The former Attorney General of Pennsylvania's vigorous denial of slow-walking the Jerry Sandusky investigation and welcoming of Attorney General-elelct Kathleen Kane's investigation is quite similar to a very well-known proclamation from another prominent politician.
Here's Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Angela Couloumbis' report on remarks Corbett made yesterday:
"'But for a true investigation, there has to be some criminal act. I know I didn't commit any criminal act. None. Zero.'[said Corbett]...Corbett then launched into another impassioned defense of his handling of the Sandusky probe, saying he never asked anyone to slow it down - nor did anyone ask him to do so - for political or other reasons." (Inquirer 11/10/12)
Here's the Patriot News' Charlie Thompson's report on the "impassioned defense" Corbett then "launched":
"There is no communication from to anybody to slow down an investigation. There is no communication from anyone to me that they were going to slow down for any political reason, and I wouldn't want them to." (Patriot News 11/9/12)
The Sandusky investigation took way too long. Riots following the firing of Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno illustrated the political risks then-gubernatorial candidate Corbett faced in bringing charges before the 2010 election. Is it a coincidence?
Maybe not, and if not a political calculation on Corbett's part, then the 33-month investigation to take a child sexual predator off the street must be chalked up to extreme incompetence. Either way, Kane has strong, credible reasons to investigate how Corbett and his deputies conducted the investigation of Sandusky.
15 comments:
Loads of Pennsylvanians are just counting on Kathleen Kane to be aggressive and thorough in the Corbett and other political corruption investigations. Wouldn't it be great if the big money and influential had the same kind of scrutiny as all the rest of us? I hope the new AG knows how much we are counting on her for justice.
Here are 5 suggestions for Ms. Kane to launch corruption investigations about:
1. The slooow Sandusky investigation
2. The Supreme Court's Family Court bldg. in Phila. (stinks)
3. Harrisburg incinerator loans (stinks worse)
4. Use of state trooper from Corbett security detail to pick up Cabinet Sec's DUI wife on state time in state police car (overwhelming stink)
5. The apparently not yet really investigated politics in the State Senate (what's up with that?)
Anonymous suggested 5 investigations. Agreed. But here are 5 more:
1. What ever happened to target letter/charges for Todd Eachus?
2. What about deposed Health Sec.'s calling down action against Hbg. diner for not recognizing him in egg sandwichgate?
3. Finish up that Turnpike investigation, including looking at ED Nutt's tenure.
4. Thad Kirkland and Dwight Evans's "grants" to nonprofits they controlled - what's good for Veon is good for them.
5. Harrisburg's revolving loan program, the money is gone, all records and computers reportedly vanished, and approvals for loans never occurred (btw, what about Sunshine violations in incinerator loans?).
Don't forget corrupt politician Dave Argall and his non-profit in Tamaqua:
http://paindependent.com/2010/12/taxpayers-subsidize-tamaqua-property-purchase-2/
This is what we get for having an elected Attorney General. Corbett raised millions of dollars while serving as the chief law enforcement officer of the state.
Was he really focused on his elected office? Or was he a part-time Attorney General with high ambitions?
How could an honest Attorney General solicit campaign contributions from members of an organization under investigation?
Where do they teach that in Law School? He should re-read the Oath of Office he recited several times. Judging by Tuesday's vote, many members of the Republican Party also found his actions to be despicable.
Corbett wanted to become the Governor so bad that he placed extreme pressure on his prosecutors to do what ever it took to convict people from the legislature. This is why there was no staff to run the Sandusky investigation. The priority was convictions and trials before the 2010 Gubernatorial Election. Free media for the campaign.
Corbett and his Executive Office Staff broke every law he indicted others of committing.
The truth must come out. The citizens of PA demand to know.
Wishing Mrs. Kane a most successful term in office.
You gotta love how Corbett is trying to dictate the premise of the investigation that is long overdue. No one necessarily said there was an overt attempt to stonewall the investigation, proven with an e-mail string. However, the fact still remains that there were clearly insufficient resources devoted to taking this serial child predator off the streets.
I hope Kathleen Kane follows Corbett's advice: Remember that boy in the shower.
It's a sad day in the Commonwealth when the sitting Governor says he did not commit any criminal acts as the Attorney General.
Is that the standard of conduct for our chief law enforcement officer?
How about conduct above reproach?
Did he understand the Oath of Office for AG?
Was he blaming Rendell for the lone State Police officer assigned to the Sandusky case? Was the PSP officer on loan? Where was the AG's staff?
Was it dereliction of duty to withhold the Child Predator Unit from the Sandusky case?
Was Corbett too busy running for Governor?
