Plenty of pundits think it's suspicious that former House Speaker John Perzel's taxpayer-funded electioneering shenanigans took place right under the nose of House Republican Leader Sam Smith.
"[W]ho told GCR to stop giving the caucus members access to all that info and data in February and August of 2007? ... If [Chief of Staff Tony]Aliano and Smith didn't do it, who did?" (Capitolwire, via The Public Opinion)
"...But it is difficult to hear the accusations, without questioning either Smith's conduct or his judgment/competence. (Courier-Express)
"But Smith is the leader of the caucus and most of the events occurred on his watch." (Tribune-Review)
But no one seems to think it's suspicious that the shenanigans happened right under the nose of Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett. Which it did. If he's telling the truth about when he started investigating the caucus.
According to the presentment, Perzel's access to taxpayer-funded campaign information was cut off "about" August 2007. That's six months into Corbett's investigation. If Corbett is telling the truth about when he started investigating the caucus.
It was either pretty ballsy or incredibly stupid for the House Republican Caucus to go right on using a taxpayer-funded resource for campaigning even while Corbett was investigating the caucus for the use of taxpayer-funded resources for campaigning. If, indeed, he was investigating the caucus.
If Corbett is telling the truth about when he started investigating the caucus, surely the caucus members would have some little clue that was happening. Like when, in February 2007, Corbett said he was investigating all four caucuses. And yet, the caucus members were strangely unfazed.
If Corbett is telling the truth about when he started investigating the caucus, surely he would have had some little clue about Perzel's role when he met with him privately in October 2007. And yet, Corbett claims "we didn't have all the facts." He was eight months into his investigation and didn't have a clue that Perzel might be involved in taxpayer-funded electioneering?
That is, if he's telling the truth about when he started investigating the caucus.
There is a simple explanation here. House Republicans wouldn't be doing much campaigning in 2007, Team Casa.
ReplyDeleteYet there was Perzel, gathering ill-gotten election data smack in the middle of 2007. While he was being in investigated. Supposedly.
ReplyDeleteHere's another "simple explanation:" Corbett was blowing smoke about investigating Republicans in 2007, and the Republicans knew it.
ReplyDeleteIf the Veon Non-Profit B.I.G. was being used for Economic Deevlopments as alleged.
ReplyDeleteWhy was the Cigar Shop Lease signed in secret and why no Newspaper coverage?
It seems if you open a place to attract Businesses, you would announce it.
I respect Mike Veon very much, but this is one question, I cannot answer in my own head.
So, talking about Right Under His Nose, so was the Cigar Shop Lease, but in secret too?
Mike Manzo rolled over on Mike Veon as soon as the OAG presented him with the evidence too.
Tough thing to resolve!
I think Signor Ferrari, Perzel was doing the Campaign Data way back in 2000.
ReplyDeleteWhy did it take so long for the OAG to investigate it?
It happen only after HDC Bonusgate?
Still, the OAG is not wrong in his findings, just a tad late.
Crimes were being acted upon from what I read.
Creating businesses in Beaver County means having a location in Pittsburgh and convincing PGH leaders to treat the surrounding counties as a region.
ReplyDeleteSure being in Pittsburgh to create business in Beaver County is important, but if no one knows you have a B.I.G. Office in Pittsburgh because everything was secret, how do you create Business when no one knows you are not there?
ReplyDeleteOnly Veon, Manzo, and Cott, knew about this Campaign Office, and the girl with Manzo. Not even Manzo's wife knew about this place.
One cannot call that Economic Development can you? Yet, you jump down Tom Corbett's back?
I am still trying to figure out how Michael Manzo was in charge of DeWeeeessee Office and all those DeWeeeessee safers did nothing wrong? You would think Manzo would finger his he;p?
ReplyDeleteBoy, if only the legislators could remember the words of Gordon Lightfoot hit, “If You Could Read My Mind”, it is about the breakup of Lightfoot’s first marriage, just like the breakup of The Pennsylvania Legislature under investigations for three long years by Tom Corbett’ OAG.
ReplyDeleteIt goes something like this, "If You Could Read My Mind Love, What A Tale My Thoughts Would Tell". "Just Like An Old Time Movie, About A Ghost From A Wishing Well, In A Castle Dark Or A Fortress Strong, With Chains Upon My Feet, You Know That Ghost Is Me". A Ghost You Can’t See?"
