The Patriot-News' Laura Vecsey writes today that this is the perfect time for partisan Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett to finally annouonce his long-promised second round of bonusgate indictments:"The budget nightmare is over. So how about a little entertainment, Pennsylvania?
A little word-eating?
How about a nice round of shoe-dropping?
These things are possible, according to Attorney General Tom Corbett, who has been promising more indictments of state lawmakers and General Assembly staffers.
What a fitting follow-up for a state gone wild should that shoe-dropping come now.
Lawmakers and staffers could be safely removed from their posts, and public attention is still aimed toward our 'leaders,' so there's no time like the present." (Patriot News 10/11/09)
We agree that now the budget is finalized the news cycle playing field is clear for Corbett to get the most bang for his buck with his next set of arrests.
Doesn't the fact Corbett would wait for a politically expedient time to make the announcement kind of prove the point so many have been making? That Corbett is milking his investigation for all the public relations gold it is worth?
Clearly, Corbett hasn't been held accountable for using political calculus to decide when to announce when he will "drop" his other bonusgate shoe. We always get a kick out of seeing the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review cartoon accompanying today's post...it is from 3/25/09.
At the time, everyone thought Corbett was about to deliver on his promise of "shocking" Republican indictments. Instead, he gave us all the embarrassingly weak results of his BIG investigation. (Post-Gazette 5/22/09)
Nearly seven months after the Trib cartoon, the only thing that has changed is that Corbett is now an announced candidate for governor.
Hopefully, Corbett will be held accountable for what he eventually announces...if he announces. In February, he promised us all something "shocking." (Tribune-Review 2/20/09)
Shocking isn't one or two retired members and a couple staff.
Shocking isn't John Perzel and Brian Preski for a couple computer contracts. (Post-Gazette 11/15/08)
Shocking should rival or exceed the July 2008 jihad Corbett unleashed on the House Democratic Caucus.
Shocking should be an amount of money misappropriated by the Republicans that exceeds the amount of money Corbett has spent investigating (he won't say how much he's spent) and the caucuses have spent defending themselves (by August 2009 it had reached $8.2 million). (Tribune-Review 8/5/09)
Anything less is a joke.
"Anything less is a joke"
ReplyDeleteBuilding up our position for the next round are we? I guess you think that he will be indicting on many of these charges soon, so your new line has to be "why didn't he indict on all of these?" instead.
By now, it's pretty clear that no matter what Corbett does, it will never please the folks hiding behind Curtain Number One at CasablancaPA. They will simply call on him to charge more people, or say he should have filed more charges against the same people, or opine that he has charged the wrong people.
ReplyDeleteNothing he does will satisfy the administrator(s) of this blog, because their purpose is in trashing Corbett. They are not interestd in justice for anyone else. And they are certainly not interested in seeing justice served up on themselves.
That's what they are trying to avoid by tar-and-feathering Corbett.
I'd LIKE to see him do SOMETHING, for God's sake.
ReplyDeleteMONTHS ago he promised indictments were right around the corner, the corner of partisan and Governorship?
To the posters on here who are so critical of the motives of the Blogger:
ReplyDelete1. That comes across as throwing up red herrings to draw the reader's attention away from the facts.
2. People who read this type of Blog are perfectly capable of assimilating the information and drawing thier own conclusions.
3. If you are so disdainful of the content and the intent - DON'T READ IT...go to a blog that is in line with your biases and prejudices.
In the interest of looking at things from multiple perspectives, I review a multitude of sites with a vast diversity of views and opinions. I look at and for facts and documentation. The sniping is an irritant and does not sever the "sniper" well.
Enough already.
Corbett will do the right thing, become Governor, and all convictions overturned on Appeal.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, most of these folks have helped the Judges become Judges in elections.
If Fumo only has 4 1/2 years, all other folks will get best 6 months.
Juries will decide their fates, not judges . And Guidelines may actually call for only 6 months , meaning guilty pleas could result in probation , but so what . A felony conviction for a politician is career ending and lasts foreever .
ReplyDeleteThank all of you very much for your selfless service to our state, have concretely succeeded in major disruption of the investigations and maybe why it is taking so long.
ReplyDeleteBut I remain skeptical of the "flypaper" theory of prosecutions, which alleges that bad guys around the state have flocked to Harrisburg to promote political incursions into the other party to change future governance.
Exactly what evidence is there of such a migration of outsiders who are actually insiders?
This viewpoint underestimates the degree of active indigenous resistance to the OAG presence within our hallow halls were laws are made not executed, including among citizens who might not otherwise be politically engaged or attracted to political party extremism.
Because of my own family's service in government, I am a strong supporter of the Justice Department and do believe that there are just convictions.
However, I want the OAG out of our
Legislative Legions.
I oppose the costly maintenance of the OAG prosecutions in the name of defending the people.
Why not let the accused to pay the price of its own defense and stop leeching off of the OAG.
Except for prosecutions of real harden criminals that hurt other people our election personnel should lead normal lives in close proximity to our citizens, voters, family and friends.
With advanced technology that can read the street number on a house, prove where we are at anytime, and can convict anyone.
Why we are still locked to outmoded theories of old laws predicated on the cumbersome burden of paper proofs that are no longer admissible?
The Pennsylvania OAG seems to be wed to a perpetual state of investigations of all branches of government that very well violate the separation of powers.
Why?
History shows that Justice and Injustice will always be in flux or turmoil, with different peoples competing for visibility and power.
The OAG cannot fix the fate of every elected official nor their own in every case.
In many long-embattled jurisprudence venues, there are internal processes at work that simply must play them out and prosecutions should take into the local political situation.
The Pennsylvania OAG is overextended throughout Pennsylvania and committing financial suicide in Harrisburg. The escalating judicial debt is our enemy within.
Fanatical political causes will continue to be a budgetary problem, but its outcome, however justified, will always be sporadic and local.
In pursuit of Justice cannot destroy Pennsylvania Political Elites, but our own reckless politicians, spending us into oblivion and servitude to debt over good policies of common cents, can!
When I first heard that Sean Ramley had been arrested, I thought it was absurd because of the gravity of other issues facing others did not mirror his own misdeeds.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like a publicity stunt by the OAG authorities with too much time on their hands.
However, on reflection, I soon concluded that Ramley, whatever his public achievements, has no right to claim exemption from the law's demands.
He is not a political refugee but a proud sybarite of a loving family, his persecution has made a stunning impact on me and completed my liberation from the perky tyrannies of the ubiquitous Fumo, who ruled Harrisburg like a basilisk.
The OAG would do well to drop the charges against Ramley before they are embarrassed upon not being able to convince a jury of his peers of crimes so vague and small they became practices for the poor!