"Corbett said that the efficiency of non-profits is often measured by the percentage of its budget that goes to programs or projects. Of the $4.7 million spent by [Beaver Initiative for Growth] from 2004 to 2006, only 23 percent (less than $1.1 million) was used toward actual program expenses. The other 77 percent went to salary, consultants and administrative costs." (OAG press release 3/25/09)
Gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett stirred up outrage in 2009 against the Mike Veon-led non-profit Beaver Initiative for Growth by pointing out that 77 percent ratio. That ratio alone, according to Corbett, was proof positive that BIG was rotten and corrupt.
Now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Jon Schmitz reports this morning that Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile non-profit charity spent 73 percent of its total revenue for the year ending in 2010 for salaries and benefits to employees, including the husband-wife team who earned the top two salaries. (Post-Gazette 11/27/11)
This follows Schmitz's earlier report that a large chunk of the $3 million grant Corbett awarded to the Second Mile in 2010 was headed straight for the pocket of the charity's long-time chairman and Corbett campaign contributor, Robert Poole. (Post-Gazette 11/17/11) The heat is obviously troubling to all involved based on the evasiveness and curtness shown to the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"How the Second Mile decided to award the center's construction contract to Poole, its board chairman, remains unclear. He did not return numerous calls for comment. Representatives of his company - Poole Anderson - said they were not authorized to discuss the deal. And sometime within the last month, the company removed the project from its website. Second Mile chief executive David Woodle also declined to talk about the Poole Anderson contract in detail, saying only: 'There was a competitive bid done.' Even so, said Otten, a charity awarding such a large contract to a member of its own board gives the appearance of a conflict of interest." (Philadelphia Inquirer 11/27/10)
Remember, candidate Corbett brought felony charges against prominent Democrat Mike Veon based on allegedly corrupt spending decisions and awarding of contracts. The case was so flimsy that it had to be brought before a district justice twice - the second time in truncated form due to the outright erroneous conclusions his investigators originally drew. (Post-Gazette 5/28/09)
This seems to be one more reason Corbett delayed his investigation into Sandusky in 2009 and 2010. Not only did he want to avoid blowing apart the vaunted Penn State football program before the 2010 elections, but neither did Corbett want to create major problems for campaign donors associated with Second Mile.
This morning the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeremy Roebuck goes into great depth on the convoluted ties between the Second Mile and Penn State. (Inquirer 11/27/11) Unfortunately, he doesn't take the next step linking those ties to Corbett via campaign donations as the sports blog Deadspin did earlier this month.
Maybe Corbett is right when he says Veon's decisions to spend of millions of BIG's funding on salaries and contracts rose to the level of criminality. As the official entrusted with oversight of non-profits, Attorney General Corbett was in a position to determine such criminality.
If so, we expect to see him call for the arrest of Robert Poole and other campaign contributors on Second Mile's board who personally approved spending 73 percent of the funds on salaries and benefits, and directing state funds into their own pockets over the past several years, including a $3 million dollar grant Corbett personally approved.
If so, we expect to see him call for the arrest of Robert Poole and other campaign contributors on Second Mile's board who personally approved spending 73 percent of the funds on salaries and benefits, and directing state funds into their own pockets over the past several years, including a $3 million dollar grant Corbett personally approved.
While Attorney General and a candidate for Governor, it sure looks like Corbett wanted to delay investigating Sandusky so he wouldn't have to make such a call until after the election.
10 comments:
Posted 11-16-11
Go To:
www.yardbird.com
November 16, 2011 -- District Attorney Tom Kearney, of York County, PA, has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate longstanding allegations that Corbett Administration security provider Russell Wantz, Jr. has ongoing close ties to a prostitution and pedophile ring centered in and around the York County courthouse.
Sex offender Wantz, of York County, was arrested in a Craigslist sting in December 2007, by Swatara Township police. In 2009, Wantz was granted an ARD by Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico. At the time Marsico refused to investigate Wantz further.