How Ghost employees keep showing up on the State Payroll is beyond our comprehension. For example, Susie Cornell and Buzzy Stokes are just latest Ghosts the Public could not see for a while until the Corbett OAG Magic Show.
Cornell and Stokes are purportedly joining a lengthy line up of "Ghost Staffers” rewarded with civic cash for burdening zilch in the legislature.
It is more substantiation that Todd Eachus and Sam Smith some of the crown’ cream of the crop in Harrisburg Leadeship, still deem taxpayers suckers.
Sue Cornell was a Republican State Rep that was rejected by her home regions citizens for reelection. After her inability to find anybody to hire her to do some work for a change, she turned to the Grand Old Party.
Sue Cornell alleged begged now indicted John Perzel the former Speaker of the House to hire her for something she may be qualified to do, besides spending the citizens money. So, Perzel’ Chief of Staff hid her in Representative George Kenney Office but forgot about what she was suppose to do. Now we found out she qualified to do nothing.
As announce in the Grand Jury Findings, when Sue Cornell inquired what she would be doing Mr. Kenney just laughed and said I was never told anything about it. Then he added a further insult by saying, and I did not approve of you!
How shocking and demeaning Sue must have felt to know she was never considered for anything by anybody except Perzel. Yet she still took taxpayer’s dollars in the amount $72,187 for a short period of arounf 6-weeks.
At least George Kenney was honest when he said, “Sue did no work whatsoever for Kenney, and never even appeared at his office," in the Presentments. Perzel must be perplexed about these findings to see fellow citizens of the commonwealth rejecting her at the ballot box, and fellow Republicans Lawmakers not approving of her for a job, since nothing was allegedly assigned.
IF YOU COULD READ OUR GRAND JURY MINNS Continued Below....
IF YOU COULD READ OUR GRAND JURY MINDS Continued From Above....
ReplyDeleteThank goodness, Sue Cornell was a ghost with a sense of scruples, and now a ghost we can read about in the Grand Jury Consequences when before we could not see.
Just like in the Lightfoot song, "When You Reach The Part Where The Heartache Comes, The Hero Would Be Me, Heroes Often Fail". Sue Cornell felt prickly about doing nothing in a do nothing job for state pay.
Sue Cornell did something John Perzel did not do, she did the right thing, and quit that job.
When she was given another job in the Republican Bastion of Patronage....the Philadelphia Parking Authority that created a job for her, and Sue Cornell found the promise land of at least doing a valid job.
As for Buzzy Stokes (Perzel's Brother-In-Violation Law), it is allege was given a job after looking like Perzel’s Campaign Manager.
Big Buzzy earned over, $196,808 over 6 years, and was so earnest to do a good job, he sent in an Application of Employment 13 days after he was hired because he needed Health Benefits. No Phyiscal either, we bet.
Once again, Lightfoot’ song has a place for him too…"You Know That Ghost Is Me, And I Will Never Be Set Free, As Long As I'm A Ghost That You Can't See"!
Now we can just soon hear Attorney General Tom Corbett singing the conclusion over this Ghost Employee Collusion....."I'd Like To Walk Away Like A Movie Star, Who Gets Burned In A Three Way Script, Enter Number Two, A Movie OAG Queen To Play The Scene, Of Bringing Down All The Good Things Out In Me, But For Now, Love, Let's Be Real, I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way, And I've Got To Say That I Just Don't Get It, I Don't Know Where We Went Wrong, But The Feeling’s Gone, And I Just Can't Get It Back"!
Now we are blessed with Democratic Majority Leader Todd Eachus in the Democratic House Caucus new reforms efforts.
ReplyDeleteEven after Mike Veon lost his election, Ghost Pay abounded throughout the Green Dome.
Here we have the story about hidden hired “Ciugar Shop Ghost Employee” even kept from the Leadership, and we must blend two of Gordon Lightfoot Songs, “If You Could Read My Mind”, and “Carefree Highway”.
Indictments from 2008 allege that Mike Manzo, put a young beauty queen on the state payroll because Manzo was having a sexual relationship with her as he was engaged and then married his Co-Indicted Wife Rachael Todd Eachus’s HDCC Campaign Chief.
The Beauty Queen was honest even if embarrassed and used by the Man called Manzo. She told AG Investigators that most of the time she studied for school or did campaign work while drawing a state paycheck. She is smart and honest and that is why she is still employed and why not keep a good employee that tells the truth?
