We've been thinking a lot lately about why the Capitol press corps has ignored Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett's failure to charge any Republicans in the "Bonusgate" investigation.
It took an out-of-town reporter at a small newspaper to ask the obvious question that elicited his near-admission. The comment provoked quite a stir in Harrisburg's little corner of the blogosphere. Yet not a single mainstream media outlet picked up the story and even the Sun-Gazette buried the lede.
Anyone who's read All The President's Men is familiar with this phenomenon. The ink-stained wretches who covered the White House full-time didn't pursue the story because it simply didn't fit the narrative. It took a couple of relatively inexperienced guys to figure it out because they didn't know the narrative.
Sociologists call it confirmation bias. Scientists call it paradigm paralysis. We call it laziness.
Journalists like a story that is simple to tell. They like good guys and bad guys, black and white, victims and villains. They don't like ambiguity or nuance, which don't lend themselves to clever headlines.
The "Bonusgate" narrative is solidified for the Capitol press corps. The roles of hero and villain were cast long ago. If the occasional inconvenient fact emerges that doesn't fit the storyline it's examined only briefly, then discarded.
To acknowledge that Corbett has used his office as a political tool not only threatens Corbett's status as the hero, it threatens Veon's status as the villain. And that may be the more frightening prospect. Ethical ambiguity is haaaarrrd, y'all.
The inconvenient fact is, Corbett has had more than enough time to construct a case against anyone in the General Assembly he intends to charge and in fact, has done so. But as long as he claims the investigation is continuing, he keeps the General Assembly cowed and the press corps placated.
They're so placated, in fact -- so happy to have their biases confirmed and their paradigms paralyzed -- that they can't bear to retrace the moldy trail of breadcrumbs that lead them there in the first place. Breadcrumbs such as: The other shoe is about to drop! and The next round of charges will shock the conscience!
We really prefer our emperors clothed.
At this point, the only thing could result in additional charges is a public outcry that could threaten his gubernatorial campaign. Without any media scrutiny, such an outcry is unlikely. He probably can't believe his good fortune. Neither can we.
18 comments:
Do you hear that Mike? It's the world's tiniest violin, playing just for you.
Oh, thanks for reminding us. We forgot to mention: some are just plain whores.
Keeping his political enemies quiet by keeping the investigation open seems to be working very well for candidate Corbett.
Not a complaint from anyone of either party except Sen. Eichelberger who, not surprisingly, is not part of Senate Republican leadership.
Lt. Commander Queeg in the Caine Mutiny - "You tell the crew there are four ways of doing things on this ship: The right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way. If the crew does things my way, and we'll get along just fine."
Guys like Signor Ferrari are like Adolph Hitler in his bunker in Berlin at the end of World War II. Failing to recognize the reality that the cause is lost. Believing that some "secret weapon" will save the day. Blaming everyone else for a problem of his own making.
Somebody's going to go to jail real soon -- and it isn't the journalists who you're now criticizing for not buying YOUR storyline.
There's your answer, Signore. The above poster is an example of your typical consumer of journalism. Does he or she seem intersted in anything more complex than The Smurfs? Even television reality shows have figured it out. We're all a bunch of kids at a Saturday matinee and we need to know when to cheer and when to hiss. Don't make us think. That's for the artsy films no one goes to see.
With all the talk of whether or not Corbett is being consistent, a major point is being lost: there was little or no criminality in bonusgate.
The issue of consistency is only an illustration of this larger point. The reading of the law that is being applied to the Republican caucuses is the correct reading: bonuses for political activity are not a violation of criminal law, and use of staff members and govt. staff members and facilities for political purposes is not a violation of Pennsylvania criminal law.
Corbett should be investigating whether he should sue for civil recovery of any bonus money that he views as improperly paid, not engage in the futile search for criminal wrongdoing by people whose obsession with fairness and record keeping has led to this prosecution.
Those who wish Pennsylvania criminal law to be otherwise should seek to change it.
No statutory law, no internal regulation barred the bonusgate defendants from paying staff whatever they decided was fair. The argument that this was an illegal scheme because they were trying to create a "climate of expectation" that political work would be rewarded is an argument without precedent in Pennsylvania law.
The accusations against the bonusgate defendants are somewhat similar to accusations in some sexual harassment cases in governmental offices and private businesses.
I am not aware of any example of a criminal prosecution for sexual harassment, but I am aware of cases in which women who did not give sexual favors to supervisors and who were therefore denied bonuses, payraises, or promotions, won civil lawsuits for damages equivalent to the bonuses, payraises, or promotions that sexually available women received.
I believe that the issue of bonuses
made to the politically active is likewise only a civil matter under Pennsylvania law. The fact that courts upheld the prosecution of Jeff Habay is irrelevant: the Habay case involved coercion of unwilling employees, while the bonusgate case only involved incentives that may or may not have had the result of encouraging any individual to participate politically.
It's time for Corbett to cut his losses, admit mistakes, and proceed with fairness and due process: he should drop the Democratic prosecutions and stop the money-consuming and fear-inducing investigations of the other caucuses.
Those whom he has indicted have had their reputations tarred forever; their political and occupational futures will be far dimmer than they otherwise would have been. They have already been punished, and punished greatly.
Corbett ought to set up a task force with leaders of the caucuses and representatives from other statewide elective offices to clearly delineate what public policies should govern compensation of non-civil service employees and consider what legal structure should be set up for this purpose.
