Thursday, April 30, 2009

GAGGING ON HYPOCRISY


The Post-Gazette reports this week that the House Democratic Caucus is fighting a "bonusgate" defendant's motion to lift a gag order on grand jury witnesses.


We must admit, here at CasablancaPA, we were surprised. We had assumed that Attorney General/Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett had sought the gag order, which prevents House Democratic employees - and only House Democratic employees - from discussing their testimony outside the grand jury.


As the Post-Gazette explains, absent such an order, state law allows witnesses to discuss their testimony freely.


That the caucus sought and is fighting to maintain a gag order puts a new perspective on the case. What is the caucus trying to hide? Could its witnesses be contradicting one another? Is there a connection to the files Bill DeWeese is trying to shield from newly-elected Leader Todd Eachus?


Stay tuned!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some information you might find interesting:

Corbett made a huge deal about not doing anything around the November election. I have heard a rumor that the prelims for the Beaver Initiative for Growth charges are going to be on May 21st. I find it hard to believe that they won't release a witness list the week before the preliminary hearing like they have in the past.

There has to be some people on that list that are involved the primary election that is to be held on May 19th. It looks like just another opportunity for ‘bonusgate’ to effect an election.

Anonymous said...

Hearing dates are set by the courts, not by Corbett or his office.