tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54545359895766444552024-03-06T22:33:53.898-05:00CasablancaPAExposing the hypocrisy of Tom CorbettUgartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.comBlogger454125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-87396579653828717672014-12-22T22:10:00.002-05:002019-11-30T09:06:57.331-05:00KANE'S FUMBLING DISTRACTS FROM GENUINE MISCONDUCT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20141013_inq_pe1porn13-a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Molly Ivins once wrote of President Bill Clinton: "I have wasted more time and space defending Clinton than I care to think about. If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's pretty much how we feel about Attorney General Kathleen Kane at this point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We can't explain why <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20141221_Kane_s_account_of_sting_comes_under_fire.html">she claimed to have an affidavit she didn't have.</a> </b>We can't defend it. But the fact remains that Agent Kevin Wevodau did claim in a unsworn memo that Agent Claude Thomas indicated the Philadelphia sting was tainted by racial targeting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Regardless of what Thomas actually said, there's no denying that race was indeed a factor. Only one of the primary targets of the sting is white, and he has a very strong case that <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/214334350/Nukes-Over-Harrisburg"><b>he was targeted because he's criticized </b></a>the Attorney General's legislative corruption probe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Certainly, Kane appears to have made a buffoon of herself. But that doesn't automatically mean the sting former Deputy AG Frank Fina's conducted was above-board and by the book. Three other Attorneys General refused to pull the trigger on the case. With no solid prospect of an actual prosecution, Fina <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-simple-question.html"><b>rushed to cut a deal </b></a>with informant Tyron Ali before Kane even was sworn into office.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The filing of charges by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, where Fina now is employed, is far from proof that Kane was wrong not to pursue the charges. So far, D.A. Seth Williams' efforts have yielded a single conviction of conflict of interest, with similar plea bargains likely for the other defendants. In glossing over Ali's credibility problems, Fina's defenders have made much of the "smoking gun" recordings of defendants accepting gifts. What's been ignored is that, while a prosecutor can throw any evidence he chooses before an investigative grand jury (with no objection from a defense attorney), no judge would admit those recordings in a trial without sworn testimony of identification. And the only one who can provide that testimony is Tyron Ali.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Furthermore, Ali <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/04/exclusive-barmaid-got-cash-for-vacation.html"><b>handed out "sting" cash to at least one barmaid</b></a> with whom he was friendly, for her Carribean vacation. That fact alone is solid evidence of how shoddily-supervised the operation was - evidence the grand jury certainly never got to hear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even Kane's harshest critics are aware Williams' crusade has noting to do with justice for small-time politicos and their petty grasping. Williams' feud with Kane stems from her exposure of Fina's <a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6318693-74/investigation-sandusky-kane#axzz3MgSdyQVT"><b>appallingly shoddy work</b></a> in the Jerry Sandusky investigation and his<b> <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-14/news/54976129_1_kane-aide-attorney-general-kathleen-g-e-mails">dissemination of smutty and offensive emails</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kane has fired staffers implicated in the email scandal. Former OAG employees who've been exposed - <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.0029983520508px;">Department of Environmental Protection Secretary <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/in_resignation_letter_christop.html"><b>E. Christopher Abruzzo</b></a>, DEP Counsel <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/10/02/Pennsylvania-environmental-secretary-resigns-amid-email-controversy/stories/201410020392"><b>Glenn Parno</b></a>, Board of Probation and Parole member <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/exiting_parole_board_member_th.html"><b>Randy Feathers</b></a>, Lancaster County Assistant DA <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/10/pa_porn_email_scandal_prompts.html"><b>Rick Sheetz</b></a>, - have been deemed unfit for public service. Supreme Courth Justice <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-03/news/54603901_1_corbett-william-ryan-jr-attorney-general-kathleen-kane"><b>Seamus McCaffery</b></a> retired in disgrace. <a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6931323-74/carusone-corbett-emails#axzz3MgSdyQVT"><b>Chris Carusone</b></a>, who also served in Gov. Tom Corbett's cabinet, was forced to resign from his private-sector law firm. