Wednesday, December 21, 2011

THICK AS THIEVES

This is what we know about the Orie sisters.

Senator Jane Orie used her taxpayer funded office and staff for her re-election campaigns.  Read the presentment here.

Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin used her taxpayer funded office and staff for her political campaigns going back twenty years.  Read the presentment here.

What do the two have in common beyond their penchant for illegally using taxpayer funded resources and a family connection?

They use the same political consultant, former State Senate GOP political guru Mike Long.  The man who received the single largest amount of legislative bonus money (Tribune Review 2/1/07)  The man universally recognized for his political activism and for doing it while at work as a state senate employee.  Read a few excerpts here.  Oh, and the man gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett's supposedly four caucus investigation has yet to indict...mainly because not a single Senate staff person was subpoenaed by gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett. (Tribune Review 9/13/11)

It is humorous to see how closely related the scandal plagued Orie family is to the one un-indicted person all of Harrisburg continues to scratch their heads over.  Check it out for yourself -- here's Senator Orie paying LN Consulting for her primary campaign and here's the Senate Republican Campaign Committee paying LN Consulting for her general election mailings.  Here's Justice Melvin paying Commonwealth Campaigns for her campaign efforts in 2009.

Is there anything wrong with these arrangements between the Ories and Long?  We guess not.

Although, given that no one in the Democratic Party has questioned Corbett over his non-existent investigation of the Senate, it is incredible to see the handiwork of Long on behalf of the sisters, especially the aggressive nature of calling into question the motives of a prosecutor (and paid for by the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, no less).  Hat tip to the blog North Pittsburgh Politics for posting this assortment of Long's work for Senator Orie calling Allegheny County District Attorney Steve Zappalla corrupt here, here and here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Continued:

This means...Rosamilia clearly told investigators that Sandusky was at CMHS under the auspice of The Second Mile and that Clinton County CYS not only banned Sandusky from all Clinton County Schools, but banned The Second Mile from Clinton County Schools and NOTIFIED THE SECOND MILE OF THE FORMAL TERMINATION OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP.

So we're to believe that the State Child Care Office which kicked off the entire investigation told investigators that Sandusky gained access to the child and his school under the auspice of The Second Mile?

But investigators never bothered to go look at their files and records (including reports filed under their DPW Child Care Licenses) regarding prior "complaints" regarding Sandusky and children participating in the charity's programs???

That is beyond absurd especially when you consider that the AG's Office is the "regulator" for Charities and has access to their files and records any time they so choose under their "consumer protection mandate" in regards to prevention of fraudulent activity at the charity relative to "finances and social mission"!

It is quite apparent that the AG investigators actually did speak with The Second Mile which is almost certainly how they had already came to the conclusion that Sandusky was a serial molester "by 2010".

Investigators also contradict themselves regarding The Second Mile by stating that they asked for files and were told by the charity that they had gone missing or were "stolen"....so you thought to go ask about financial records at the charity relative to Sandusky's activities, but as investigators you simply forgot to ask them about prior complaints registered against Sandusky relative to interaction with Second Mile children?

How does that make any sense when Gerald Rosamilia says he told investigators that Sandusky's modus operandi for gaining access to the child and school was The Second Mile???

Again, Rosamilia is the State Child Care Worker who INITIATED THE ENTIRE INVESTIGATION???

Note the timing of the quote above as well - investigators had sufficient information that they were convinced that Sandusky was a "serial molester" by 2010???

YET, they did not arrest him and take him off the street despite Sandusky continuing to be a threat to children throughout the Centre and Clinton County communities???

Wow!!, that is a startling revelation especially when you consider that Corbett was the AG until January 2011!!!

Lastly, how does any of this line up with Jack Raykovitz's quoted statement to the press in March 2011 when the story was broken by the Harrisburg P-N that he had been "advised that The Second Mile, nor any of its programs, was a subject of the investigation".

Now who else can advise you of this but the people running the investigation - the AG's Office???

Anonymous said...

Top Posting That Was Not Put Up Right!

Especially curious given that the NY Times has been tied to leaks from the PAG's Office from the beginning of this media circus. Here is the excerpt, see full article at hot link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/sports/ncaafootball/internet-posting-helped-sandusky-investigators.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Investigators with the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office had by 2010 already come to the conclusion that Sandusky, the longtime defensive coordinator for Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions, was a serial molester, according to two people with knowledge of the case. But what had started with a complaint of sexual assault from a high school freshman had grown to include another matter altogether: whether Penn State had acted to cover up Sandusky’s behavior, even crimes.

Couple things, first it is quite apparent that the two sources are tied to the AG's GJ investigation. Second, it is quite clear that the investigators did follow-up the CMHS boy's complaint with The Second Mile - note that it says that they were already convinced Sandusky was a "serial molester" before digging deeper into the 2002 allegation. The source of the corroborating evidence to the 2008 allegations that would allow the AG to conclude Sandusky was a "serial molester" had to have been The Second Mile - this is confirmed by Gerald Rosamilia, the Director of the Clinton County CYS, who ignited the entire investigation when he formally reported the 2008 allegations via his channels?