We can hear the Lyrics now before the Grand Jury sung by Manzo the Man….…"Enter Woman Number Two, A Beauty Queen To Play The Scene, Of Bringing Down All The Bad Things Out In Me, But Let's Be Real, I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way, And I've Got To Say That I Just Don't Get It, I Don't Know Where Rachel Went Wrong, But The Feeling’s Gone, And I Just Can't Get It Back".
Now whether those lines are for Rachel is our question, but that is for another day.
Even worse, Mike Manzo circumvented for a while his own Boss, State Representative Bill DeWeese’ Office safeguards to prevent “Ghost Employees”.
Once a DeWeese Staffer found out about the Beauty Queen Email Address finally showing up on the Computer Emails previously hidden by HDCC CIT Operations, she reported it immediately to Bill DeWeese who took action right away.
We can hear those lyrics sung by Mike Manzo as he knew the jig was up…..”Picking Up The Pieces Of My Sweet Shattered Dream, I Wonder How The Cigar Shop Is Tonight, Her Name ??? Was I'll Be Damned If I Recall Her Face, She Left Me Not Knowing What To Do With The OAG”.
Once Bill DeWeese was not satisfied with Mike Manzo’s answers and found out about other things Manzo’s was hiding from DeWeese and DeWeese staffers.
DeWeese did the right thing too, he hired an Independent Former Prosecutor and Inspector General to investigate his own Office and the entire HDCC.
DeWeese also, ordered all employees and consultants to cooperate with the Office of Attorney General Investigators as well.
Mike Manzo admitted his wrongdoing to DeWeese before witnesses and then was fired. Manzo the Man, now works for the OAG as lead Plead Witness whose voracity for the truth will be tested soon at Trials.
Manzo stood up took all the blame to save his wife’s Pension and remove her from being charged conditioned on telling the truth.
I can hear his testimony now…..”Turning Back The Pages To The Times I Love Best, I Wonder If They Will Both Ever Do The Same, Now The Thing That I Call Living Is Just Being Satisfied, With Knowing I Got No One Left To Blame”.
Once again, we will hear about "Ghost We Cannot See", and thoughts we cannot hear for the yearning......“Carefree Testimony, I Got To See You My Old Flames, Carefree Cigar Shop, We've Seen Better Days, The Morning After Blues From My Head Down To My Shoes, Carefree Pleads, Let Me Slip Away, Slip Away From Both Of You.
Finally, the ending....."Searching Through The Fragments Of My Dream Shattered GJ Pages, I Wonder If The Years Have Closed Their Minds,
I Guess It Must Be Wanderlust Or Trying To Get Free, From The Good Old Faithful Bonus Feeling We Once Knew"!
Ghost employees in government have been around since the Republic was created.
ReplyDeleteFormer Democratic State Senator Vincent J. Fumo of Philadelphia was convicted in 1980 with others for placing ghost employees on the commonwealth payroll.
His guilty verdict was later overturned; Fumo was convicted again last March in the mother of all corruption trials handle by US Attorney Meehan.
The late State Senator Henry J. "Buddy" Cianfrani, another Democratic power broker from Philadelphia, also served prison time for hiring ghost employees. Buddy was Vincy Fumo political tutor and apparently, Vinci forgot some lessons.
In tribute, we felt this song was appropriate for the late great senator of Philadelphia now in Daniel Boone’s Kentucky with State Issue.
When Vincy Fumo rode to Harrisburg the womenfolk would hide, they'd hide
When Vincy Fumo walked around the men would step aside
Cause a tongue lashing was the only law that Vincy understood
When it came to playing straight and paying fast---he was not that good.
From out of the East a stranger came, a law book in his hand, a Meehan
The kind of a man the State would need to tame a troubled land
Cause a tongue lashing was the only law that Vincy understood
When it came to being straight and fast---Meehan was mighty good.
Many a man would face his tongue and many a man would crumble and fall
Meehan got Vinci Fumo, he got Vinci Fumo
Meehan was the bravest of them all.
The love of good government can make a man stay on when he should go, stay on
Just trying to build a peaceful life where the economy is free to grow
But the tongue lashing was the only law that Vincy understood
When the final showdown came at last, a law book was just as good.
Alone and afraid citizens prayed that he'd return that fateful night, aww that night
When nothing they said could keep Meehan from going to court to fight
From the moment jurors gets chosen the very first thing they learns
When two men go out to face each other only one retur-r-r-ns
Everyone heard many witnesses sing out, and made Vincy fall
Meehan got Vinci Fumo, he got Vinci Fumo
Meehan was the bravest of them all.
