There are two cases going on right now that just make you shake your head and mutter to yourself, “Hey, what do you expect, it’s Pennsylvania.”

One is the high legal drama playing out in the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.

That’s where former Sen. Vince Fumo, once one of the most powerful men in the state, is jousting with federal prosecutors. The stakes in this case are high.

If convicted of the corruption charges filed against him, Fumo could be looking at spending some serious time behind bars.

So far the picture of Fumo that has emerged through his own testimony is something of “a tale of two men.”

There is the public Fumo, the man who admitted that there really is only one way to get things done in Harrisburg, and that is by acquiring as much power as possible and then wielding it. Few have ever wielded it as well as Fumo. And that’s not en entirely bad thing.

Then there is the private Fumo, a man who by his own admission is painfully shy, who is often tortured in his private relationships, including those with his own family. He is someone who shuns the spotlight.

But there are three words that overshadow everything else in this case.

Other People’s Money. OPM.

That’s the moniker the feds allege Fumo routinely used to indicate that he didn’t have to pay for a wide variety of goods, that instead he would use the public’s wallet to pick up the tab.

Whatever you think of Fumo, this trial does not paint a very good picture of governing in Pennsylvania.

And if that damaged the state’s reputation, what exactly are we to make of what will happen today in a courtroom in Scranton.

This afternoon former Luzerne County Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan are scheduled to plead guilty to fraud charges.

Basically, what these two jurists did is sell their robes. They are believed to have accepted millions in kickbacks from a private firm to send juvenile offenders to treatment facilities owned by the company. Pretty nice racket, huh? Just a couple of problems.

First, there’s the small matter of selling your office. These guys stuffed $2.6 million in their pockets. They are pleading guilty to fraud charges.

Maybe more important are the cases and the kids involved. Many of them had no prior records and prosecutors in some cases were not recommending incarceration. No matter, off they went to the favored facilities, all while these two judges lined their own pockets.

Now there are lawsuits being readied challenging scores of convictions in the case by juvenile law advocates in Philly.

Just another day in Pennsylvania.