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.0029983520508px;">Only Williams, who continues to employ<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-03/news/54603901_1_corbett-william-ryan-jr-attorney-general-kathleen-kane"> <b>Fina</b> </a>and two other prosecutors implicated -<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-03/news/54603901_1_corbett-william-ryan-jr-attorney-general-kathleen-kane"> <b>Patrick Blessington and Marc Costanzo</b></a> - is content to allow men with spectacularly poor judgement to decide the fate of others. </span></span><br />
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<br />Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com269tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-91490526203503045612014-12-18T14:43:00.000-05:002014-12-18T14:43:11.850-05:00DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I LEAK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMVMzf5sEse4HQpVakdppKWFfqEI1EsIu-yf6H9WOnehQMZbJ4qas1HZ9kEgQLtoTeaDrbZbXzz2Af61Q3rxHIkP6THTdzK3Mp11XFb4i_yjptu8wPNFopU5IFVqiYJidBcuHwfHU9G9e/s1600/2-leak1-thumb-369x246-102880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMVMzf5sEse4HQpVakdppKWFfqEI1EsIu-yf6H9WOnehQMZbJ4qas1HZ9kEgQLtoTeaDrbZbXzz2Af61Q3rxHIkP6THTdzK3Mp11XFb4i_yjptu8wPNFopU5IFVqiYJidBcuHwfHU9G9e/s1600/2-leak1-thumb-369x246-102880.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pennsylvania
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille was troubled enough by Attorney
General Kathleen Kane leaking information from a grand jury investigating the former
Philadelphia NAACP leader Whyatt Mondesire that he authorized a special grand
jury investigation into the matter. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet, it
appears that Castille has leaked secret information about this new grand jury
examining Kane:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Chief
Justice Ronald D. Castille told reporters that some of the documents in
question constituted grand jury material, which would be confidential…. Questioned
by reporters at the annual Pennsylvania Society gathering in New York, Castille
countered that at least one of the documents that appeared in the Daily News
story should have been confidential. ‘It was a detective's statement,’ said
Castille, speaking to two reporters at the Metropolitan Club.” (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20141214_Castille_jabs_Kane_on_gravity_of_inquiry.html">Philadelphia Inquirer 12/14/14</a>)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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So, because
of grand jury secrecy rules, there is a detective’s statement that Kane should
not have provided the Daily News. If she is precluded from revealing it because
it is secret, then how can Castille discuss it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Furthermore, would not Castille’s revelation that the detective statement is at the center of
the new grand jury investigation be a further violation of grand jury secrecy
rules?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The law is
incredibly clear that Castille is violating the law because discussing anything
in a grand jury is verboten:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“All
evidence, including exhibits and all testimony presented to the grand jury, is
subject to grand jury secrecy, and no person may disclose any matter occurring
before the grand jury, except…Defendant in a Criminal Case…[and]
A grand jury witness may disclose his or her testimony”. (<a href="http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/234/chapter5/s556.10.html">PA Code Rule 556.10</a>)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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We suppose
that Castille could say that he is not violating the secrecy rules because he
wasn’t sworn in as part of the Mondesire grand jury proceedings. Fair enough, but that in turn raises further questions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First, how
much different would this excuse be than Kane’s for leaking information from
the Mondesire grand jury:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Reading
prepared remarks, [Kane] acknowledged that her office had released information,
but said it did so ‘in a way that did not violate statutory or case law
regarding grand jury secrecy.’….’Nothing she said suggested in any way that she
committed a crime - because she didn't commit a crime. She didn't cross any
ethical line," said Gerald Shargel, a New York City criminal defense lawyer.”