Wantz is the owner of the Schaad Detective Agency of York. Schaad holds multi-million dollar security contracts with the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett. Schaad guards sensitive state complexes such as the PennDot headquarters in Harrisburg.
GO TO LINK TO LEARN MORE AND POST IT HERE.
Tom Corbett tenure as AG and how he misused that office for Political Self-Interest Power is nothing short of shameful.
Corbett must be investigated by the FBI and revelations will not be pretty.
Corbett investigated the entire Legislature but he only went after Political Foes and protected Political Friends.
Corbett is using what were Ethical Violations on everyone them and turn them into Criminal violations, that is not what a Democracy or AG is all about.
Corbett himself violated the same laws he accused others of and his staffers in their zeal to prosecute, broke laws, excluded exculpatory evidence, and went for Headlines over the truth so he could use it to become Governor.
This will not stand and he will be held accountable with Prosecutor's Misconduct, just like Nifong was in Duke case.
Moreover, he carefully calculated avoiding the Sandusky Allegations and continued to permit children to be violated, claiming Grand Jury Secrecy, when those rules do not apply as he claims.
I mean if we used his excuse that he needed more evidence before he could do anything, I guess when someone commits murder you keep letting him do it until you have the evidence.
Poppycock, you go after him right there and then and accumulate the evidence afterwards and as it unfold, especially regarding the protection of children.
AG Linda Kelly assigned 7 Staffers after she took over as AG, and Corbett assign one sole State Policeman that has been promote to the Head of the State Police, meanwhilem Corbett had 14 assign to a few legislators, while mother's of children were crying to stop Sandusky.
We need a law that Feds have, no Prosecutor can run for Higher Office until 2 years afterwards his leaving that job or office, that way we have AG's that go after the truth, not plan Higher Office Campaigns and it should apply for 4 years for DA's too.
Corbett as Waste Management Chief has been dirty for a long time, but his lies, and misuse of AG Staffers will come to justice as this scandal unfolds.
After that, I will embrace him again once he admits his violations for prowling for power.
In a way, Corbett is like Paterno, Paterno was in charge of the PSU Football Program when he wanted to be, and when things went wrong others were in charge.
This was wrong for Paterno and it caught up with him, and Corbett has been doing the same on some people in his way, and there is something wrong very serious wrong about Children Abuse in very high places, and someone covered it up, until after the election.
Linda Kelly has been smart enough to drop some pending prosecutions and she needs to do more to correct Corbett’s Campaign violations and to save Corbett.
I want the truth and we can handle the truth, but it begins and ends with Corbett's actions and inactions, and power trip, it will not stand.
If Corbett came out and told the entire truth I would support him today for re-election, but he will not do it now.
Mother's and Children's, and Victim's should add to the growing Professionals', Lawmakers', Prosecutors', and Newspapers' asking for an investigation into Tom Corbett Tenure as AG.
NEWSWEEK:
Penn State's New Villain: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett
Nov 21, 2011 12:00 AM EST
The investigation of Jerry Sandusky began when Tom Corbett, the Pennsylvania governor, was attorney general. What took so long? Plus, Peter Beinart asks, Is there any honor left in football?
Like an unchecked oil spill with no effective cleanup plan in sight, the black ooze flowing from the tragedy and travesty of the Penn State scandal keeps spreading, covering even those who—because of mad-dash coverage, in particular by The New York Times—were originally hailed as instant heroes.
A week after a state grand jury reported dozens of horrific acts of sexual abuse against minors by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, the only man who stood tall was Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.
The investigation started in 2009 on Corbett’s watch, when he was state attorney general, and the release of the 40-count indictment against Sandusky occurred with Corbett in the governor’s mansion.
It was hard not to admire him, although Jo Becker went a little far in her shameless puff piece in the Times on Nov. 10. He had taken on a case of such enormous ramifications, ripping open the state’s most sacrosanct institution and its most powerful man, football coach Joe Paterno.