Meehan got Vinci Fumo, he got Vinci Fumo
Meehan was the bravest of them all.
I feel so sorry for Mr. Fumo, he was so talented but he chose to work for Dilworth Paxson and they corrupted him.
ReplyDeleteWhen Fumo was nine he learned survival
Taught himself not to care
Vincent was my single good companion
Taking my comfort there
Up in his room he planned his conquests
On his own, never asked for a helping hand
No one would understand
Fumo never asked the pair who fought below
Just in case they said no
Pity the politician who has ambition
Knows what he wants to do
Knows that he'll never fit the system
Others expect him to
Pity the politician who knew his parents
Saw their faults, saw their
love die before his eyes
Pity the politician that wise
He never asked, did I cause your distress?
Just in case they said yes
When Vincent was twelve his father moved out
Left with a whimper not with a shout
Vincent didn't miss him, he made it perfectly clear
He was a fool, and probably queer
Fool that he was, he thought this would bring
Those he had left closer together
She made her move the moment he crawled away
He was the last the woman told
She never let her bed get cold
Someone moved in, He shut his door
Someone to treat her just
the same way as before
Fumo took the road of least resistance
He had his game to play
He had the skill, and more - the hunger
Easy to get away
Pity the politician with no such weapons
Do defence, no escape from the ties that bind
Always a step behind
Vincent never called to tell her all He'd done
He was only her son
Pity the politician but not forever
Not if he stays that way
He can get all he ever wanted
If he's prepared to pay
Pity instead the careless mother
What she missed, what she
lost when she let Fumo go
And he was left to wonder, does she know
He wouldn't call, a crazy thing to do
Just in case she said, who?
Closing Arguments Portray Fumo as Corrupt
ReplyDeleteBy Greg Palmer on February 24, 2009 7:18 AM
Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo was assailed yesterday by a federal prosecutor as a glutton, a liar, and a thief with a "royalty complex" who obliterated the line between public service and his own enrichment.
"The corruption in this case, ladies and gentlemen, is as astonishing as it was pervasive," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer told the U.S. District Court jury in his closing argument in Fumo's fraud and obstruction-of-justice trial.
He told jurors that the trial had provided them with a unique view of "Fumo World."
"The most important work in Fumo World was taking care of Mr. Fumo," said Zauzmer, who called it "a place of its own - far away from the ordinary reality, and apart from the ordinary laws."
FRIENDS OF TODD EACHUS LINK:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/CFReport.aspx?CFReportID=58451&Section=III
FRIENDS OF BOB MELLOW
PECKVILLE, PA 18452
Description: ROBERT MELLOW, STATE SENATE 22ND PA
$1,000
COMMITTEE TO ELECT MARC GERGELY
WHITE OAK, PA 15131
Description: MARC GERGELY, STATE HOUSE 35TH PA
$250
Bayer Corporation PAC
Pittsburgh, PA 15205 7/13/2005 $250.00
Pennsylvania bankers PAC
Harrisburg, PA 17108 7/26/2005 $250.00
Friends of Skrepenak & Vonderheid
Wilkes Barre, PA 18702 7/12/2005 $100.00
H2O PAC
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 7/14/2005 $65.00
Sallie Mae, INC PAC
Reston, VA 20193 7/12/2005 $250.00
Pennsylvania LIcensed Beverage
Association PAC
Harrisburg, PA 17101 7/26/2005 $250.00
Blue PAC
Harrisburg, PA 17106 6/29/2005 $65.00
Greenlee Partners State PAC
Harrisburg, PA 17108 3/29/2005 $250.00
Pennsylvania Bankers PAC
Harrisburg, PA 17108 3/29/2005 $250.00
Verizon Good Government Club
Harrisburg, PA 17101
$250
Blue Cross Voice
Wilkes Barre, PA 18711 6/8/2005 $250.00
Laborers International Union of
North America Local 130
Scranton, PA 18503 6/15/2005 $250.00
IBEW-COPE
Washington, DC 20005 4/12/2005 $100.00
United Association Local Union 524 Steamfitters/Pipefitters/Plumbers
Scranton, PA 18505 7/6/2005 $100.00
Nationwide Pennsylvania Political Participation Committee
Columbus, OH 43215 7/15/2005 $130.00
Duane Morris LLP Government Committee State & Local fund
Philadelphia , PA 19103 7/19/2005 $130.00
RDK Engineering,
Freeland , PA 18224
$130