(<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-11-19/news/56313314_1_kane-special-prosecutor-grand-jury">Philadelphia Inquirer 11/19/14</a>)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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It sounds
like Shargel’s interpretation of the law is based on his reading of Title 42
which seems to give Kane wiggle room from Rule 556.10 given that she was not
part of the Mondesire grand jury, and consequently, not sworn into secrecy:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“a juror,
attorney, interpreter, stenographer, operator of a recording device, or any
typist who transcribes recorded testimony may disclose matters occurring before
the grand jury only when so directed by the court. All such persons shall be
sworn to secrecy, and shall be in contempt of court if they reveal any
information which they are sworn to keep secret.” (<a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/LEGIS/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=42&CFID=241807337&CFTOKEN=78190356">Title 42 Subchapter D Section 4549</a>)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If this
interpretation also applies to Castille openly discussing that the detective’s
statement was at the center of the grand jury investigating Kane, then who
leaked to him the information that the detective’s statement was at the center
of its investigation?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Who has the
authority over the Chief Justice to authorize a grand jury to investigate the
leaks from a grand jury that is investigating leaks from a grand jury?<o:p></o:p></div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-64151111163161352082014-08-05T10:49:00.000-04:002014-08-07T14:03:42.354-04:00"PEOPLE SHOULD BE JUDGED BY THE STANDARDS BY WHICH THEY JUDGED OTHERS"<span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFxG3_wD8gIYEvtSeaNNwEALsjwwk5vNHuU7Ed7TlKmjo-_g0qoUCKubsTrfuaAuyMQqC_MErgYzJFwtfN9csrLbgYqBE-L5K-VQgULtrDKGRoHwuCKEKSwUocvh76lxrRUwCEamRGts/s1600/Corbett-Budget-Bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFxG3_wD8gIYEvtSeaNNwEALsjwwk5vNHuU7Ed7TlKmjo-_g0qoUCKubsTrfuaAuyMQqC_MErgYzJFwtfN9csrLbgYqBE-L5K-VQgULtrDKGRoHwuCKEKSwUocvh76lxrRUwCEamRGts/s1600/Corbett-Budget-Bird.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><i>"There's a 'significant difference' in having a campaign adviser at the Capitol and paying a campaign operative with state money." -- </i></span><a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/6559939-74/corbett-campaign-meetings#axzz39WjSE2Qn"><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px;">Widener University </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px;">political science professor</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px;"> </span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px;"><a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/6559939-74/corbett-campaign-meetings#axzz39WjSE2Qn"><b>J. Wesley Leckrone</b></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />In an attempt to demonstrate that Tom Corbett's taxpayer-funded political activity isn't as bad as the taxpayer-funded political activity he prosecuted as a campaign stunt, Tribune-Review reporter Brad Bumsted includes the above nugget of wisdom in <a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/6559939-74/corbett-campaign-meetings#axzz39WjSE2Qn"><b>today's account </b></a>of political meetings held in the Governor's Office. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The problem with this feeble defense is that not everyone Corbett sent to prison was guilty of "paying a campaign operative with state money." Staff who went to prison were convicted of nothing more than engaging in political activity while on state time - a crime Corbett and his operatives committed <i>again </i>and <i>again</i>, even as they prosecuted political adversaries for the same behavior.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Political meetings in the Governor's Office are hardly the most blatant example: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16.00299835205078px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">While Attorney General Corbett put <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/12/no-parking.html"><b>campaign manager</b></a> Brian Nutt <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2009/09/plenty-of-parking-at-oag.html"><b>on the state payroll</b> </a>as "chief of staff," and two other campaign operatives, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Joe Murzyn and Becky Myers, on the payroll as "executive assistants." </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">During his re-election campaign in 2008, Corbett's state-paid Attorney General staffers </span><a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-buzz.html" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b>exchanged hundreds of phone calls</b> </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">with campaign staff, on state time and using state phones.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Corbett </span><a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/10/justice-for-sale.html" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b>repeatedly solicited campaign contributions</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> from ostensible targets of his own criminal investigations.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">State employees </span><a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2010/07/corbett-campaign-lit-displayed-on-ag-booth-at-county-fair/" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b>distributed campaign materials</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> while on official, taxpayer-funded Attorney General assignment.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Corbett used his government position to</span><a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/10/corbett-investigating-political-allies.html" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> <b>protect his political allies</b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> over and over again.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Remember, these are just the offenses we know about. None of Corbett's staffers were dragged before a grand jury and threatened with prosecution if they didn't cough up damaging testimony about their boss and co-workers. No one went digging for incriminating information in their emails - not even the guy whose job it was to <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/07/sandusky_reports_author_addres.html"><b>determine if political considerations affected prosecutions</b></a>. This is just the wrongdoing that <i>accidentally</i> spilled out, even though no one actively was looking for it.</span></span></div>
