LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS

The defenders of former Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina recently bent the ear of Philadelphia Inquirer commentator Michael Smerconish. It appears that intrepid crime fighter Fina really wasn't trying to nab just any ol' bad guys in the sting Attorney General Kathleen Kane deep-sixed. Instead, Fina wanted to use controversial confidential informant Tyron Ali to troll Harrisburg "to see what would happen":

"However, these five individuals were never the investigation's focus, according to a person close to the investigation with whom I spoke last week: 'We could have done that until the cows came home.' Instead, the investigation had a broader, long-term focus predicated on relationship-building, 'not pinching individual legislators,' said this individual. Indeed, investigators say this wasn't about individual lawmakers, which  is why they take umbrage with Kane having played the race card. Their effort was born of frustration that, despite having racked up 23 convictions of both Republicans and Democrats in Bonusgate and Computergate, there was no change in the culture of Pennsylvania politics. So they set their sights larger, intending to let Ali spread money around, ingratiate himself, and see what would happen if the faux lobbyist set up offices in Harrisburg." (Philadelphia Inquirer 3/30/14)

Well, if they didn't really want to nab the now-infamous four Democratic state legislators caught on tape, who exactly did they want to entrap to end this nefarious "culture" of Pennsylvania politics? A sitting leader in the legislature? All members of all four legislative caucuses? What does it really mean to say they wanted an open-ended sting to "see what would happen?"

Apparently, Fina didn't want to grab a sitting Speaker of the House for using his taxpayer-funded staff for his campaign. Pre-trial documents filed by former State Representative Mike Veon show that Fina had in his possession reams of fundraising databases and emails used by then-Speaker Keith McCall for his campaign and those of other House candidates. (Veon pre-trial filing exhibits) In fact, McCall had multiple state legislative staff working on his fundraising, including a former Veon staff member who testified under oath during the "Bonusgate" trial that he was doing precisely the same kind of illegal political work for McCall that he did for Veon:

"Lavelle also did not dispute the assertion that he continued fundraising after joining the staff of then-Democratic Whip Keith McCall in 2007, who has not been charged with wrongdoing. 'You continued to do fundraising as part of you job with Speaker McCall?' defense lawyer Dan Raynak asked. 'You continued to send out memos and e-mails during the work day with Speaker McCall?' 'That's correct,' Lavelle replied." (Associated Press 2/19/2010)

McCall isn't the only sitting Speaker of the House that Fina let off the hook.  He was untroubled by Speaker Sam Smith's deep involvement with the "Computergate" scandal in the House Republican Caucus. Page after page of grand jury testimony documents Smith's knowledge and participation in the scheme that defrauded the taxpayers by at least $10 million. (9/27/11)

Nor did Fina and his crew seem concerned about the Republican State Senate Caucus' 40% share of the illegal 60/40 scheme that determined who got Pennsylvania Turnpike contracts and jobs. Only the State Senate Democratic 60-percenters were investigated by Fina's team for Kane to ultimately indict:

"A former Chief Operating Officer of the Turnpike explained, 'the choice of who the -- which firms they are, as I said, typically, there was always a 60/40 rule,...that selection, depending on what year, and who the governor was, and who was on the State Senate, it would either come out of the Senate leadership or out of the Governor's office.' In practice, the Senate provided direction to the Commission through their staff persons." (Grand Jury presentment)

We'll be hearing quite a bit about the 60/40 rule this spring during the Turnpike corruption trial, but only the State Senate Democratic Caucus...not Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Chip Brightbill, or Senator Bob Jubelirer.

Let's face it...Fina and his defenders are blowing smoke about trying to end corruption in Harrisburg.  They certainly wanted to make arrests and glorify themselves, but only by carefully selecting who to go after and who to indict...regardless of their own evidence and witness testimony.

SETH WILLIAMS' RACE PROBLEM

There is one reason Seth Williams is attacking Attorney General Kathleen Kane's decision not to pursue charges in Frank Fina's Philadelphia sting operation, and it's not because he thinks it's a solid case.

After all, Williams has concurrent jurisdiction and is free to file charges if he sees fit. But as he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "[confidential informant Tyron] Ali apparently no longer had any legal obligation to testify against those he had taped because the charges against him had been dropped."

The charges were dropped 45 days before Kane took office. The obstacle Williams says he faces is the obstacle Kane faced.

"There's no way I can use him under any prosecutorial theory I can think of," Williams said. So under what prosecutorial theory does he think Kane can?

None, of course. As we said, he's not attacking Kane because he thinks Fina built a solid case.

He's attacking Kane because she revealed that two members of his staff participated in apparent racial targeting. That doesn't look good to voters, especially in a majority-minority city like Philadelphia.

According to Kane, "The OAG Agent who managed the CI was debriefed by current senior OAG executive staff members prior to his leaving OAG for employment at PDAO (to join again with the former OAG Attorneys who had previously directed the investigation). During the debrief, the OAG Agent indicated that he was instructed by his supervising OAG Attorney to focus only on members of the General Assembly's Black Caucus and that when he had information of potentially illegal acts by white members of the General Assembly he was specifically told not to pursue it. The OAG Agent also stated that his supervising OAG Attorney promised him a promotion and cash bonus for working on the investigation."

Furthermore, "Statements about limiting the focus of the investigation to only members of the General Assembly's Black Caucus were also made by the CI to federal law enforcement officials."

Sure, Williams had the option of feigning outrage and making a show of firing Fina and Claude Thomas, the OAG Agent who supervised Ali. But he'd admitted he'd already reviewed the case and he clearly had no problem with the tactics at the time of his review. If he publicly accepts Kane's version of events, it might be interpreted to mean he'd knowingly harbored staffers who participated in apparent racial targeting.

So he can't publicly accept Kane's version of events.

Williams excuses the damning fact that of 113 recordings, white targets appear only twice - because, he said, only black targets circulated in Ali's "immediate realm."

