No matter how many times we have pointed out that it's a lie, the Tribune-Review's Brad Bumsted just can't break his addiction to the "Democrats were destroying evidence" fable.
In a little-noticed item in July, the Tribune-Review reported, "The state attorney general’s investigation of legislative corruption that began in 2007 found no substantial evidence of wrongdoing among Senate Republicans."
Bumsted does not waste the opportunity to trot out, yet again, Tom Corbett's thoroughly-debunked excuse for launching a highly-publicized investigation of one caucus - House Democrats - in early 2007 while giving the other three a year or two to get their ducks in obstructive formation.
Corbett "needed to focus on House Democrats first" Bumsted writes, because they "tried to destroy evidence."
But Corbett didn't receive a tip about evidence being destroyed until six months after he began his House-Democrats-only investigation.
In a breathless account of Corbett's "surgically executed raid" on the House Democratic Office of Legislative Research in August 2007, Post-Gazette reporters Tracie Mauriello and Dennis Roddy (now "special assistant" to Corbett) make it clear that investigators "rushed" to seize the evidence immediately after receiving the tip. The agents were in such a hurry they met with a judge at an airport at 7:30 a.m. "to press their case for an expedited decision."
In August.
By August of 2007, Corbett had been investigating House Democrats, and House Democrats alone, for six months.
The fact that it's a blatant lie is just one problem with the "destroying evidence" excuse. It contradicts Corbett's original claim that he was investigating all four caucuses in 2007. And it acknowledges his own incompetence.
As Corbett's opponent in the 2008 Attorney General race, John Morganelli, pointed out:
"If I have four potential targets, and I think they all might be involved in the same thing, and if I go to house A and take all the evidence out and wait two years to go after B, C and D, there’s not going to be any evidence in B, C and D. What you do is you have to swoop in all at one time."
That is, if you really do have four potential targets. Even some Senate Republicans believe Corbett was politically motivated to spare their caucus:
Republican Sen. John Eichelberger, a fiscal and social conservative from Blair County who requested the investigation, told the Tribune-Review on Wednesday that he believes the lack of action by the office is politically motivated.
So who is going to investigate Corbett and his prosecutors?
ReplyDeleteHe never did start a four caucus investigation in 2007. He selected David Freed to run for Attorney General this year. Freed's Father in law is Leroy Zimmerman, currently under investigation by the AG.
Corbett should be impeached for his conduct in office.
So who is going to step to the place.
Brad is just another Scaife toady and GOP shill. I could get more intelligent political analysis from Dagwood Bumstead. When is the media going to expose Richard Mellon Scabies as they've exposed the Koch brothers?
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well, Pa. House Democrats bring (Sandusky) session Take a poll:
ReplyDeleteDoes Tommy make it through his his entire first (and only) term.
Bob Casey has has passed zero bills in almost six years
ReplyDeleteIt was Casey's Brothers that chse the US Attorneys and none of the US Attorneys are doing anything about the allegations or Corbett's Cover Ups on his own political power mistakes.
We need Freed to win the AG race so we can keep this mess all in the party.
ReplyDeleteCome on we all decided to keep hush hush on this. If this ever gets out....including Casey, Specter, and Zimmerman.
Politics preparing for the next election in 2014.
Usually majorities of a house control and manage things their way.
Obamacare rammed down the throats of the public with only the votes of one party.
As far as Casey goes, Gricar? Is that you?
Corbett also awarded $3 million to TSM
Sandusky was prosecuted because victim 1 came forward in 2007 and wasn't going away
The case festered ..going nowhere
What the future AG Kane wants to examine is what happened early on that allowed Sandusky to have his way with numerous victims
If Paterno knew...and others at PSU knew...and looked the other way-
The timing looks bad for the former AG
Running as "tough on crime" is a convenient slogan when running for Governor
a few individuals at PSU are charged with failure to report
ReplyDeletethe question is why did it take 3 years to get a known sexual predator off the street
and was their undue delay in bringing the case forward
was it times for Corbett to maximize campaign contributions from TSM
turns out he had more than enough money to beat Dan Onorato
$6 million in his war chest for the 2010 election-twice as much as Rick Perry
mostly from oil and gas..