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Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com119tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-38043026766346747952014-06-26T13:06:00.005-04:002014-06-26T14:00:22.466-04:00"AN INEXCUSABLE LACK OF URGENCY"<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Deep Throat:</i> You let Haldeman slip away. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Bob Woodward:</i> Yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Deep Throat:</i> You've done worse than let Haldeman slip away: you've got people feeling sorry for him. I didn't think that was possible. In a conspiracy like this, you build from the outer edges and go step by step. If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure. You've put the investigation back months. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Bob Woodward:</i> Yes, we know that. And if we're wrong, we're resigning. Were we wrong?</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-- <i>All The President's Men</i>, 1976</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20130607_inq_pe1corbett07z-a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20130607_inq_pe1corbett07z-a.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By any measure, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's <a href="http://filesource.abacast.com/commonwealthofpa/mp4_podcast/2014_06_23_REPORT_to_AG_ON_THE_SANDUSKY_INVESTIGATION.pdf"><b>review of Tom Corbett's investigation</b></a> of serial child rapist Jerry Sandusky revealed unconscionable neglect, incompetence and sloppiness. Her central conclusion, <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 22px;">"The facts show an inexcusable lack of urgency in charging and stopping a serial sexual predator," is undisputed.</span> But because Kane couldn't prove that Corbett broke any laws or expressly told anyone to slow-walk the investigation, Kane's report is being hailed as a victory for Corbett.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Way to set the bar low, Pennsylvania.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We have never subscribed to - or even understood - the theory that Corbett deliberately stalled the Sandusky investigation for political reasons. What's significant - and tragic - is that the investigation <i>was </i>stalled. That Corbett should get a pass from the public because he didn't<i> intentionally </i>stall it for <i>political reasons</i> is baffling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's not to say that the delay in prosecuting Sandusky is entirely unrelated to politics. The report confirmed what we have long alleged: Corbett's obsession with prosecuting members of the legislature, and assembling those indictments before officially launching his gubernatorial campaign, contributed heavily to the delay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two of the agents on the Sandusky Task Force didn't begin working on the case until early April of 2011 -<i> two full years</i> after Corbett took over the case - because they had been working "almost exclusively" on Bonusgate-related investigations and prosecutions for the previous several years.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to the report, "Bonusgate appeared to affect investigative assignments, arguably exacerbated an existing shortage of investigative resources, and certainly consumed a considerable portion of the time and attention of [Frank] Fina and other office supervisors ... is impossible to determine how the course of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sandusky investigation would have been different had it, in its early stages, received the same </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">intense focus as Bonusgate."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That said, the report seems to raise more questions than it answered. Kane, initially critical of Corbett's decision to submit the case to the slow-moving grand jury process, concluded that there were, theoretically, advantages to the grand jury process. But Corbett's team failed to avail themselves of those advantages. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the beginning of January through the end of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">October 2010, for example, the Grand Jury issued no subpoenas for testimony and only one </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">subpoena for records.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To be clear, the only advantages to using the grand jury are subpoena power and the ability to compel testimony under oath.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's important to remember that - unlike Corbett - Kane did not conduct a criminal investigation and did not have subpoena power or the ability to compel testimony under oath. The review suffers from the lack.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While Kane concedes that Sandusky should have not been arrested based on the testimony of one victim, no one has been able to explain why investigators did not immediately seek a search warrant for Sandusky's home. Because the search directly led to the identification of more victims, Sandusky could have been arrested almost immediately had the search been conducted in March of 2009, when Corbett assumed the case.