But his statement contradicts "sources with knowledge of the sting," who said "the investigation made financial pitches to both Republicans and Democrats, but only Democrats accepted the payments." There being no black Republicans of note in Philadelphia politics, that statement means financial pitches were made to white targets who turned them down.

Which is it? Were pitches made to white Republicans or were only black Democrats targeted because they were in Ali's "immediate realm?"

And if pitches were made to white Republicans who turned them down, where are the recordings? Of the two white targets, one "is on tape merely because he happens to be in a room with two black targets," Kane said. And the other one is John Galloway, who has every reason to believe he was targeted because he enraged Tom Corbett with his criticism of the "Bonusgate" investigation.

Galloway said,"The idea was to scare the living (expletive) out of anybody who questioned Tom Corbett."

Was, and still is.

A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE

We first read the Inquirer’s Sunday report on Frank Fina’s aborted Philadelphia “sting” online, without having seen the ludicrous “MEN WALK ON MOON”-sized headline.

We thought what we were reading was an exposé of Fina’s shoddy, racist, irresponsible investigative methods.  We were shocked later to realize that it was Attorney General Kathleen Kane whose judgment was being questioned. We're still shocked, to be honest.

Kane’ main reasons for declining to prosecute are unambiguous:

•     The entire case hinged on the testimony of a swindler accused of stealing nearly a half-million dollars from a state food program for low-income children and seniors. In exchange for his cooperation, Tyron B. Ali wasn’t merely offered a deal on the charges, but given a complete free pass – an agreement “so extraordinary and lenient that it effectively undermined the CI's credibility and that of OAG for having agreed to it,” Kane said.
•           The recordings Ali made are the only evidence, and Ali was the only one who could verify them. “No other supporting or corroborating evidence exists,” Kane said
•         The OAG Agent who managed Ali told current senior OAG executive staff that he was to focus only on members of the Black Caucus and not to pursue potentially illegal acts by white legislators.
•         Ali himself gave “statements about limiting the focus of the investigation to only members of the General Assembly's Black Caucus” to federal law enforcement officials.
• It's not illegal for officials simply to accept gifts. The operation failed to establish a clear quid-pro-quo. The only thing the officials appear to be guilty of is a failure to report the gifts on their ethics statements - an offense equal to Governor Tom Corbett's failure to report the purchase of a $265,000 vacation home in South Carolina - and no one seems to be clamoring for a criminal prosecution of Corbett. 

It is inconceivable that Kane’s elected predecessor would be second-guessed for dropping a prosecution given the compelling reasons listed above.  There is no doubt: if reporters had asked Tom Corbett why he chose not to pursue a particular case and he responded, as Kane did, that the case improperly focused on African Americans and a county D.A. had called the case “unprosecutable,” the headline on the story would’ve read, “Botched Sting Attempt Tainted By Racism.”

Probably not in two-foot-high font, though.

Since Kane’s exhaustively thorough press conference yesterday, the  punditocracy seems to be backing off its initial pearl-clutching horror while still blaming Kane for her own tar-and-feathering. After all, they sniffed, she should have explained everything in more detail before the story was published. Perhaps she should have. But perhaps she thought she would be afforded the same respect for her office that Corbett had been. Perhaps she thought that her word that a case was compromised beyond salvaging would be taken seriously. Furthermore, we don’t know how much time she was given to respond, or how the allegations of political cronyism were presented to her.

We at this blog have spent years – years! – documenting clear-cut instances where Tom Corbett failed to prosecute wrongdoing by political allies. York County District Attorney Stan Rebert. Rep. Matt Wright. Rep. James Lynch. State Rep. Mauree Gingrich.  State Rep. Eugene McGill. Crawford County Treasurer Fred Wagner. And these are just a few that we know about.

Corbett has not offered a single justification for not prosecuting as cogent as Kane’s plethora of reasons in the Philadelphia case. In fact, we can’t recall Corbett even being asked. But if he had given a reason, we’re sure it would have been accepted at face value.

Perhaps most egregiously, Corbett “cleared” the Senate Republican Caucus - which awarded the largest taxpayer-funded bonuses to staff who worked on campaigns – of wrongdoing without subpoenaing a single witness to appear before the grand jury. Even a Republican Senator called Corbett’s investigation “a joke” and said his lack of action was politically motivated. Corbett in fact blew off an intern who tried to report illegal campaigning in Sen. Jane Orie’s office, then his spokesman tried to lie about it.

Senate Republicans contributed at least $90,000 to Corbett’s campaign.

The idea that Kane would risk the integrity of her office to protect relatively low-level Philadelphia lawmakers is frankly absurd, even if she does have gubernatorial aspirations. Even the craven manipulators who leaked the story to the Inquirer know what an absurd notion it is. Kathleen Kane is arguably the most popular Democrat in Pennsylvania, winning more votes in 2012 than even President Obama and Senator Casey. She’s about to release a report on how her predecessor botched the Jerry Sandusky child molestation investigation. Even someone naïve enough to believe Kane’s beholden to Philadelphia House members and Traffic Court judges has to be savvy enough to figure out what ‘s going on here.

HERE COME THE CLOWNS

This weekend the Philadelphia Daily News' Chris Brennan broke the explosive revelation that Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams investigated and is now prosecuting State Representative J.P. Miranda even though the two were (are?) rivals in a love triangle that included an unnamed woman:

"Defense Attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. yesterday accused District Attorney Seth Williams of investigating state Rep. J.P. Miranda and charging him with a crime because they 'were both dating the same girl at the same time...I think it's a vindictive prosecution that singled out J.P. Miranda because J.P. Miranda and Seth Williams were both dating the same girl at the same time,' Peruto said. 'I think this is one way to eliminate your competition.' Peruto declined to identify the woman, saying he did not want to 'besmirch' her in the media." (Daily News 3/2/14)

It speaks volumes that there was no denial from Williams on the claim of a shared romantic interest. Setting aside a debate of Miranda's guilt, this certainly illustrates an incredible degree of poor judgement on the part of the District Attorney. Avoiding the perception of knee-capping a rival suitor is surely the strongest of reasons to refer this case to the US Attorney or Pennsylvania Attorney General. Although, there is reason to believe that Williams doesn't care and has carefully put in place a team of prosecutors to do his bidding for both his personal and political advantage.  

