Like It Always Was

James ("Smiling Jimmy") Sullivan lost the smile on his face when he testified before the Kefauver committee last summer. He could not explain exactly how he had gotten rich in six years on his salary as Dade County (Miami) sheriff. He thought that some of the $10,000 in cash he usually kept "rolled up in an old blanket and hid up on a shelf" was left over from contributions to his campaigns, though he had previously reported only a total of $100 contributions for both political races. He was embarrassed by testimony that one of his deputies had collected $36,000 from Miami's gamblers, and delivered it to Mrs. Sullivan. A grand jury indicted him for neglect of duty, and handsome Governor Fuller Warren (who had been helped into office by a $100,000 campaign contribution from a dog-track owner) felt impelled to remove Sullivan from office.

But months passed and things cooled off. The state supreme court threw out Sullivan's indictment on the ground that it did not charge a crime under state laws. The governor assiduously studied the evidence until the tourist season was over. Last week Governor Warren concluded that "the evidence does not show the violation of any law of the state." He reinstated Sheriff Jimmy to office and perquisites, displacing Acting Sheriff Tom Kelly, who had unfeelingly shut down Miami's gambling tight. Unabashed by shrieks of public outrage, Sheriff Jimmy was moved briskly back into his old quarters flanked by eight deputies, who had been indicted with him and had also beaten the rap. "OK. boys, go ahead like it always was," Jimmy told them expansively.

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