The great JoePa, who did nothing to stop Sandusky’s alleged depravity but kick it upstairs to superiors when everyone knew Paterno had no superiors, was fired. Graham Spanier, the president of Penn State, was out as well.
That made Corbett appear even taller.
Except for the fact that the way his office handled the investigation raises inevitable and legitimate questions about why an alleged sexual predator was allowed to remain at large for nearly three years while the grand jury investigated. The question of political considerations cannot be avoided.
Not only that, but Corbett’s gubernatorial staff approved—yes, approved—a $3 million grant to Second Mile, the foundation for kids that, according to the grand jury, served as a repository for potential sex-abuse victims.
Corbett knew about the grant and let it through last July for reasons that seem absurd.
Kathleen Kane, who is running for attorney general, is a Democrat, while Corbett is a Republican.
But Kane was also an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County who specialized in cases of sexual abuse for 12 years.
She told me that in any case where authorities know of an alleged sexual predator believed to have committed a crime, the first obligation is to make an arrest.
The risk of Sandusky committing another act against a minor child was too great to wait three years for a report, she said emphatically.
Corbett brushed off any criticism last week as being misinformed.
“The investigation moved as quickly as it could,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“If, during the time that I was in office, we could have been in a position to make an arrest, we would have made an arrest.”
NEWSWEEK: MORE ABOUT THE TRUTH ABOUT AG TOM CORBETT AND KEVIN HARLEY FROM NEWSWEEK BELOW....
NEWSWEEK CONTINUED FROM ANGELS ABOVE EXPOSING TOM CORBETT'S COMPLICITY IN NOT PROTECTING THE CHILDREN.....
I am not a lawyer, but I have spoken to former prosecutors who have dealt with sexual abuse, including rape, and they don’t buy Corbett’s line for a second.
“You don’t need a grand-jury report,” said one.
“If there is an alleged sexual predator on the streets known to you, you get him off the streets.”
After an arrest, the former prosecutor said, there is nothing to preclude investigators from finding more alleged victims.
In fact, victims might have been more comfortable coming forward knowing that the alleged perpetrator had been arrested.
And the actions of Penn State officials still could have been probed.
The strongest case allegedly occurred in 2008, and, according to the grand jury, involved Sandusky performing oral sex on the alleged victim more than 20 times when he was 13 or 14—when Sandusky was in his early 60s.
The case is what led Corbett when he was attorney general to commence an investigation into Sandusky in 2009.
Authorities in this case know the victim. His mother reported it to his high school’s assistant principal, Steven Turchetta, who knew Sandusky as a volunteer coach at the school and found his behavior suspicious.
The matter was reported to authorities as mandated by law. In addition, wrestling coach Joseph Miller told the grand jury that upon returning to the Clinton County high school one evening in 2005 or 2006 to get something, he noticed a light on in the weight room that should have been turned off.
When he went into the weight room, according to the grand-jury report, he saw Sandusky and the alleged victim lying side by side, face to face in physical contact.
He also testified that Sandusky seemed surprised to see him, jumping up from the mat and saying, “Hey, Coach, we’re just working on wrestling moves.”
NEWSWEEK CONTINUED BELOW SHOWING TO CORBETT REVEALING TOM CORBETT'S EXCUSES FOR NOR PROTECTING CHILDREN BELOW.......
NEWSWEEK CONTINUED FROM ABOVE SHOWING HOW TOM CORBETT IGNORED THE CRIES OF MOTHER FOR A PROPER INVESTIGATION......
So in this case you had the identity of the alleged victim. You had two adults who were eyewitnesses to actions by Sandusky that they say were strange and suspicious.
You had the mother reporting an incident.
You had that incident reported to the proper authorities.
You had horrific allegations of repeated acts of oral sex.
An arrest based on these facts shouldn’t have taken very long. Coupled with the now-infamous 1998 case in which, again according to the grand jury, Sandusky admitted at the time to the victim’s mother—with two Penn State police officers eavesdropping—that he may have touched her son’s genitals, it would seem impossible for the attorney general not to be concerned that Sandusky might be engaging in a pattern.