After all, Williams did hire Frank Fina, Patrick Blessington, and Marc Costanzo onto his staff following their stints as Assistant Attorney Generals under now Governor Tom Corbett.

At the time, Williams said it was to crank up  efforts to crack down on political corruption: 

"Earlier this month, Williams received court approval to create a new investigative grand jury, which allows prosecutors to subpoena documents and compel testimony...To help staff the Special Investigations Unit, Williams hired two former state prosecutors, Frank Fina and E. Marc Costanzo. They joined a previous hire, Patrick J. Blessington, who was also a colleague from the Attorney General's Office...Williams is taking a different tack than his predecessor...Abraham repeatedly referred political corruption cases to state or federal prosecutors. She always defended the referrals, arguing that she had a potential conflict of interest if she sought to pursue fellow Democrats." (Inquirer 4/29/13)

However, from what we've seen over the past year, Williams brought these former Corbett cronies on board to do for him what they did very well for Corbett - base prosecutorial decisions on personal and political considerations.

Williams told the Inquirer last April, "Philadelphians think we turn a blind eye to political corruption in Philadelphia. I wanted them to know that we don't - and that we will abdicate our responsibility of prosecuting the appropriate cases in Philadelphia." (Inquirer 4/29/13) 

That sounds good, but we think otherwise. Williams hired Fina, Blessington, and Costanzo because he could count on them to turn a blind eye to corruption when ordered, especially when personally and politically expedient. Here's just a few examples of how these politically motivated prosecutors put their old boss Corbett's career ahead of justice:

• Fina, Blessington, and Costanzo were the same team that followed Corbett's instructions to leave his close political allies in the State Senate Republican Caucus untouched in the bonusgate investigations as Charlie Thompson from the Patriot News outlined last year (Patriot News 2/27/13). In fact, these three supposed corruption busters actually turned away the tipster who eventually brought down State Senator Jane Orie and Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin (2/21/13).

• They  ignored a referal from the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission that found former Republican State Representative Matt Wright from Bucks County guilty of using his taxpayer funded legislative staff for the exact same purposes as the bonusgate defendants. Instead Fina, Costanzo, and Blessington followed Corbett's orders and ignored the referral because of strong connections in the case between Wright and the powerful Deon family (Inquirer 1/30/10).

• Fina, Costanzo, and Blessington were found by the Patriot News and the ACLU to have no problem helping Tom Corbett's nascent gubernatorial campaign by egregiously abusing the state grand jury system to silence political opponents (Patriot News 5/25/10)

• Worst of all is the unfolding scandal surrounding Fina's role in slow-walking the Jerry Sandusky investigation to avoid negative repercussions for Corbett's campaign for governor. As post-indictment riots attested the repercussions of the child molestation indictment proved quite harmful to the vaunted Penn State football brand and consequently quite unpopular. In fact, Fina and Costanzo were both still at the OAG when Corbett's replacement made the politically expedient decision to delete millions of emails. Both men stood by and allowed their destruction. (Pittsburgh Tribune Review 2/14/14)

Since starting their work in Philadelphia, Fina, Costanzo, and Blessington haven't lost a step in doing the same kind of political dirty work for Williams - or in some cases, NOT doing any work.

This starts with ignoring a political corruption scandal in Williams' very own office.  The Legal Intelligencer reported on the political macing conducted by Williams on his staff, yet not a peep from the big, tough political corruption buster Patrick Blessington (6/8/12) Of course, that is exactly why Williams hired someone like Blessington...he will turn his head when ordered.

When Williams announced his intentions to dig into public corruption within Philadelphia's borders, we thought perhaps he would have the intestinal fortitude to bring Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ron Castille onto to the carpet for initially allowing double dipping by one of the Family Court Building developers - and lying about it.  Yet, nothing. Castille was able to continue lying about his knowledge, feign ignorance, spout some nonsense about the Marine Corps a la Bill Deweese, and not be troubled a bit. (Inquirer 7/25/10). Once again, when you have partisan-hack prosecutors like Fina, Costanzo and Blessington on the clock, they will make sure an influential judge is kept in the clear...especially a Republican.

Then, there is the ongoing Attorney General's investigation of State Senator Leanna Washington for running her campaign operation out of her taxpayer funded district office using her taxpayer funded legislative staff (Inquirer 10/24/13). We shouldn't be surprised that Williams didn't have his crack team of Fina, Costanzo, and Blessington on the case instead of the OAG.  Washington is a strong political ally and one of Williams' campaign allies after all (Friendsofsethwilliams).

WHAT MIGHT CORBETT HAVE WANTED TO HIDE WITH EMAIL DUMP?

Two weeks ago, Tribune-Review Capitol correspondent and columnist Brad Bumsted helpfully explained to readers that Attorney General Kathleen Kane's announcement about unexpectedly recovered emails means either her examination of her predecessor's astonishingly lengthy Jerry Sandusky investigation has turned up damaging information, or it hasn't.

This week, he's followed it up with the equally insightful observation that the Office of Attorney General's February 2011 email dump means either Tom Corbett had something to hide, or he didn't.

As evidence that he didn't, Bumsted offers up the fact that neither Corbett nor acting Attorney General Bill Ryan had any way of knowing in February of 2011 that Kane would be elected AG the following year, launch an examination of the Sandusky case and seek those very emails.

In other words, Bumsted is asking us to believe that it never would have occurred to Corbett, who built his signature legislative corruption cases largely on email evidence, that emails ever could be used against him.

