[Governor Tom] Corbett reminded reporters today that he received campaign contributions from former House Speaker John Perzel in 2004, adding: "It didn't do him any good, did it[?] (Patriot-News, 9/1/11)
Or did it?
Back in early 2007, when media reports revealed that all four caucuses had awarded questionable bonuses, Corbett declined to begin investigating Republicans (despite his public statements to the contrary.) That was pretty good for Perzel and other Republicans who supported Corbett.
When House Republicans wanted to replace all their computers in July of 2007, in the midst of Corbett's so-called "investigation," Corbett told them to go right ahead. That was pretty good for Perzel and other Republicans who supported Corbett.
When Corbett executed a search warrant for documents, he seized only House Democratic documents, giving House Republicans the opportunity to destroy evidence and hide documents. That was pretty good for Perzel and other Republicans who supported Corbett. (Are judges really "laughing out of court" applications for search warrants and subpoenas that don't include probable cause that evidence sought is being destroyed? What's laughable is that no one questioned this lame explanation.)
Eight months into the "investigation," Corbett and his campaign manager met with Perzel. Subpoenas were issued three weeks later, suggesting that, had the meeting gone another way, subpoenas might not have been issued. That opportunity could have been great for Perzel (and any for other Republicans who supported Corbett, who may have had meetings we don't know about that did go another way.)
And even though House Republicans apparently didn't bother to comply with those subpoenas (could it be they had reason to believe Corbett wasn't serious about investigating them?), contempt hearings "held for the purpose of forcing the caucus into compliance with subpoenas and court orders" did not take place for an entire year. That was pretty good for Perzel and the other Republicans who supported Corbett.
Ten months into the "investigation," Corbett accepted a campaign contribution from Perzel's former chief of staff and allowed him to host a fundraiser, something he would never have done if Perzel and his former chief of staff were under investigation. Not being under investigation was pretty good for Perzel and his former chief of staff and the other Republicans who supported Corbett.
And even though investigators learned when they executed the warrant on House Democrats that House Republican records also were stored in the basement, Corbett never executed a search warrant for them. That was pretty good for Perzel and the other Republicans who supported Corbett.
And even when Corbett finally got around to issuing a subpoena for those records in February 2008, and immediately learned the boxes had vanished, Corbett didn't bother interviewing House Republican staffers about them until late July 2008. That, also, was pretty good for Perzel and the other Republicans who supported Corbett.
Finally, facing 82 felony counts for his alleged theft totaling $10 million (out of $20 million misappropriated; apparently no one is responsible for the other $10 million), Perzel was permitted to plead to just 8, fewer even than Mike Manzo, a staffer, who was charged with 47 felony counts in a $2 million crime. That's pretty good for Perzel (though we don't know, and may never know, what he promised to reveal - or not to reveal - in exchange for that deal. Up to now, this humble blog is the only outlet commenting on the glaring holes in Corbett's "investigation" of the House Republicans. A full-blown trial would make it hard for even the Capitol Stenographers Corps to avoid reporting on them.)
Did Perzel's political support for Corbett do him any good? In the end, it wasn't enough to get him off scot-free, but it took him pretty far. He supported Corbett for Attorney General in 2004, and that appears to have bought him some goodwill early in the "investigation." But after that meeting in October 2007, when Corbett was lining up support for his gubernatorial campaign - which he never got from Perzel - that goodwill appeared to dry up. Even lukewarm support might not have been enough to counteract the mounting pressure to prove the "investigation" wasn't partisan.
As we have seen with the so-called "investigation" of Corbett's longtime ally LeRoy Zimmerman, political support might have staved off investigation - watchdogs had been begging Corbett to investigate for six years. But when the state's largest newspaper, a month before the election, exposed the alleged corruption Corbett had been overlooking, he was forced at least to pretend he would investigate. And Zimmerman is a far more valuable ally than Perzel ever was.
Oh, by the way: has the more than $1.6 million in contributions Corbett received from natural gas drillers done them any good?
CASABLANCAPA IS RIGHT ON POINT:
ReplyDeleteI am putting up a Newspaper Article on why no investigation on the Senate side has taken place to date.
Specifically, $919,000 to senate aides with the biggest bonus paid to Senate Aide Mike Long.
The Taxpayers need a Federal Investigation into how Mike Long Associates was able to work on Corbett Governor Campaign walking around the Offices of the Attorney General working on Corbett Campaign when Mike Long was suppose to be the very target of bonuses paid for campaign work in the senate?
The Corbett Investigation and Corbett Campaign were intermingled it so seems and the article below is starting to raise a spotlight on both.
So far, Pennsylvania Senate has escaped House cleaning
By Brad Bumsted, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 4, 2011
HARRISBURG — Though three aides to a former House speaker are set for trial this month on charges of misusing public resources, the Capitol buzz about legislative corruption targets the Senate these days.
Sen. John Eichelberger, who five years ago requested an investigation into $366,000 in Senate bonuses paid to Republican staffers, says he's disappointed the state attorney general hasn't charged anyone. He blames "politics" as the likely reason.
