"CORBETT IS LAUGHING AT YOU"

We're not surprised by the halfhearted coverage of the hearing on a Bonusgate defendant's  motion for a modified sentence.

We are surprised, however, that the letters written by the jurors who acquitted the defendant of 39 criminal counts continue to be ignored.

We imagine its because the jurors' comments raise inconvenient questions for Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett, and we all know what happens when Corbett faces inconvenient questions.

The 800-pound gorilla in the courtroom: why did Corbett strike deals with the masterminds in order to secure testimony against "such a small part of the issue that he probably should not have been in that courtroom?"

Were you waiting for the Capitol press corps to ask? Silly!

At the risk Corbett will send the goon squad to the secret CasablancaPA bunker (deep in the catacombs under the Capitol), allow us to point out some inconvenient facts.

Long before Corbett struck any deals with the vast majority of his informants, and long before anyone was indicted, one defendant was on record calling Corbett's investigation a "witch hunt." Does anyone underestimate the impression that comment made on the notoriously thin-skinned Corbett eight months before the indictments? Before, in fact, most of the witnesses ever glimpsed a grand jury.

But wait, there's more. (You knew that, didn't you?) Corbett was obsessed with anonymous criticism (which he blamed on one particular defendent) long before he used a sentencing hearing as an excuse to subpoena Twitter for his critics' identities ... long before the defendant was acquitted of 93% of the charges against him .... long before Corbett started publicly attacking the defendant as an anonymous online critic ... and long before anyone agreed to a plea deal. (Really? Yes, really.)

Buried deep within the transcript of Corbett's six-and-an-half-hour deposition in Thomas Kimmett's whistleblower lawsuit is a glimpse into Corbett's long-running obsession with anonymous criticism.

Q: Do you have any idea who operates the e-mail Corbett Is Laughing At You?
A: Oh, I have some ideas, but I'm not going to go into it right now while the trial is going on, but it's one of the defendants (Ha! "I'm not going to say, but I'll just say it." How cagey!)
(snip)
Q: Okay. This e-mail from, I'll just refer to it as Corbett Is Laughing at You for lack of further identification.
A: Um-hum.
Q: [Campaign manger] Brian Nutt got that from Joe Gertis, and then Brian Nutt forwarded it to Kevin Harley, William Ryan, Richard Sheetz and Annmarie Kaiser. Do you know who Richard Sheetz is?
A: Yes.
Q: Who is Richard Sheetz?
A: He's the head of my Criminal Division.
Q: Okay.
A: And I assume he forwarded it because letting us know what's out there concerning the investigation.
Q: He who forwarded it is Brian Nutt.
A: Right.
Q: He's sending it to these people like Bill Ryan, Kevin Harley, Richard Sheetz, Ms. Kaiser who didn't, who weren't paid members of the campaign.
A: No, they were members of the office.
Q: Right. Anyone other than Ms. Kaiser that you know of volunteer on the campaign?
A: Kevin would.
Q: Kevin was a volunteer on the campaign?
A: Kevin was a volunteer. I don't know that Bill really volunteered at all. He might've showed up at events or something. Rick, earlier today you asked me about people contributing. Rick and Bill more than likely contributed to the campaign. I don't know that they really did any volunteer work.
Q: Okay. You said your understanding is that Mr. Nutt would've forwarded this because it had to do with the then on-going investigation.
A: That's right. Somebody really doesn't like me, do they?
Q: I'm betting based on your position it's more than one person out there.
A: Oh, yes. On both sides of the aisle.
Q: Do you have any understanding why Annmarie Kaiser would respond with, "not good?"

So, what we have here is an email conversation among Corbett campaign staff and state OAG staff concerning a criticism of Corbett that was disconcerting enough that at least one staffer labeled it "not good." (Do these really strike you as people who take criticism in stride?) And you have Corbett admitting that he believed the author of this disconcerting criticism was someone whom he prosecuted.

The email in question was widely distributed among legislators, staff and Capitol press in September 2008, weeks before Corbett's pre-election show-hearing, before plea deals were struck. Whatever do you suppose the Corbett campaign team found "not good" about it?