It's true that Corbett and Ryan could not have forseen in February 2011 Kane's election and eventual examination of the Sandusky case.

But what certainly did occur to them in February 2011 is that a case the OAG had largely ignored for two years was now headed toward an indictment.

There's nothing in the public record to suggest that Corbett ever seriously intended to investigate Aaron Fisher's complaint against Sandusky.  Corbett has publicly declared that he had determined he could not pursue the case without additional victims. And although Sandusky's charity The Second Mile put Sandusky in well-documented contact with hundreds of potential victims - Sandusky had even included the names of some of his victims in his 2001 memoir, Touched - for two years, no one from the OAG ever reached out to any of them.

It's fair to suppose that if the case had relied solely on the investigative efforts of the OAG, Jerry Sandusky might still be a free man.

In December of 2010, the mother of Victim 6 reached out to investigators after journalist Sara Ganim gave her their contact information.

Victim 6's complaint against Sandusky had been investigated by Centre County authorities in 1998. Corbett's office ostensibly had been investigating Sandusky since March of 2009. That they could have failed to identify Victim 6 over the course of two years - if they had been looking - is inconceivable. It's impossible to conclude that they were doing any active investigation during that time.

It was Victim 6's mother who told investigators about the book, Touched - again, it defies imagination that they wouldn't have known about it had they been conducting an active investigation. It was she who went through the book with investigators and identified victims 3, 4, 5 and 7.

Now that they had identified additional victims - and more importantly, now that Sara Ganim knew they had identified additional victims - it was clear by February 2011 that the case would proceed to an indictment.

Corbett and Ryan didn't need to forsee Kane's investigation to know how politically damaging emails from the two-year period when the case was inactive could be to Corbett.

What might the OAG have been discussing over email in the years before the email dump?

Aaron testified twice to the grand jury, to no effect, in June and November of 2009, according to his book, Silent No More. Why was he forced to do this when Corbett already had determined not to proceed without additional victims, and none had been identified by then?

Deputy AG Jonelle Eshbach told Aaron at least twice that an arrest was imminent: in February of 2010, again in March of 2010. Again, Corbett says he determined from the beginning he would not make an arrest without additional victims, and those victims weren't identified until December 2010 at the earliest. Why would Eschbach be talking about an indictment in February and March? A search warrant wasn't even executed on Sandusky's  home until June 2011.

In mid-August 2010, Eschback ignored repeated phone calls from Aaron's psychologist, Mike Gillum. When they finally spoke, Gillum said Aaron's mother wanted to go to the FBI.

It's not hard to imagine that all of these events and others like them were hot topics of email conversations within the OAG. And it's not hard to imagine that these events, which happened at a time when no one in the OAG thought anything would come of Aaron's complaint, took on quite a different cast in light of Sandusky's imminent arrest.

Bumsted muses, "If the email deletions were aimed at protecting anyone, the timeline suggests it had more to do with Corbett's public corruption cases pending at the time."

We won't suggest that Corbett didn't have plenty to hide about the pending cases - which, like Sandusky, were cases he never intended to pursue until public pressure forced his hand. But the accusations that he'd been playing politics with the legislative cases had been flying for years, with no lasting damage - after all, the only victims were unpopular politicians and their staffers.  Two years of dragging a child rape victim through hell? That's a different story.

WHAT WERE THEY DOING?

How long does it take the most sophisticated law enforcement agency in the sixth-largest state in the nation to track down a single victim of a prolific serial rapist who preyed upon a concentrated population of children and even included some of their identities in his own autobiography?

We may never know.

HEY, DOJ! WHY NOT CORBETT?

The US Department of Justice recently indicted former Governor Bob O'Donnell in Virginia for accepting gifts from a businessman in exchange for favors (Associated Press 1/21/2014). Now, it is hard at work in New Jersey investigating Governor Chris Christie's involvement in the lane closures onto the George Washington Bridge and real estate developments in Hoboken.

When will one of the US Attorneys in Pennsylvania begin an investigation of Governor Tom Corbett's relationship with fracking waste hauler John Moran? 

There were gifts exchanged in return for very exclusive access for Moran and favors to his business. That certainly rises to the level of graft outlined by the O'Donnell indictment. And, we're talking about toxic fracking waste from the shale gas extraction industry. That has to be as important an issue as tying up traffic headed onto the George Washington Bridge for a few days.

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Will Bunch has done a fantastic job showing how within the span of a few months, Corbett received vacations and other gifts from Moran in exchange for a blind eye from the Corbett administration's Department of Environmental Protection. (Inquirer 1/16/13) In short, Corbett decided to allow millions of gallons of fracking waste to roll through dozens of Pennsylvania cities and counties in exchange for helicopter rides and a free vacation (State Impact 1/20/12)

Oh, Corbett tried to hide the gifts from the public, too. (Inquirer 1/20/12)

US Attorneys may also want to check into how Corbett used agents from the Office of Attorney General to intimidate Democratic State Representative John Galloway during Corbett's gubernatorial campaign in 2010. (Daily News)  Galloway had the temerity to question and have a public shouting match with the Attorney General over Corbett's laughably selective use of the grand jury investigating the state legislature. 

Keep in mind that the grand jury report on the PA General Assembly as a whole - not just the bonusgate figures - said "hundreds of legislative employees who, although paid by taxpayer dollars to do legislative work, do campaign work on state time." (28th Statewide Grand Jury Report Number One) So, when agents with subpoena power showed up at Galloway's office immediately after his spat with the Attorney General, it wasn't a subtle message from Corbett to the legislator that "you will be next if you don't shut up."

In New Jersey, US Attorneys are investigating how Christie's Lieutenant Governor was a messenger to the Hoboken mayor on a controversial real estate development.  How are two law enforcement officers barging into Galloway's office any less a scene of intimidation that that?  Based on the grand jury report of the ENTIRE state legislature, Galloway certainly had reason to be concerned if subpoenas started landing in his Capitol and district offices. Just look at what is happening to State Senator Leanna Washington after someone decided to look a bit closer at the work her taxpayer funded staff did on her campaign (Inquirer 10/24/13).

