Saturday, September 11, 2010

"LOOKING FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD"


Kelly said he approached Corbett at the Republican State Committee meeting in June and complained about the fraudulent petition challenges that city Republican leaders had filed in March.

"I said, 'Mr. Corbett, I have some grave concerns about these guys. They're criminals.' He looked me right in the eye and said, 'I'm looking forward, not backward.' "
(Philadelphia Daily News, 8/11/10)

Wow.

That's a far cry from "Follow the evidence wherever it leads." Then again, there were no reporters around when Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett said he's not interested in "looking backward" at any crimes that may have been committed by his political allies in the Philadelphia Republican Party.

It's not like this case is an unsolvable whodunit: in an effort to keep candidates for state committee off the ballot, party leaders challenged their petitions. At least 30 people whose signatures appeared on the challenge documents said they never signed, and one of the signatures was that of a dead woman.

Party chairman Vito Canuso Jr. and general counsel Michael P. Meehan admit the signatures are fogeries: "Meehan and Canuso blamed the bogus signatures on overzealous ward leaders whom they declined to identify."

But when a concerned citizen tried to report the crime to Corbett, he couldn't have been less interested.

Is forging signatures a crime? Corbett thought so when he charged Democratic Rep. Linda Bebko Jones and a staffer for forging signatures on her nominating petitions. Did he "look backward" to do it? He charged her in 2008 for alleged crimes committed two years earlier. Kevin Kelly was trying to report something that happened three months earlier.

Is it only a crime when Democrats do it? Corbett's opened an investigation into alleged forgery of nominating petitions of an independent candidate for Congress whose candidacy poses a threat to the Republican Corbett's supporting, Pat Meehan.

Is it a crime when Republicans do it? Apparently not.

Corbett had no trouble "looking backward" when it came to a highly publicized investigation of House Democrats that not only raised his public profile just as he was preparing to run for Governor, but also gave his Republican allies in the House enough fodder to knock off five Democratic incumbents in their effort to regain the majority.

Of course, Kevin Kelly should have known better than to expect Corbett to launch an investigation of his political allies just because someone tries to report suspected wrongdoing. By then everyone had heard the story of how Corbett's office blew off intern Jennifer Knapp Rioja when she tried to report the taxpayer-funded campaign operation Sen. Jane Orie allegedly ran out of her district office. It's still not clear even now whether Corbett has settled on either of his lame, contradictory excuses: either there's no record the intern ever called (oh, wait; there is.) Or, Corbett routinely allows his receptionist to decide which cases his office will investigate.

Corbett's tendency to overlook accusations of wrongdoing against his political allies is well established. Apparently he's so comfortable with this reputation he's not even bothering to offer lame excuses anymore.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

With respect to the Gingrich forgery case, take a look at lines six and 11 of the petition, here: http://www.russdiamond.org/forgery/exhibita.html

You will see that the same person signed the petition using vastly different handwriting. The forgery is patent even to the layman.

See also, who signed the circulator's affidavit?

Corbett couldn't find forgery and false-swearing in this? He wants to be our Governor? Are you kidding me? The man is not fit for the high office of dog catcher, let alone Governor of the Commonwealth.

Anonymous said...

does anyone even read this anymore? Your swiftly becoming forgotten signor.

SuaSponte said...

Corbett reads this religiously and cringes that the truth is being revealed. Good morning Tom, you are going to lose.

Anonymous said...

Nobody reads this criminal written trash.It all backfired on you Signor.Your blogsite is helping to elect Tom.All of us criminal haters thank you.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Ms. Sponte, sweet dreams.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Ms. Sponte, sweet dreams.

Anonymous said...

Criminal written??? You are as big of a moron as Corbett...

Anonymous said...

Tom wins big scumbag criminals.Rot in jail morons. Ha Ha Ha Tom wins again and again.

Anonymous said...

what about all of the people who ADMITTED to breaking the law and are still employed by the house... you must either be one of them or you are as much of a hypocrite as corbett... either way, you are a social loser.

Anonymous said...

You and your friends are social winners in the big house with Bubba. They love your tight Buns.Tom Is the only winner where it counts the courtroom and the ballot box.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

“what about all of the people who ADMITTED to breaking the law and are still employed by the house”

Don’t you mean people who admitted to being coerced and pressured into breaking the law?

Anonymous said...

Corbett will not finish his first term as Governor since he will be investigated and removed.

Anonymous said...

You are right Tom will not finish his first term as Governor, because he will be elected President.

The Lizard said...

Yes, anonymous, you're probably right about Republicans wanting to make Corbett president. Lord knows Republicans have never shied from putting failed executives and Constitutional ignoramuses into the White House.

Anonymous said...

You say all those who admitted wrongdoing and had no charges, in fact are still state employees, were "pressured" into it. Really?

Eric Webb testified he set up the bonus evaluation system, invited the "rock star" system, etc., but never said he was pressured into it. Who pressured Steve Webb into lying to the state grand jury, by his own admission? Who pressured Eric Buxton into accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in no work state contracts?

In fact, according to AG witness PJ Lavalle, after Veon left he continued to do fundraising on state time for Speaker McCall - if that's true, who pressured McCall into that? And was Angela Bertuggli somehow pressured to accept a job for offering sex to Manzo?

Many examples of the same.

Anonymous said...

Corbett will not be able to operate as Governor as the Habay Rules come upion his own appointments and fellow lawmakers Corbett gave a pass upon.

Anonymous said...

The big rumor is Jane Orie is about to turn on Republicans to save herself, including Corbett Operatives.

Anonymous said...

Republican Tom Corbett has a one point lead over Democrat Dan Onorato in the gubernatorial race, while GOP Senate candidate Pat Toomey is 4 points ahead of Democrat Joe Sestak, according to a Critical Insights Research poll of likely voters conducted Sept. 14-16 for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.

Corbett, the state's attorney general, leads Onorato, Allegheny county executive (the Pittsburgh area), by 38 percent to 37 percent with 25 percent undecided.

In the Senate race, former congressman Pat Toomey, the onetime head of the conservative Club for Growth, leads Rep. Joe Sestak by 40 percent to 36 percent with 24 percent undecided.

The poll's margin of error is 4 points.

Both Corbett and Toomey enjoyed somewhat higher leads over their opponents during polls in July and August

Anonymous said...

Corbett holds big lead in governor's race, poll shows
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Attorney Gen. Tom Corbett is holding a large lead over Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato in the race to become the state's next governor, according to a poll released Tuesday morning.

The Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters shows Mr. Corbett, a Republican, with a 54-39 percent edge over his Democratic opponent. The survey shows the lead is fueled by Mr. Corbett's 56-29 percent edge among independent voters.

"An Onorato victory probably would require a sea of change among independent voters who are now strongly in Corbett's camp and often are the group that decides elections," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Seven percent of voters are undecided, the poll says, while 16 percent of Mr. Corbett's backers and 22 percent of Mr. Onorato's supporters say they might change their mind before Election Day.

Mr. Corbett leads Mr. Onorato 88-9 percent among Republicans and trails 84-10 percent among Democrats. Mr. Corbett is winning with men 65-29 percent and Mr. Onorato leads among women 52-39 percent.

From Wednesday through Sunday, Quinnipiac University surveyed 684 Pennsylvania likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10264/1089196-100.stm#ixzz10BmjMT5u