All the more reason to get him off the streets.
But in the high-school case, officials there were not interviewed until earlier this year, according to The Harrisburg Patriot-News. Sandusky’s house was not searched until the summer.
Corbett’s office was too passive. Assuming the litany of accusations against Sandusky is true, Corbett’s inaction ran the terrible risk of the coach committing another awful act of sexual abuse. And maybe he did.
Corbett maintains that it was worth the risk, but it should also be noted that he was running for governor in 2009 and 2010.
Was he inclined to go the route of a lengthy grand-jury probe, rather than an arrest in the high-school case, because he didn’t want to alienate potential donors with Penn State ties?
Corbett has a reputation as an upstanding individual, but according to Deadspin.com, some two dozen present and former Penn State trustees donated $201,783.64 to his gubernatorial campaign.
Unfair corollary? Maybe.
But politics in Pennsylvania?
I have lived in the state for 35 years.
Everything in Pennsylvania is politics.
As for the $3 million grant to Sandusky’s foundation, a Corbett spokesman noted it was originally approved by outgoing governor Ed Rendell but the funds were never committed.
Corbett detested what he viewed as Rendell’s liberal spending policies and eviscerated much of the Democrat’s funding for education. So would he approve a $3 million grant because Rendell wanted it?
You decide.
The spokesman also maintains that Corbett approved the grant (now on hold) to avoid a possible leak of the investigation.
But it seems hard to believe that denying the grant would have aroused any suspicion because Sandusky informed Second Mile in 2008 that he was being investigated.
Perhaps Governor Corbett did the right thing in the route he took: the grand jury did establish eight alleged victims.
But he may well have been able to accomplish the same thing with Sandusky already arrested.
Given the enormous extent of this scandal, with all its obfuscation and lack of action and conflict of interest and just plain stupidity, it’s no wonder that the ooze would eventually touch Corbett.
Add him to the lengthening list of those who’ll have to scrub awfully hard to cleanse themselves of the stain.
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Buzz Bissinger, a sports columnist for The Daily Beast, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and the author of Friday Night Lights and Three Nights in August. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
LINK:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/11/20/penn-state-s-new-villain-pennsylvania-gov-tom-corbett.html
FREE MIKE VEON INVESTIGATE TOM CORBETT!
I've been waiting for nearly two weeks to find a "genius" in the media that would begin asking this question.
Why wasn't this guy arrested in 2009 when they had a complaining victim?
Unfortunately the media is far to focused on speculating about things not in the grand jury report and convicting Joe Paterno of moral terpitude than asking salient questions.
I know it's not saying much, congratulation Buzz, you are smarter than the folks at CNN and ESPN.
Now how about moving on to the next question. Corbett was unsuccessful in reducing Penn State's budget last session of the legislature.
Could his hand picked special unit have crafted the grand jury report in such a fashion as to embarass the university?
What if there really is more to the McQueary story, like, for example Paterno did follow up?
I know, I know, we must all Please, Please, PLEASE leave Tom Corbett alone.
Corbett wants to privatize the state liquor stores.
Corbett is doing God's work covering for the Trustee, Poltical Friends, and Campaign Funding.
Until each and everyone of us care enough to do the right thing and put children first this kind of insanity will continue.
HOW do these people sleep at night?
And the "...T..." which runs from South Central PA up to the NY Border is both the Republican heartland and Penn State football heartland.
Philly and Pittsburgh are pro-football towns.
Really?
Because it looks like Corbett is the same scum-sucking piece of trash that Joe Paterno is, covering up a sexual predator and pedophile, all in the name of football and politics.
I live in central PA and I think you got that right.
I certainly won't vote for Corbett the next time.
STATED OTHERWISE ... Like a Badly Leaking Nuclear Reactor whose core is beyond reach ... Penn State is toxic ...
When Sandusky was raping those children, he was ravaging a great institution ...