Maybe one of Pennsylvania's three US Attorneys are already investigating Corbett's connections to Moran or his unethical use of the Office of Attorney General as a tool of political intimidation. If not, there certainly is enough here - and publicly reported - to look into. Let's hope they get to work.

ISN'T IT IRONIC, DON'T YOU THINK?

"The Kane report is the “X” factor in Corbett's re-election campaign this year. If it hammers [Gov. Tom] Corbett, which is likely, [Attorney General Kathleen] Kane will be accused of saving it for an election year. Wrapping up the probe by the end of 2013 would have been better. -- Brad Bumsted, Tribune-Review, 1/18/14

If you don't know why this is possibly the most ironic passage ever written by a Capitol correspondent in the history of Pennsylvania politics, perhaps you never read this one:

"We, too, are concerned at the length of time this process [Corbett's investigation of the legislature] is taking. It is fully more than two years since Corbett's office began working on the issue ...If this goes much further Corbett risks being accused of using it to launch what many expect will be a gubernatorial bid in 2010." -- Patriot-News editorial, 7/12/09

The very investigation that Kane will be accused of politicizing if she releases findings too close to the election was precipitated by Corbett's concern that he would be accused of politicizing an investigation if he released findings too close to an election.

We have demonstrated repeatedly - and the lead investigator on the case has admitted - that Corbett blew off the Sandusky complaint in 2009 because he was obsessed with nailing down indictments of House Republican "Speaker Emeritus" John Perzel and House Democratic Craven Coward Bill DeWeese before the start of an election year.

The deeper irony is that the investigation already had been politicized to an unprecedented degree, without a shred of pushback from either the press or the voters.

It's still stunning that Corbett's September 2008 announcement of a "moratorium" on additional charges in the legislative investigation wasn't met with incredulous howls of mockery.

In essence, what Corbett had announced was that weeks before Election Day, he was happy to stage a dog-and-pony show of a hearing accusing Democrats (of 272 counts which resulted in acquittals or were dropped), but he didn't want to influence that same election by charging any Republicans with wrongdoing. Bumsted still thinks it is a dandy policy to suppress negative information about GOP candidates until after Election Day, suggesting "Here's a novel idea: Kane could publicly announce the report [on the Sandusky case] won't be released until Nov. 5 regardless of when it's completed."

What made Corbett's 2008 "moratorium" completely ludicrous - as any reporter who had bothered to read the presentment could've told us - was that Corbett was nowhere near prepared to indict a Republican by Election Day 2008. When he announced his "moratorium," Corbett had not even begun to investigate House Republicans in earnest. It was a month after that announcement that he convened hearings to force House Republicans to comply with subpoenas that the caucus had ignored, with impunity, for a full year.

So: in 2008, Corbett announced that he didn't want to politicize an investigation that he'd already irredeemably politicized by announcing charges in an investigation that he hadn't even begun. Six years later, it's Kane, who stands a chance of exposing how Corbett's bungled political maneuvering delayed capture of child rapist for nearly three years, who's accused of playing politics.

SANDUSKY SLOW-WALK, SON OF BONUSGATE

"...how did bonus gate interfere w/ sandusky?" former Patriot-News columinst @LauraVecsey asks us via Twitter.

As many have suggested, then-gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Tom Corbett botched his so-called investigation of the legislature in 2007 by investigating only one of four "potential targets:"

"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,” he said. “What you do is you have to swoop in all at one time. What you do is you have four targets, and you say, ‘OK, we’re going to execute search warrants — boom.’ And you go in and you take everything out,” he said. “You take the boxes of files, you take the computers, you take everything out.” *

That's what a responsible prosecutor would do, if he or she actually were investigating a possible crime. Corbett was not. He was a politician with his eye on the Governor's Mansion, looking for good publicity (and perhaps some valuable goodwill from House Republicans), so he set his sights on House Democrats alone. But Bill DeWeese's legal maneuverings threatened to drag the case on past the point of political advantage, so he entered into a negotiation with DeWeese to gain evidence on his colleagues and underlings.

He timed the arrests and preliminary hearing right before the 2008 legislative and attorney general elections, and the trials would wrap up just in time for the 2010 Gubernatorial race. Perfect!

But things weren't going as smoothly as Corbett had hoped.  Accusations of partisanship forced him to find a Republican to indict - a task complicated by the fact that he'd allowed those same Republicans to dump the computers where evidence might be stored. (Who could've predicted that would happen?)

With evidence missing and witnesses stonewalling, Team Corbett was in a frenzy in late 2008 and early 2009 trying to build a Republican indictment.

In March of 2009, in the middle of this frenzy, two things happened. The sexual abuse complaint against Jerry Sandusky landed on Corbett's desk. And the Tribune-Review published irrefutable evidence that DeWeese had been complicit in the bonus scandal. (Evidence, we remind you, that had been in Corbett's possession since the fall of 2007. We further remind you that DeWeese never was charged in connection with illegal bonuses or any of the caucus-wide activities at the heart of the original "Bonusgate" scandal, despite ample evidence of his involvement. He in fact invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in the "Bonusgate" trial.)

"During the Bonusgate investigation, we had a shortage of investigators in Harrisburg," Randy Feathers, lead agent on the Sandusky case, told the Altoona Mirror.  His admission has received remarkably little media attention given the public outrage over the length of the investigation.

Why did it take so long? It took so long because nearly everybody in the Office of Attorney General was busy in 2009 trying to indict DeWeese and John Perzel before the end of the year.

Why was Corbett still investigating DeWeese and Perzel nearly three years after supposedly launching a probe of "all four caucuses?"  Because a) he lied, and didn't launch a probe of "all four caucuses" in 2007 and b) because he entered a "negotiation" with DeWeese in 2007 for the sake of political expediency.