Did he compromise his ethical responsibilities by accepting campaign donations from the very people he was investigating?
The $2 million grant to the Second Mile was not criminal, but who in their right mind would have approved it before not approving it?
Did Corbett reimburse the state for the use of a state driver during all the campaign trips he scheduled? After all, the driver would have been home, off the clock, if Corbett had not scheduled campaign activity on state time. Sounds like Theft of Service charges are appropriate.
No criminal actions? His prosecutors took less than this and destroyed lives. The Attorney General and his staff are expected to be lawful.
Impeachment of a Governor in Pennsylvania is based on any "misbehavior in office."
Ms. Kane is facing a Republican staff in the AG's Office that is entrenched in their conduct and ethics. Time to clean house.
Good luck Mrs. Kane.
The first post-election Pennsylvania poll finds both President Barack Obama and Gov. Tom Corbett have improved their standing among state voters.
But Quinnipiac University's Pennsylvania poll, released today, found Obama remains more popular than Corbett. The president's 52-45 approval rating outpaced the governor's at 40-38. Poll administrators attribute both men's standing to their handling of Hurricane Sandy.
Some 74 percent and 61 percent of Pennsylvania voters respectively said Obama's and Corbett's responses to Hurricane Sandy were “excellent” or “good,” according to the poll.
Back to reality. The Sandusky investigation was politicized at the expense of Aaron Fisher.
Please read:
http://newslanc.com/2012/11/12/silent-no-more-a-victims-tale-of-abuse-by-jerry-sandusky-and-tom-corbett
Corbett: "Live by the sword, die by the sword." Politically speaking.
It's clear to me that Governor Corbett is missing the point of the probe. The citizens of Pennsylvania aren't primarily concerned about his guilt or innocence.
The citizens want to know why children were unnecessarily endangered for three years.
http://notpsu.blogspot.com/2012/11/different-narrative-of-scandal-emerges.html?showComment=1353015031950#c3540536492798306993
Governor Corbett spent his AG years avoiding investigating Republican DAs, Republican legislators, Senator Orie and the whole Senate Republican caucus, commiting all resources to going after Mike Veon, and avoiding anything that could hurt him politically, like the slooooow Sandusky investigation. As Gov. he pushed all the blame on Paterno, did everything he could to avoiding an investigation of Harrisburg incinerator financings including threatening to fire his own Receiver, and walking away from his Gov. responsibility on healthcare.
How bad was this investigation? Go here to find out...
http://notpsu.blogspot.com/2012/11/sandusky-investigation-was-bible-on-how.html
There are a lot of whispers starting to float around that The Second Mile and the Milton Hershey Non-Profits/Charities were heavily tied into Campaign Contribution fraud relative to extremely large donors and the GOP. Not sure exactly what has been going on with fraud at charities, the PAG's Office, the GOP, Zimmerman, Asher, the Governor's Office, but there is just way too many names that just keep coming up in regards to PSU BOT, The Second Mile, Milton Hershey Charities & Trust, etc... Something very weird going on in regards to the GOP, Zimmerman/Asher, Charitable Fraud, etc....
BTW, the exact same players were involved in the R. Budd Dwyer event in 1987.
Unreal that you could simply swap Ridge for Corbett, but the puppet masters remain Asher & Zimmerman. Cynthia Baldwin is heavily tied to LeRoy Zimmerman and was hired into the PAG's Office by Zimmerman to head the Consumer Affairs Department (LeRoy Zimmerman was the first elected AG of PA).
Interestingly, one of Ridge's first PSU BOT appointees after taking office in 1995 was none other then LeRoy Zimmerman acolyte, Cynthia Baldwin - this is excerpted from the attached article.
http://www.pacourts.us/NR/rdonlyres/B876A28A-42D4-4A05-83F1-FD481958AC35/0/newsletterspring06.pdf
Tom Corbett is incredulous that lawmakers like Mellow and Orie continued using state-paid staff for political purposes.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
Memo to the Space Cadet: The people of PA are INCREDULOUS that they were engaged in such blatant activity that he deemed was criminal, but he failed to find it. Either he never investigated the Senate (i.e., he lied), or he never discovered their indescretions (i.e. incompetence).
So which is it, Mr. Governor??? Perhaps Ms. Kane can help us answer that question, too!
Gover, Zimmerman, kabal of Judges such as Hoover are shaking in their pants.
They never thought the Democrats would capture the AG Office, now the shoe is on the other foot, and senate caucuses, hershey trusts, and second mile republicans are about to learn what a political investigation is all about and some judges too.
Some lobbyists from the former positions in the senate should sell out and leave the state for a few years.
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