Anonymous said...Guys like Signor Ferrari are like Adolph Hitler in his bunker in Berlin at the end of World War II. Failing to recognize the reality that the cause is lost. Believing that some "secret weapon" will save the day. Blaming everyone else for a problem of his own making. Somebody's going to go to jail real soon -- and it isn't the journalists who you're now criticizing for not buying YOUR storyline.
I respectfully disagree, sure mistakes were made, but I do not feel they rose to the level of criminality and can be changed by ethical findings of having some bonuses, expenses, and public monies reimbursed to treasuries.
I know many of the Defendants and I can you in all honesty, many did not know they were breaking any laws.
Senator Fumo was an exception, and it is too bad, as Fumo was blessed with so much talent, outside income, and earned his power, but misused it and misspent it.
Do not lump all these people together, many did fine work for many citizens for years, and it is unfair that they have had to wait 3 years to come to trial and many more indictments still to come.
It is such a big mess, it is often confusing, but I am now supporting the people caught up with such a wide spread net of prosecutions, that can be resolved in other more reasonable and fair ways.
Anonymous said......."Corbett ought to set up a task force with leaders of the caucuses and representatives from other statewide elective offices to clearly delineate what public policies should govern compensation of non-civil service employees and consider what legal structure should be set up for this purpose."
I concur and look forward to there being a more reasonable way to work out these charges, guilty pleas, and indictments. There is no need to make all Caucuses employees and Legislators into more criminals based on mistakes with no true intent to defraud.
If Corbett and his Staff would look for a better way, setting innovations to achieve public justice. Especially, when so many people did not intend to violate laws. Moreover, avoid the easy way of just holding a few responsible as many escape that did similar things, but with so much devastating effects on all people.
Corbett will still be elected Governor but with foresight and insight, not shortsighted old ways of injustices where evenhandedness is needed when looking at these cases.
Anon 11:35 - your belief that using taxpayer dollars for campaign activity puts you squarely in the extreme minority. It is illegal, and the doctrines that spell out the illegality are the rules and regulations under which they were charged.
By your logic, bribery - or any other form of coersion - is completly legal.
Reducing the level of discussion to the Casablanca gutter, is it better to be your own whore, or someone else's bitch? Don't drop the soap once you're in the big house!
"Anonymous said.......Reducing the level of discussion to the Casablanca gutter, is it better to be your own whore, or someone else's bitch? Don't drop the soap once you're in the big house!August 24, 2009 10:45 PM"
Certainly, this is one way and the traditional way to look at these charges, presentments, and indictments.
All I am asking is to consider is if you want to use that standard in these cases. If so, then maybe as many as 2,000 employees and lawmakers should be indicted, if you are going to be meticulous and unfailing based on all of the evidence.
At the same time, some employees will tell you I never knew I was breaking any laws, so you can include them too, saying, "Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse”, and you will be right again.
However, there can be a better way to resolve these violations of the law, ethical breaches, and outright arrogant misconduct without having to go through tons of trials, costing more than the alleged crimes themselves, and filling up prisons with people far more dedicated to public service.
There are people out there that just plain out hate any government or elected officials, and would love to see them all go to prison on anything at anytime. It is this hate that is just as wrong, if it will not recognize it is unfair and ignores a better reasonable solution for all concern from lawmakers to staffs to AG Office to citizens of the commonwealth.
This is all I am saying!
Thank goodness Tom Corbett isn't doing things based on what Casablanca says, or what Sen. Eichelberger says, or what any of these anonymous posters say. And thank goodness the legal system doesn't work based on the whims of rabble-rousers or those trying to escape the hangman's noose.
There's truth to the saying, "The wheels of justice grind slowly." And there's a reason for that.
I'm betting the attorney general is building an airtight case, against whomever. And when it goes to court, none of the opinions here are going to be admissible as evidence.
Airtight case? Like the one he built when he charged Veon and BIG Veon?
The one where his supposed "top" prosecutor Tony Krastek dropped many of the charges for lack of any evidence and then the judge dismissed the rest?
You have a lot of misplaced faith in Corbett and his woefully inadequate and partisan investigators.
"Thank goodness Tom Corbett isn't doing things based on what Casablanca says..."
Oh, I wouldn't say that, mon frere. 'Twas CasablancaPA that noticed when Corbett first abandoned the "investigation is continuing" dodge. In his very next public statement, two weeks later, he reverted to form.
We'll see whether Corbett bases his investigation on what this blog says. If Republicans (or Bill DeWeese) end up indicted, you can bet it will be because of public pressure. No need to thank us.
Perhaps Tom Corbett should just jettison his staff of professional investigators and hire CasablancaPA to tell him what he should do.
Apparently, CasablancaPA is the new prosecutorial powerhouse in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, according to "Signor Ferrari."
Who needs evidence and witnesses and elected law enforcement officials when you can use a Web site that specializes in rumor, innuendo, character assassination and self-serving story lines?
As for Anonymous 6:36 PM:
That's a very good idea. After all, there may be a place in next year's election for a group that can elininate statewide candidates in a week-end. And everyone knows week-ends aren't on state time.....Tom Corbett!
Frank LaGrotta and Mike Manzo gave Tom Corbett his Airtight Case to save their pensions and wife.
Veon was a tool of Fumo and now will suffer the same fate.
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