* If just one more Corbett apologist drags out the tired and discredited excuse that he had to investigate House Democrats first because they allegedly were "destroying evidence," so help us we will turn this blog around and slap you with our ring hand. It's both false and illogical.

GET THE GRAND JURY READY

Following the resignation of Bob Kerns as Montgomery County Republican Chair, the GOP power brokers of the Philadelphia suburbs have announced that State Representative Mike Vereb will be their party's new leader (Philadelphia Inquirer 11/17/13).

There was a time when this news would raise nary an eyebrow in Harrisburg, but that was before the bonusgate investigations. Investigations that led to Vereb himself to call for a special, new "public integrity commission." (Repvereb.com 7/26/10)  

We are very curious as to how Vereb will shoulder the tremendous number of  new political campaign responsibilities. Vereb said it himself just a few days ago -- "It's a busy job." (Philadelphia Inquirer 11/13/15)  We don't doubt him for a second. Montgomery County is ground zero for swing voters in statewide elections.  Governor Tom Corbett will need things to go well here if he has any hope of being re-elected.  Plus, the Philadelphia suburbs are prime territory for state legislative pick-ups for the Democratic caucuses next year.  It is a big, busy job indeed.

Yet, how will Vereb find the time to do all this extra work without breaking the law a la bonusgate?

In addition to his responsibilities to the taxpayers and his constituents as a state legislator, Vereb is also the House Majority Caucus Secretary.  Vereb has been very clear about the importance and the time commitment required of the position:

"As caucus secretary, Mike is responsible for helping to establish a legislative agenda and recording all official legislative activities in the House of Representatives." (Repvereb.com Bio)

In fact, when Vereb was first elected caucus secretary he outlined just how busy his new job would be:

"Vereb said because he had been elevated to a leadership post he would lose his committee assignments on the judiciary, insurance and gambling oversight committees.  He will be spending more time in Harrisburg during the legislative session because the secretary has additional duties." (Times Herald 11/11/11)

Oh, and for his extra responsibilities and effort, Vereb gets paid $8,000 more dollars a year on top off his $83,000 base state legislative salary.

We're wondering how will he do it?  How will Vereb give the taxpayers their money's worth?  How is this guy going to steer the most important county for Pennsylvania's Republican Party while at the same time give an honest days work to the taxpayers who elected him - and who pay him a big, fat paycheck, along with gold-plated health and pension benefits?

Attorney General Kathleen Kane and Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman should keep a sharp look-out to track Vereb's operation and his use of perks.  Will he be using his taxpayer funded vehicle for tooling around the county on Republican Party business?  Who will monitor how much political campaign work his taxpayer funded staff in both Harrisburg and Montgomery County may end up doing - even "after hours."

As we've all seen, even after bonusgate, elected officials including State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin still used taxpayer resources for campaign purposes.  Even after the scandals from 2008 and 2009, state legislators like J.P Miranda still hire ghost employees.  For Vereb to say he is different just won't cut it.

A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH VS. CRONYISM

It doesn't look good for Montgomery County Republican County Chairman Bob Kerns.  The news broke last night that a grand jury may be investigating allegations that Kerns sexually assaulted a female associate last month:

"According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, MCRC Chairman Robert J. Kerns, partner in the Lansdale law firm Kerns, Pearlstine, Onorato & Hladik, LLP, allegedly got drunk the night after a major GOP power-broker dinner last month and sexually assaulted a female with whom he worked.  Rumors are also circulating that a grand jury is being convened and Kerns' law partner was subpoenaed.  'Somebody alleged that he was drinking and sexually assaulted her, and if he did, he ought to be arrested, tried and properly disciplined,' said the source." (Philadelphia Inquirer 12/13/13)

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty and it looks like a grand jury will sort this out to determine if charges should be filed against the GOP leader.  What has piqued our interest is that these accusations against the leader of Pennsylvania's second largest Republican County have landed before a grand jury.  

It has yet to be revealed if Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, a Republican, is leading the investigation before the grand jury.  It would be surprising if she were because of the obvious political conflict of interest for Ferman.  In situations where political links have been this close, District Attorneys almost always turn investigations over to the Pennsylvania Attorney General.  

Whether it is Ferman or Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane leading the investigation, one thing is clear.  A prosecutor is using a grand jury to investigate an important political figure for an alleged rape involving alcohol.  Witnesses are being put under oath and evidence is being gathered to put before an impartial group of citizens to determine whether or not there is probable cause to bring charges.

In contrast, recall the actions of then Attorney General Tom Corbett after an a nearly identical rape allegation landed in his lap in 2008 against Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins, a Republican and close Corbett political ally.  (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8/27/08)  The two cases are amazingly similar:

"The woman alleges that she drank with Higgins at the Carriage House restaurant at a Republican committee meeting before she met with him at his office a few miles away.  The woman claimed that she was highly intoxicated and could not remember anything that took place.  Higgins has maintained that the sex was consensual."  (Altoona Mirror 4/10/10)

Yet, unlike the apparent investigation of Kerns that will use an impartial grand jury to determine whether or not to bring charges, Corbett took it upon himself to decide whether or not to not bring charges against his political ally, personal friend, and campaign contributor. He didn't. (Altoona Mirror 2/27/2009)

When the alleged victim tried to appeal Corbett's decision, Corbett himself actively stood in the way of her appeal by refusing to turn over any of the investigative material to her.  Her appeal was so hampered that the judge ruled against her:

On Friday, [the woman's attorney] said there were 'several issues' with [the judge's] ruling, including being unable to see the investigation materials and not having a hearing to prove that Higgins and Corbett are 'good buddies.'  In addition, [the woman's attorney] said, there is probably cause to show that a crime did take place. 'If a victim says 'Mr. Higgins had sex with me' and she says 'I did not consent,' that's probable cause,' [the woman's attorney] said. 'This is not rocket science stuff.'" (Altoona Mirror 4/10/2010)

Corbett's repeated refusals to turn over any investigative materials to the woman spiked her appeal efforts throughout the process. (Braman v. Corbett 5/5/11) Eventually, Higgins was never charged with a crime. Not surprising given that at no point were the allegations against the Bedford County DA ever given an impartial hearing before a grand jury that required sworn testimony and some form of a written record.

