A Good Boy In Prison, Browne Will Get A Few Months Off His Sentence
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Disgraced Broward union boss Walter J. “Buster Browne is headed for an early release from federal prison.
Well, slightly early.
Seven months has been shaved off his 70-month sentence, which is routine for a prisoner who behaves himself in the hoosegow.
Hey, any time you can get out of the Big House early is cause for celebration.at least for his family and friends.
Browne is now scheduled to be released from Pensacola Federal Prison Camp in May, 2010. If he served his full sentence, Browne would have been behind the bars of the minimum security prison until December, 2010.
The union boss was once a formidable Broward political power as head of the 7000-member Public and Private Employees.
His union represented the jail deputies and school system’s blue collar workers, like bus drivers.
Candidates eagerly courted his endorsement
It all ended when Browne was convicted of public corruption charges in 2005.
Browne’s sister, Patricia Devaney, was convicted in the same union corruption case. Devaney was released in Oct., 2006 after serving about 21 months of a 27-month sentence.
Browne, who will be on probation for three years after his release, is forbidden from taking part in union business in the future.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
You’re never the same once you do time. Seen it happen many times. Prison takes a bunch out of you and you never get it back, you are never the same again. You go to prison to serve time with the idea that you get out. But prison stays with you after you leave, you are never the same again. And sitting there in your cell, day after day, month after month, year after year, you reflect on what got you there and feel like a complete idiot, you blame yourself and those around you, and you never forgive, not yourself not anybody else. At least most of the time, that’s what happens.
March 26th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Browne’s best friend is still involved in unions — Dan Reynolds. I believe he is president of the Broward AFL-CIO, which probably has about 10 members outside of public employees, who live the Life of Riley on our taxes.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:35 am
When companies milked everything they could from workers and gave them no health safety, poor wages, and basically made them live like indentured servants, unions came around to help improve and lift up American standards. Labor laws were passed and the worker and his family did much better, so did the business community. That movement corrected many evils in the private sector and ultimately helped lead the nation into one of the better times America has ever enjoyed. Later, the labor movement got confused and arrogant, this led to criminal connections that never belonged there. Later still the union mantra became more money for less work and better working conditions, without any care for the employer or the employer’s customers. Labor needs to recalculate and go back to it’s roots because we’ve got companies right and left that can’t do business anymore, the products they produce are not competitive, the services they offer are too expensive. Unions are not bad but they need to evolve to the next level.