Republican State Senator Dave Argall's congressional bid against incumbent Democrat Tim Holden may have some explosive problems hidden away.
First, the bonusgate trial of Mike Veon showed that gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett is doggedly determined to arrest and prosecute legislators who use their legislative contingency accounts to purchase meals without making a corresponding decrease in the daily legislative per diem they collect.
Will Corbett arrest Argall for "double-dipping" over $10,000 using his Republican Whip contingency account between 2005 and 2008? CasablancaPA was provided the comparison of Argall's contingency account expenditures for meals and the days he collected a per diem. Check it out for yourself here.
Second, a grand jury has uncovered rampant political activity in Senator Jane Orie's taxpayer funded offices on behalf of Orie's sister's Supreme Court campaign last year ("Grand jury accuses state Sen. Jane Orie" Post Gazette 4/6/10) that appeared to be directed by her sister's campaign manager, Mike Long. ("Sister's use of Orie office for election denied" Tribune Review 12/30/09)
Mike Long is also running Argall's congressional campaign and we wonder if he has been advising Argall to use his taxpayer funded offices, too? ("Argall declares for Congress" Capitol Ideas 1/11/10)
No perp walk, no handcuffs, no huge press conference bragging about false charges, kudos to a professional DA maybe our AG should take notes....
ReplyDeleteKurt Acker, a former staffer for Jane Orie was mentioned quite a few times in the indictment. I did a quick Google search on all those named in the indictment and found that Mr. Acker is the campaign manager for Congressional Candidate Mary Beth Buchanan via his twitter page.
ReplyDeleteFormer prosecutor employs admitted law breaker?
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteKurt Acker, a former staffer for Jane Orie was mentioned quite a few times in the indictment. I did a quick Google search on all those named in the indictment and found that Mr. Acker is the campaign manager for Congressional Candidate Mary Beth Buchanan via his twitter page.
Former prosecutor employs admitted law breaker?
April 7, 2010 4:25 PM
Silly poster...didn't you know-only Democrats can be criminals. This fine upstanding individual only had some minor indiscretions, and his reputation is purged now that he is working for such a fine, upstanding former prosecutor in her quest to continue genuine public service.
Now, if you bought that, I have a great bridge for sale...
If the district attorney in Allegheny County can investigate and bring alleged charges, could not the district attorney in Dauphin County (or any other county for that matter) do the same?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me the big lesson here is that you don't have to defer to the state attorney general to perform investigations such as this.
Great intro post 12:09 pm. Now, let's expand that thought. And when we are done, someone please share today's lesson with Officer Vereb, who needs to be enlightened.
ReplyDeleteWhat we have is a clear difference between a real prosecutor and a political hack:
Zappala vs. Corbett.
Corbett takes a newspaper story about bonuses, and in his zeal for power, goes in search of witnesses and indictees. A 3 1/2++++ year "investigation" (persecution) ensues.
Zappala's staff takes a complaint of corruption that was casually disregarded by Corbett, and conducts a six month SECRET (as required) grand jury investigation.
Corbett and his goon squad intimindate, bully, threaten and pressure witnesses to "cooperate", i.e. say what the OAG wants to hear.
Zappala's staff conducts surveillance based on reports, and records interviews and testimony to ensure his personnel behave in a manner befitting a real prosecutor's office.
Corbett publicly announces, at taxpayer funded press conferences, his indictments, with props, giant posters, a full staff compliment and all.
Zappala-no press conference. In fact, until the charges were filed, his office did not even acknowledge the existence of a grand jury.
Corbett announces the time and location of the two-ring circus (police department and magistrate) at which the persecuted are to appear.
Zappala-no press circus.
Corbett decides to handcuff legislators and staff, none of which are flight risks, violent offenders, etc. Even going so far as handcuffing two individuals in the parking lot in front of those drooling cameras. Corbett then lies and says that he always handcuffs accused felons; that turns out to be false in MANY instances, including Darla LaValle.
Zappala allows Sen. Orie to turn herself in to the magistrate with no fanfare, no perp walk, no agents escorting people in chains.
Corbett times indictments to maximize publicity and political hits, such as impacting a senate race, trying to influence a jury pool, and to distract from the bad publicity after losing his big first impression into the world of "political corruption".
Zappala completes an investigation in timely fashion and indicts based on the evidence within a week of the grand jury's presentment.
Of course, the actual prosecutions remain to be seen. Corbett set the bar pretty low, at 15% conviction rate. Time will tell if Zappala's team can beat that miserable score.
Now class, that concludes our lesson on a REAL prosecutor versus a political HACK wannabe lawman.
No question the Republicans have many scandals in their own closets of crimes yet to be revealed.
ReplyDeleteThey tried to smear Democrats and they thought they could control it, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of hypocrisy that is about to fall upon them like glaciers breaking off into the arctic seas.