Instead, Higgins' fate was decided by Corbett personally and behind closed doors.

THE INEXPLICABLE BEATIFICATION OF BILL DEWEESE

We understand why deluded attention-whore Bill DeWeese is trying to remain in the spotlight.  What we don't understand is the recent rash of blow-job profiles portraying him as a jovial fitness enthusiast making the best of a bit of bad luck. Brian O'Neill of the Post-Gazette, John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News and now Dennis Owens of ABC27 appear to be willing participants in DeWeese's campaign to rehabilitate his public image.

Let's start with some facts:

H. William DeWeese, in addition to the crimes for which he was convicted, was as complicit as anyone in Harrisburg in awarding taxpayer-funded bonuses as a reward for campaign volunteers.  We know this, first of all, because of the way the legislative caucuses operate: no caucus money can be released without the authorization of the Leader. More importantly, we know this - and Tom Corbett, then attorney-general and gubernatorial candidate, knew in the fall of 2007 - because DeWeese turned over incriminating email  (including the infamous "U R welcome" email)  in which he explicitly acknowledged paying a bonus "for campaigning."

The cache of evidence was turned over as part of a "negotiation" between Corbett and  DeWeese. The terms of the negotiation have never been revealed - and apparently no journalist in Harrisburg is the least bit curious about it.  We know that DeWeese dropped the legal challenges he'd sworn to take all the way to the Supreme Court, which could have delayed Corbett's investigation of the caucus for years. We know that DeWeese quietly removed campaign fundraiser Kevin Sidella from the state payroll and began paying him, from campaign funds, the equivalent of his state salary. 

We know DeWeese used a state-paid contractor for political work.

And we know that DeWeese never was charged in connection with any of the evidence turned over as part of the "negotiation."

Journalists never have asked DeWeese about the terms of the "negotiation," his reasons for dropping the legal challenges, or the circumstances of Sidella's sudden move from state payroll to campaign contractor.

Despite the fact that DeWeese spent months obstructing Corbett's investigation, in the aftermath of the "negotiation," DeWeese began claiming that he'd cooperated from the beginning.  No journalist ever has pointed out the contradicition.

Although DeWeese steadfastly has maintained his innocence in the crimes for which Mike Veon was tried, he was excused from testifying at Veon's trial under the Fifth Amendment. If he's innocent, why did he plead the Fifth? That's a question we've never heard a Harrisburg journalist ask.

In response to a Tweet, Dennis Owens today asked us, What questions did you want asked? Here's a list:

• What were the terms of the 2007 negotiation with Corbett's office? 
• What were the terms of the 2007 negotiation with Corbett's office? (We really want to know the answer to this one)
• Why did you drop your legal challenges to the investigation?
• How can you claim you cooperated with Corbett when you tried to block the investigation?
• Why did you move Kevin Sidella from state payroll to campaign funds just before firing other staffers, and why were you paying him the exact equivalent of his state salary? 
• Why did you plead the Fifth during Veon's trial? 
• Do you still consider Veon's indictment "one of the best days of [your] life?
• Have you found anyone to balance your checkbook and buy your condoms for you?

Add your own questions in the comments.

IT'S TRUE...THERE WAS CAMPAIGNING IN THE CAPITOL

As the deck chairs continue to be re-arranged on Governor Tom Corbett's sinking ship of state, we were interested to see that Corbett  named former GOP Representative Katie True as his new Secretary of Legislative Affairs. (AP 8/13/13)

Perhaps as True makes her way around the Capitol re-acquainting herself with staff and old colleagues, at least one person - member or staff - in the Democratic caucuses will get a chance to ask her why they were subpoenaed, dragged before a grand jury and perhaps even threatened with arrest by then Attorney General Tom Corbett for doing campaign work on state time in the Capitol building, while she was left alone.

Campaign finance reports filed by True herself show that she was well aware and a willing participant in illegal campaign activity in the Capitol, but did nothing to stop it.  In fact, she repeatedly sent checks to the House Republican Campaign Committee in "Suite B 6 Main Capitol. You can see the reports for yourself here, here, and here.

And, the same type of activity was going on in the Senate Republican Caucus with Senate President Joe Scarnati's complete knowledge...otherwise why would he direct a $5000 contribution to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee in the "Main Capitol Building?" You can see it in black and white right here.  Take a closer look at just this one page of Scarnati's campaign report and you will also see that he sent a reimbursement check for campaign work to Casey Long at a State Capitol mailbox, and sent money for tickets to a fundraiser for House Speaker Sam Smith to Smith's district office at 527 E Mahoning Street in Punxsutawney.

These are just two examples of members of the legislature using Capitol offices and staff for campaign work, but left untouched by Corbett.  Check some of the others out for yourself here.

Everyone knows the Pennsylvania state legislature is incredibly unpopular.  As Corbett begins his campaign for re-election, you can be sure he'll want to tout his prosecution of members of the body while he was Attorney General.  Maybe folks in Harrisburg will ask why he did so in such a selective fashion?