There is Trouble in Penn State ... Trouble with a capital "T" and it rhymes with "P" and it stands for Pedophile.
Let's clean house from top to bottom, start with Feds Grand Jury on Corbett as AG.
Except the chief lawyer in the state - Corbett unleashed the main stream media when he threw Joe under the bus on national TV saying he did not meet the moral standard.
There is going to be a lot Corbett is accountable for - those statements, the release of the gj report, his influence on the BOT decision to fire Paterno (and the other guy), the way he drug his feet on the investigation and could have done more.
He has deflected the media attention toward the bigger target, hopefully in time it all comes back to him.
It certainly is going to make for some interesting political ads in the next election.
Nits are against the truth.
Their interim president wants to use this as an opportunity to increase awareness about childhood sex abuse. Yeah, they've increased awareness alright. Why didn't they increase the awareness back in 1998 or 2002? I say take them at their word.
Open the files and let us see who knew what. PSU is conveniently a state institution when the money gets passed out, but private when the FOIA requests come in.
What they need to do is increase awareness about the institutional cover-ups of sexual abuse. This is the perfect opportunity to come clean and earn some respect.
I am embarrassed by having my home state associated with that criminal organization.
I suggest that they drop the name Pennsylvania from their name since it is becoming synonymous for the sexual abuse of young boys.
The Penn State child sexual abuse scandal that began with a mother's call to her son's high school in 2008 has spawned at least eight overlapping investigations.
1. State Attorney General Linda Kelly is overseeing the 2 1/2-year grand jury investigation that led to an explosive Nov. 5 abuse complaint against retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, and felony charges against two top university officials who prosecutors say lied under oath. Until it released the grand jury's report, Kelly's office was the sole investigating agency.
Now it has company.
2. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-Delaware County, a former federal prosecutor who asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Penn State's compliance with the Clery Act on crime reporting, predicts the university will have trouble keeping up with subpoenas and requests for documents.
"It will overwhelm the Penn State administration," Meehan said.
Other entities with investigations under way include:
3. The Penn State Board of Trustees, which hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh to head a commission to investigate the university's actions;
4. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is examining Penn State's handling of its sports programs;
5. The Second Mile, the charity authorities say Sandusky used to access victims, which hired former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham to head its investigation;
6. Children and Youth Services in Centre County, which The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News reported is investigating allegations that Sandusky abused two children in the past 60 days;
7. Police in San Antonio, Texas, who are investigating allegations that Sandusky abused a child while attending the 1999 Alamo Bowl.
8. Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, told the Patriot-News that his client started a private investigation to disprove the grand jury's claims.
Officials with New York City's Fresh Air Fund contacted state officials in New York and Pennsylvania about records that show children from the charity were placed in the Sandusky home.
"Just in the number of different entities, I can't recall anything like this," said former federal prosecutor Bruce Antkowiak, a professor of law and criminology at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.
"But every one of these agencies has jurisdiction in the area that they're looking at. ... In each case, there is a legitimate statutory mandate to make inquiry."
Certain witnesses might not talk to investigators on the advice of their lawyers, Meehan said, noting, "The only one with subpoena power is the attorney general."
Meehan acknowledged the investigators will duplicate certain tasks. "Invariably, they will. They'll come back to a lot of the same places."
That's not necessarily bad, said John Burkoff, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
"The more investigations ... and the more publicity these investigations spawn, the greater the chance that additional pieces of evidence will turn up," Burkoff said. "That includes more victims or witnesses, assuming that there are any more out there."
Pittsburgh attorney Howard Messer isn't optimistic that multiple investigations will lead to substantive change at Penn State.
"It all depends upon the motivations of the people who control the investigations," said Messer, who represented miners trapped in the 2002 Quecreek Mine disaster that spawned four investigations. "The political and economic considerations that go into funding these investigations often control the outcome. If investigators are left alone, they tend to reach much better conclusions."
Read more: Scandal spawns at least 8 overlapping probes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/state/s_769809.html#ixzz1fNoA2vbC
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