The Big Law Firms are involved up to their necks from Buchanan Ingersoll, Dilworth Paxson, and Reed Smith and eventually they must be brought in, and be investigated, but so far, they have been immune due to an impotent press corp owned and operated by people connected to these firms.
But the Appointment of US Attorney's is still in limbo, and one must wonder what actually is going on, I suspect we will know after the Specter Re-election or Defeat.
Anyone with any effective political leadership is up for being a target, leaving the lawmakers sheep to grateful they survived and can still remain in office and do as they are told.
It is a silent coup using prosecutions from rumors and innuendos into political persecutions, to say the least.
Very good Public Servants are being eliminated one by one, to be replaced by the Dumb and Dumber!
THE SEEDS OF CHAOS AND REVOLUTION AND INJUSTICE IS THE WATER THAT BRINGS BLOWBACK ON THOSE DOING IT, AND INSTEAD OF WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE A BETTER TOMORROW, SOME ARE WORKING ON DESTROYING OTHERS. I FEAR WE ARE ON THE CRUCIBLE OF AN ABYSS!
ReplyDeletePEOPLE ARE GOING TO BECOME MORE ANGRY AND START LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO BLAME!
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said joblessness, home foreclosures and weak lending to small businesses pose challenges to the economy as it recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s.
“We are far from being out of the woods,” Bernanke said today in a speech in Dallas. While the financial crisis has abated and economic growth will probably reduce unemployment over the next year, the U.S. faces hurdles including the lack of a sustained rebound in housing, a “troubled” commercial real estate market and “very weak” hiring, he said.
The remarks reflect concerns by Fed officials at their meeting last month that the job market and tight credit would restrain consumer spending. At the session, Bernanke and his colleagues reiterated interest rates will stay very low for an “extended period.” He didn’t repeat that in today’s speech, while saying the Fed’s “stimulative” rates will aid growth.
To Anonymous April 7, 2010 9:40 PM, God Bless You The Fight For True Justice Has Just Begun!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:40 PM, in essence it is the difference between Democratic Profesional Prosecutions versus Republican Political Persecutions!
ReplyDeleteWhen the truth is given fair play over lies on display, the former always overcomes the latter!
Anonymous 9:40 PM, very good comments, I see it being the difference of Steve Zappala having a superior education and going to a real law school that he earned admission on his own merit
ReplyDeleteVersus
Tom Corbett's Daddy using his political influence having to buy his son Tommy into a Law School because he was too dumb to be admitted anywhere in Pennsylvania.
What were Tom Corbett’s grades in College and Law School, time to find out?
This is why Waste Management hired Tom Corbett a Stooge for the Mob with an appearance of publicity hiding behind stupidity. The Orie has tried to brand Zappala with racism about being Italian and being the Mafia, but the opposite is true. Organized Crime knows no race and uses dummies to carry their water like Corbett.
Well, smart beats dumb in this world, Corbett will be caught!
Tom Corbett's Father would not be proud of him today, because it will come out very soon, and Tommy's Father is whispering from his grave, you were stupid when you born and you are stupid now.
There are some things about Mary Beth Buchanan personal and professional life that will come out, and she will not like it!
ReplyDeleteI see that many October Surprises are being planned, just from reading these comments.
ReplyDeleteJane Orie Learned Her politics In Ernie Preate AG Office?
ReplyDeleteJane Orie's career, accomplishments, trouble
• 1984 -- Jane Orie graduates from Franklin & Marshall College with a bachelor's degree
• 1987 -- Orie earns a law degree from Duquesne University. After law school, she works six years as an assistant district attorney under then-Allegheny County District Attorney Robert Colville.
• 1992-93 -- Orie becomes an assistant attorney in state Attorney General Ernie Preate's office, a job she held for four years. She has said she was the office's lone female lawyer.
• 1996 -- Orie defeats two opponents to become a state representative. The 35-year-old deputy attorney general entered the race after former state Rep. Elaine Farmer withdrew due to illness.
• 2001 -- Orie wins in a special election against two opponents to fill a vacancy in the state Senate.
• 2002 -- Orie runs unopposed in the primary and easily wins in November.
• 2006 -- Running unopposed again in the primary, Orie wins a second four-year term as a state senator.
• 2007 -- The Republican Caucus selects Orie to serve as majority whip. She is the first woman to hold the post in Pennsylvania. She is chosen again to serve as whip in 2009.
• Oct. 30 -- Former intern Jennifer Knapp Rioja tells authorities her colleagues in Orie's McCandless office have been performing political work on state time.
• Dec. 11 -- Investigators question Orie's staff and seize documents and computers from her district office in the La Casa Blanca Building on McKnight Road.
• April 7 -- Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. charges Orie and her sister Janine with theft, conspiracy and other crimes based on a grand jury's findings that Orie used state workers for political campaign work.