"You don't know if they really worked it or dropped it," said Eichelberger, an Altoona Republican.
The secrecy of grand jury investigations keeps prosecutors from talking about the next step in the probe. Asked why no one in the Republican-controlled Senate was charged, Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina said he won't comment on investigations. Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for Attorney General Linda Kelly, said Kelly won't say anything because she "believes the investigation is first and foremost."
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who was attorney general when the bonus investigation began in 2007, won't talk about it, said his press secretary Kevin Harley. Before he became governor, Corbett said investigators were looking at both political parties in the House and Senate.
Indeed, what started as an investigation into bonuses paid to staffers for campaigns broadened, leading to charges against 25 people connected with the House. Juries convicted three and acquitted two Democratic defendants. Twelve Republicans and Democrats pleaded guilty in deals with prosecutors. Eight cases are pending.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, Corbett's 2008 Democratic opponent for attorney general, says "the results in the House were very good. I give Tom Corbett credit."
That's a far more kindly look at the corruption investigation than Morganelli had on the campaign trail, when he blasted Corbett for not appointing an independent special prosecutor and not simultaneously investigating the four caucuses. He also had accused Corbett of not investigating Senate Republican leaders who supported Corbett politically and financially with sizeable campaign donations.
Corbett insisted that a campaign contribution wouldn't influence him. In November 2009, he charged former House Speaker John Perzel, a Philadelphia Republican, who pleaded guilty last week to eight felonies.
Prosecutors said Perzel, who gave campaign money to Corbett, oversaw a scheme to divert $10 million in state tax money into technology to boost House GOP campaigns. Three of Perzel's former aides are set for trial Sept. 26.
Corbett had vowed to follow the evidence wherever it led, but said the House Democratic Caucus stood out because of the magnitude of its bonuses. Records showed bonuses given to legislative staffers in the 2005-2006 session totalled $3.6 million. House Democrats handed out $2.3 million; House Republicans, $919,000; Senate Democrats, $41,000.
CONTINUED BELOW.....
CONTINUED FROM ABOVE....
ReplyDeleteStill, Morganelli thinks the attorney general's office ought to explain why no charges resulted against senators or their employees, because of "circumstantial evidence" that campaign operatives received thousands of dollars in bonuses.
A prosecutor might have reasons not to, Morganelli concedes — such as no credible evidence, or an investigation that remains active but low-key. Or, he said, a grand jury could issue a report on the Senate without filing charges.
Eichelberger said he can't believe no evidence surfaced. He acknowledges it might be sketchier after five years. "My recollection isn't as good as it was five years ago," he said.
Senate Republican spokesman Erik Arneson said the caucus has cooperated with the Attorney General's Office. To date, it has spent $2.5 million to pay legal fees in connection with the investigation. Figures were not immediately available for the other caucuses.
"We are not aware of any charges being filed against individuals connected to the Senate Republican Caucus in connection with the 'Bonusgate' investigation, nor are we aware of such charges being contemplated," Arneson said.
Eichelberger said he hears scuttlebutt that the FBI has overtaken any Senate investigation. An FBI spokesman did not return calls.
A federal investigation put former Senate Democratic powerbroker Vince Fumo in prison for a 55-month sentence on charges of defrauding a nonprofit and a seaport museum. Last year federal prosecutors charged ex-Sen. Raphael Musto, D-Pittston, with taking kickbacks from a contractor. And the FBI last year raided the home and office of former Senate Minority Leader Bob Mellow, D-Lackawanna County. Mellow has not been charged.
The state investigation landed another high-profile Democrat in prison: former House Minority Whip Mike Veon from Beaver Falls. He is serving a six-year term for his conviction last year for overseeing a vast state-paid political operation in the House — including bonuses with taxpayers' money to aides who worked on campaigns.
"It strains the imagination to think both caucuses in the House were doing this, yet both caucuses in the Senate were puritan political players," said Eric Epstein, founder of reform group Rock the Capital.
Rep. Bill DeWeese, a Waynesburg Democrat and former House speaker facing charges, calls it "outrageous and unfathomable" that the Attorney General's Office charged 25 people in the House and no one in the Senate. His trial on charges of using his staff for re-election campaigns is set for next year.
"For five years we've been waiting to understand the breadth and depth of Corbett's investigation of the Republican Senate," said DeWeese. "This is longer than World War II."
SOURCES:
Read more: So far, Pennsylvania Senate has escaped House cleaning - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/state/s_754999.html#ixzz1Wzo3OLle
AGAIN, THE TAXPAYERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH NEED AN INVESTIGATION OF HOW ATTORNEY GENERAL CORBETT HIRED REPUBLICAN SENATE AIDES THAT GOT THE LARGEST BONUSES FOR HIS CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSE TO BE INVESTIGATING THEM???
If the OAG indicts any senators after all these years, the gasbags will declare that it "proves" the investigation was not politically influenced. But all it will prove is that negative publicity is more is a more powerful incentive than campaign support. Any charges filed after 5 years are nothing more than damage control, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteA Walk Back On Memory Lane For Governor Corbett And For Attorney General Linda Kelly Today, What Happen To The Investigation???