KEVIN HARLEY'S TOP FIVE LIES

As Kevin Harley's many years of taxpayer-funded political work come to an end (at least for now), we at CasablancaPA look back at his most outrageous, pants-on-fire public lies of the last decade and a half:


5. "[T]here were no leaks or ... any allegation that the AG’s office leaked information.”   July 23, 2013

4. As for Morganelli's call for a special prosecutor, Harley said state law does not allow it, and "it's obvious John Morganelli doesn't understand the law." July 22, 2008

3. There's "no record" that an intern for former Sen. Jane Orie called Corbett's office to report illegal electioneering.  April 11, 2010

2. “This [722 calls between phones registered to Corbett's campaign and the phones in his taxpayer-funded state offices on state time]  has nothing to do with using government resources for campaign purposes. It’s the exact opposite of that.”  February 5, 2010

And the Number One biggest lie of Kevin Harley's career:

1. "I had no knowledge of those phone calls. I had nothing to do with those phone calls. My campaign did not pay for those phone calls ... and my campaign did not authorize those phone calls." April 4, 2000

WHY CORBETT'S HELICOPTER USE MATTERS

There is some debate over whether or not Governor Tom Corbett's use of a state helicopter to go hang out with friends in an "official" capacity at Pocono Raceway should be regarded as a big deal (Inquirer 8/8/13).

Well, it is.  Why?

Because Tom Corbett arrested Mike Veon for hanging out with other legislators in his office over dinner after a regular basketball game.  (Trib 12/14/08).  Keep in mind that Corbett brought these charges, used valuable investigative resources to prove them, then pushed hard to convict Veon all while he allowed Jerry Sandusky, a now convicted child molester, to walk the streets freely.

A jury eventually found Veon not guilty on all these counts related to the "basketball dinners" after finding star prosecution witness, Karen Steiner Blanar, completely lacking credibility.  Besides the fact that despite Corbett's best efforts, eating dinner paid for and accurately reported on financial accounting forms...after a basketball game with other legislators...in State Capitol offices...discussing legislative business....is not illegal.  And, for the sake of argument, if it was against the law, then Corbett failed to arrest a tremendous number of other legislators for doing the exact same thing.  In fact, following the charges being filed, the House Comptroller released a memo that clearly stated members are not breaking the law by using their contingency accounts in the Capitol in the exact same manner as Veon.  You can read that memo here.

So, it matters.  Corbett made arrests, wasted valuable resources trying to prove the charges even though he knew before the rest of us what could be lurking (quite literally) around unexamined in the guise of Sandusky.

Corbett has always wanted it both ways as a prosecutor and a politician.  Giving him any more of a free pass needs to end.

WHAT OFFENDS THE UN-OFFENDABLE?

Attorney General Kathleen Kane once again has been called upon to respond to accusations of partisanship by the very same political hacks who spent the previous six years scoffing at the very idea of partisan prosecution.

Truth be told, we're almost relieved to see disgraced former supervising grand jury judge Barry Feudale kicking up such a fuss. He rubber-stamped so many of gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett's ridiculous requests - of questionable legality -  we had begun to wonder whether he even was paying attention.

Now we know that he knew exactly what he was doing when he supervised the grand jury that allowed Corbett to conduct a blatantly political and self-serving "investigation" of House Democrats while lying about investigating all four caucuses.  He stood by and watched as Corbett allowed House Republicans to replace their computers while publicly claiming the caucus was under investigation. He signed subpoenas that were purely for show and then presided over hearings that weren't convened until a full year later "for the purpose of forcing the caucus into compliance with subpoenas and court orders."

He stood silently by when it was revealed that Corbett and his campaign manager privately met with a potential gubernatorial primary rival who supposedly was under investigation at the time. He said nothing about Corbett accepting campaign contributions from supposed targets of the investigation. 

He was not moved to protest when he learned that Corbett's taxpayer-funded Office of Attorney General staff had spent hours conferring on the phone with Corbett's campaign staff  in 2007 and 2008 while Corbett was prosecuting House Democrats for identical activity.

As supervising grand jury judge, Feudale was well aware not a single witness from the Senate Republican Caucus was subpoenaed to testify and did nothing when Corbett pretended to have conducted a full investigation. He allegedly signed subpoenas in February of 2008 for evidence that remained undiscovered on Senate Republican computers until spring of 2009,  but never blinked an eye.

After presiding over six years of  Corbett's blatantly political, corrupt and incompetent abuse of the grand jury, what finally moved Feudale to clutch his pearls and cry "politics?" 

An attempt to learn why a child rapist was allowed unfettered access to children for nearly three years after the abuse was reported to the top law enforcement authority in the commonwealth.

Ongoing systemic abuse of the judicial system for political gain and petty score-settling doesn't raise his eyebrow, but concern for the safety of children offends Judge Barry F. Feudale.

We have no idea whether Kane really is determined to unearth the reasons for Corbett's unforgivable neglect of the Sandusky investigation, but the hysterical response of those most closely involved  is a clear sign they don't want them unearthed.

MAYBE IT IS, MAYBE IT ISN'T

The news that Pennsylvania's first elected Democratic Attorney General decided to not to press charges against the political insiders who used the Hershey Trust to line their pockets and set up lucrative deals for yet more insiders isn't much of a surprise.

Many will say it is vindication for GOP stalwarts like former Attorney General Leroy Zimmerman who let executive compensation and questionable real estate deals worth millions proliferate under his watch.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

However, it is important to note that there were enough shenanigans going on for Kane to demand reforms in how the Trust operates into the future.  But, some non-Pennsylvanian non-profit charity experts went so far as to call the Kane report "a joke" and "a whitewash." (Patriot News 5/10/2013)  Again, maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

It is also important to note, though, that Kane's top deputy is Adrian King.  King just happens to be the brother-in-law of current Hershey Trust officer John Estey. (Patriot News 1/9/2013 and Post Gazette 10/17/2011)  A relationship not too far removed from the controversial situation where the GOP's 2012 Attorney General candidate Dave Freed would have been investigating his father-in-law, Zimmerman.  And, for that matter, no less unseemly as then Attorney General Tom Corbett investigating Zimmerman, one of his closest political allies. (Inquirer 12/19/2010)

So, is Kane's report on how the Hershey Trust misspent millions of dollars meant for disadvantaged children just another example of nepotism and insiders taking care of one another?  Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.