraged because he was voted down. But I found out yesterday that the governor had finally signed it.
“He has a fresh start, and a second chance after a drug conviction that dates back 30 years. I couldn’t be happier.”
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala wrote in an emailed statement that “everyone deserves a second chance.”
“When you have done exemplary public service like [Mr. Sanders] has with the children in McKeesport and the Mon Valley, I think the pardon was an easy decision.”
State law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from serving in public office.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Joseph M. James ruled on Feb. 24, 2016, that Mr. Sanders’ 1993 no-contest plea to felony drug charges made him ineligible to serve on McKeesport City Council, despite winning a November 2015 election. Court documents showed police suspected Mr. Sanders dealt cocaine out of his house and, on four occasions, bought a total of $11,400 worth of the drug from an undercover officer.
Mr. Sanders served prison time and was paroled in 1998. And while the pardon has no effect on his 2015 McKeesport council nomination, Mr. Sanders said he plans to run for McKeesport mayor next election term.
“There is no bad blood, but it was like a slap [to] me in the mouth,” he said.
He said he has since turned his life around, having previously provided mentorship to youth in the McKeesport community as they engaged in various summer sports. He is employed as a diversity and inclusion community specialist at the Center for Victims on the South Side and has also been an ordained deacon at Mount Ararat Baptist Church since June 2012.
He has owned the Kool Kutz barbershop in McKeesport since 1999 and was also a board member of the McKeesport Business Authority. The barbershop was temporarily closed last November for “personal reasons,” Mr. Sanders said, and it remains closed. He said he has also created a nonprofit called Comb Together, where he plans to offer therapeutic barbering services.
“I allow people’s criticism of me, but my secret is that I pray about everything,” Mr. Sanders said Wednesday. “After everything I’ve gone through, life hasn’t broken me. It’s funny how God will allow your past to catapult you forward.”
The Board of Pardons processes and signs off on all pardons before they are sent to the governor’s desk. Mr. Fetterman, chairman of the five-member board, had called the decision “appropriate.” The other members of the pardons board are state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a psychiatrist, a corrections expert and a victims advocate.
The annual number of pardons granted by Mr. Wolf has fluctuated, yet climbed since the first year he entered office. In 2015, Mr. Wolf granted 111 of the 113 pardons recommended by the state board that year. By 2016, the number of pardons recommended and approved jumped significantly, with 286 pardons granted that year. Numbers saw a 42% decrease in 2017, but rose again in 2018 to 268 total cases approved. Numbers continued to climb in 2019, ac-cording to the governor’s office.
So far in 2020, according to spokeswoman Lyndsay Kensinger, the governor has granted roughly 236 pardons.
It varies how often the governor hands out pardons, according to deputy press secretary Sara Goulet, because some cases can remain under Mr. Wolf’s review for months, a year, or longer.
“Gov. Wolf is very thoughtful and takes the necessary time to review pardon recommendations,” she said.