See this excerpt from the recently released AP Story regarding accusations of a Second Mile "cover up" by former Second Mile board members including a Judge and former prosecutor:

Rosamilia, the Clinton County youth services chief, said he had informed Raykovitz's wife in November 2008 that his office was terminating its relationship with The Second Mile because of an abuse complaint. He said he had not identified the target of that complaint, but that Genovese eventually guessed correctly that it was Sandusky.

Rosamilia, who said he mentioned his conversation with Genovese to investigators working on the current prosecution, also recalled Genovese saying that a member of The Second Mile board planned to speak with Sandusky about staying away from Second Mile events involving children.

Anonymous said...

By The Way, one other item - Raykovitz's statement in March 2011 is a provable deceit based on what Gerald Rosamilia has stated.

Clinton County CYS is the STATE AGENCY that INITIATED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE 2008 ALLEGATIONS BY THE CMHS BOY.

Rosamilia says that he formally notified The Second Mile that the charity and its programs absolutely WERE THE SUBJECT OF THE INVESTIGATION and as a result of the complaint registered against THE SECOND MILE AND ITS PROGRAMS IN CLINTON COUNTY SCHOOLS, the Clinton County CYS was formally TERMINATING its relationship with The Second Mile and Second Mile personnel were banned from Clinton County Schools.

Again, Clinton County CYS is the STATE AGENCY that INITIATED THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE 2008 ALLEGATIONS, so how does Raykovitz's statement make any sense?

Moreover, why is Corbett's spokesperson Kevin Harley making almost identical statements about The Second Mile (i.e., they are not the subject of the investigation)?

How does all of this square with Corbett personally reviewing and signing The Second Mile State Grant for $3 million in July 2011???

Sure does sound like a lot of people are attempting to provide "cover" for information that the AG's Office held regarding Sandusky's history and activities at The Second Mile as well as the fact that Sandusky was not arrested immediately upon the gaining of that information.

Huge flashing red signs in regards to a "cover up" at The Second Mile in regards to what the AG's Office knew and when they knew it!!

Including The Second Mile senior executives and CoB withholding information about the 2002 and 2008 incidents from their own board members when the board's specific role is to provide "oversight" regarding the handling of such matters???

Anonymous said...

Was just re-reading this article - this is a very curious excerpt.....

ALL points to Corbett did not care about children, did not care about Sandusky, did not care about justice. He cared about getting Graham Spanier and OK if JVP was collateral damage or will be implicated, he really did not care.

Joe needed to go with Spanier because he might have told more truths.

That is why the charges against Scultz and Curley are so important and arresting Sandusky was not, they lead to Spanier.

Anonymous said...

Gee, I wonder if The Second Mile reported the 2008 Clinton County CYS initiated investigation to the DPW as per their DPW Child Care Licenses or the 2002 incident for that matter?

I doubt it given that The Second Mile executives and BoD didn't even give full disclosure of these incidents, and the sanctions the charity suffered as a result of them, to their own board members!

How is it that Corbett's "thorough investigation" and crack investigators missed all of this clear MALFEASANCE at The Second Mile?

When they were told by the Clinton County CYS that Sandusky's modus operandi for gaining access to the kids and Clinton County Schools was via The Second Mile and that Clinton County CYS TERMINATED their formal relationship with The Second Mile and banned their personnel from Clinton County Schools upon hearing the Complaint registered by Victim 1 and his mother in 2008?

How does Corbett ignore all of this malfeasance by The Second Mile including failure to even fully disclose the 2002 and 2008 incidents, and the sanctions the charity suffered as a result of them from outside organizations, to their own board whose express responsibility it is to provide "oversight" regarding these types of matters?

Anonymous said...

More Questions Than Answers.

For a man whose proudest accomplishment was creating a Child Predator Unit, there are a lot of questions of Tom Corbett’s handling of the Sandusky investigation.

“The Centre County district attorney’s office referred the case to Tom Corbett, then the state attorney general, in March 2009.

By then, remember, Corbett was a rising star in state politics, and the presumptive GOP gubernatorial front-runner,” Philadelphia Magazine wrote yesterday.

“We also know that Corbett—who eschewed campaign donations from state lawmakers, lest it taint his Bonusgate investigation—accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Second Mile board members, the charity founded and led for years by Sandusky, even after the case had been referred to the attorney general’s office.

And we know that while Corbett was attorney general, the state devoted minimal resources to the investigation.

The Patriot News reports that at some points while Corbett was AG there was just one state trooper investigating the case.”

That’s the same number of state troopers that he assigned to the “pick up Mrs. Zogby” detail.

“So the question here is pretty simple:

Did Corbett slow-walk an explosive investigation out of fear that exposing a scandal at the heart of an institution like Penn State football would wreck his chances to become governor?”

If he did, what else was he willing to sweep under the rug to win an election?

There’s one thing we know for sure: these questions aren’t going away.