ReplyDeleteAG to review Senate GOP records in bonus probe
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- Attorney General Tom Corbett has subpoenaed more documents in the ongoing investigation into whether lawmakers used bonuses to pay state employees for campaign work.
This time he is asking Senate Republicans for a variety of documents, including payroll records, said caucus counsel Steve MacNett.
"In effect, this is a formalization of an information gathering and sharing process that has been ongoing for some time," Mr. MacNett said.
Caucus leaders already have been complying with other less formal requests from the attorney general, and will comply with this one, too, he said.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we are directing all caucus offices to ensure that any potentially relevant records, both paper and electronic, are retained until the completion of the investigation," he said.
"Out of respect for the confidentiality expected during an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide any further comment."
Previously in the grand jury investigation, Mr. Corbett subpoenaed documents from the House Republicans and both documents and testimony from House Democrats.
Mr. Corbett's office has said it is investigating all four caucuses to determine if there was a link between bonuses given to staffers and work they did on campaigns. Together, the four caucuses gave $3.6 million in 2006.
Of that, Senate Republicans gave a total of $184,000. The money was distributed to 16 employees in amounts ranging from $422 to $22,500.
An analysis by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in December showed that four of the 16 recipients had worked extensively on incumbents' campaigns that year.
Mike Long and Drew Crompton, former aides to ousted Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, were the most active campaigners; they received bonuses of $22,500 and $19,467, respectively.
Both have said those bonuses were for legislative achievements, not campaign work.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08044/856952-178.stm#ixzz1X0Y6ofJw
Signor Ferrari said... If the OAG indicts any senators after all these years, the gasbags will declare that it "proves" the investigation was not politically influenced. But all it will prove is that negative publicity is more is a more powerful incentive than campaign support. Any charges filed after 5 years are nothing more than damage control, pure and simple....September 4, 2011 1:09 PM
ReplyDeleteOnce the Senate Aides are indicted and given Immunity, it will reveal much of how Corbett Campaign operated with the OAG Investigation.
J. Andrew "Drew" Crompton is acting chief of staff and counsel for Pennsylvania Senate Pro-Tempore Joe Scarnati.
ReplyDeleteHe served as deputy campaign manager for policy for Lynn Swann's 2006 campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania.
Prior to that, he was general counsel for Scarnati's predecessor as Pennsylvania Senate Pro-Tempore, Robert Jubelirer.
Crompton's Role in the 2005 pay raise controversy was not so small and needs a Federal Investigation since PA AG Linda Kelly is sitting on the investigation after appoitted by Corbett and approved by the senate .
On November 21, 2005, Crompton wrote an internal senate memo suggesting that pay raise activists, including Russ Diamond, Tim Potts and Chris Lilik, were required to register as lobbyists with the Pennsylvania Senate.
"They appeared at numerous press conferences, directly communicated with individual members and staff of the Senate, spoken at rallies in Harrisburg and across the state, set up web sites, spoken on many radio and television talk shows, purchased billboards, as well as other activities. [None of them] have registered with the Senate under Senate Resolution 2.
They have been clearly engaging in 'direct or indirect communications' in an attempt to secure the repeal of Act 44 (the pay raise).
The $2,500 threshold for reporting in any quarter includes all expenses associated with direct or indirect communications as well as salaries, benefits, cost of office space, and other related expenditures."
In June 2006 the Pittsburgh Tribune Review called the memo (which Crompton sent to members of the media) part of "an orchestrated plan of attempted intimidation that, to this day, we believe is worthy of a Justice Department investigation."
In 2006, Crompton took 3 months of unpaid leave from his position with Robert Jubelirer to work on the Swann campaign.
Upon his return to the senate, he received a $19,467 bonus[6] above his salary of $101,523.
Critics, including Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, called the bonus inappropriate.
"He should get a bonus from the Swann campaign maybe," Rendell said. "That's the only place he should have gotten a bonus."
Brett Cott Took A Leave Of Absence And Is Sitting In Jail On Just 3 Count Conviction That Jurors Thought Would Amount To A Slap On The Wrist By Judge Lewis.
Yet, Judge Lewis Put Cott In Jail Longer Than Corbett Campaign Architect And Master Planner Republican State Committee Convicted Felon Bob Asher One-Year Prison Sentence Conviction For Of Perjury, Racketeering, Conspiracy, And Bribery In Connection With A State Contract Award.
FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO CORBETT'S MIXING CAMPAIGN WORK WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL SCHEMES IS NEEDED NOW!
Reformed Republican Senators are calling for it!
"Sen. John Eichelberger, who five years ago requested an investigation into $919,000 in Senate bonuses paid to Republican staffers, says he's disappointed the state attorney general hasn't charged anyone. He blames "politics" as the likely reason.
"You don't know if they really worked it or dropped it," said Eichelberger, an Altoona Republican.
Eichelberger said he hears scuttlebutt that the FBI has overtaken any Senate investigation.
But So Far Republican Senate Aides That Gave Themselves Biggest Bonuses Have Been Working On Republican Campaigns Instead Of Being Investigated As Approved By Corbett!