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Equally incomprehensible is why investigators waited until January of 2011 to ask Penn State Police Department for copies of any criminal reports relating to Sandusky. In his response to the report, Fina vaguely retorts, "finding the 1998 Penn State University police report was not as simple as walking into the Penn State University Police Department and asking for it." But that is <i>exactly</i> what happened, and no one can explain why it didn't happen sooner.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sadly, instead of examining Corbett's egregious missteps that left Sandusky free to continue victimizing children for three years, media coverage is focused on partisan bickering between the Kane and Corbett camps. Reporters at Monday's press conference gasped audibly when Kane pointed out that Sandusky's abuse continued after Corbett took over the case in March 2009. Not only do common sense and all available evidence about the behavior of pedophiles indicate that <i>of course </i>he continued the abuse, Victim 9 <a href="http://www.casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/06/in-meantime.html"><b>testified as much</b></a> in 2012. Yet more is being made of Kane's misstatement that neither of the two post-March 2009 cases were prosecuted than of the fact that Sandusky still was abusing children while Corbett dawdled over the investigation.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the summer of 2010, Deputy Attorney General Jonelle Eshbach wrote to her bosses: "Does anyone want to answer my questions about why we are stalled since winter?"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Four years later, the answer still is no.</span></div>
</div>
Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com116tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-82591704081049435682014-06-20T17:47:00.001-04:002014-06-23T10:28:23.575-04:00IN THE MEANTIME ....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Attorney General Kathleen Kane has scheduled for Monday the release of a report on her review of Tom Corbett's three-year-long investigation of serial child rapist Jerry Sandusky. <br />
<br />
One of the main complaints about the glacial pace of Corbett's investigation is the near-certainty that Sandusky continued to abuse children even as the investigation crept along.<br />
<br />
Given what we know about child molesters, it's nearly impossible that a pedophile in his 60s, whose victims likely number in the hundreds, simply ... stopped. Why would he? How could he? Corbett apologists argue that Sandusky knew he was being investigated, but <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/ci_21059173/penn-states-sandusky-report-will-draw-scrutiny"><b>he'd been investigated before</b></a> and didn't stop. Many believe <a href="http://larrybrownsports.com/college-football/jerry-sanduskys-1999-retirement-forced-out/98643"><b>he'd lost his coaching job</b></a> with Penn State over the incident, and still he didn't stop. The fact that he'd escaped without criminal charges may even have emboldened him.<br />
<br />
We've always maintained that Sandusky most likely continued to abuse children after Corbett took over the investigation in March of 2009, but doubted that Corbett's OAG would advertise the fact by prosecuting any case involving one of those victims.<br />
<br />
Or were we wrong?<br />
<br />
At least one Corbett critic - <a href="http://notpsu.blogspot.com/"><b>Ray Blehar of NotPSU.com</b></a> - insists that the abuse of Victim 9 continued at least until July 29, 2009, when Victim 9 turned 16 - four months after Corbett took over the case. Blehar's case is strong, but not conclusive.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://co.centre.pa.us/centreco/media/upload/SANDUSKY%2012-07-2011%20Araignment.pdf"><b>original criminal complaint</b></a> involving victims 9 and 10 alleges the crimes took place "on or about January 1997 to December 2008." The <a href="http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/pdf/201112/sandusky-presentment2-12-7-2011.pdf"><b>grand jury presentment</b></a> also suggests Sandusky's abuse of Victim 9 ended in 2008.
However, according to a <a href="http://co.centre.pa.us/centreco/media/upload/SANDUSKY%20Bill%20of%20Particulars.pdf"><b>February 21, 2012, Bill of Particulars</b></a>, the abuse continued until 2009, when the victim was "15/16."
The dates change again in the<a href="http://co.centre.pa.us/centreco/media/upload/SANDUSKY%20AMENDED%20CRIMINAL%20INFORMATION%202421%202011.pdf"><b> amended Bill of Particulars</b></a>, filed May 18, 2012, in which the dates of abuse are listed as July 2005 to December of 2008.<br />
<br />
A month later, during testimony at Sandusky's trial, <a href="http://co.centre.pa.us/centreco/media/upload/SANDUSKY_061412_%20JT.pdf"><b>Victim 9 testifies</b></a> that he continued to see Sandusky until he was 15 or 16 - with the witness, prosecutor and defense attorney all seeming to settle on age 16.<br />
<br />
As we've said, the question really isn't whether Sandusky continued molesting children while Corbett dawdled over the investigation - he almost certainly did. The question is whether any of those victims had any hope of seeking justice from an Attorney General's office that has so much to hide.Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-91533349721080631492014-06-04T15:07:00.002-04:002014-06-05T11:06:19.324-04:00PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What has always shocked us more than Tom Corbett's cynical abuse of the Office of Attorney General for political gain is the insouciance with which the press corps has greeted every instance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jake Sternberger, a contributing writer for <span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.keystonepolitics.com/"><b>Keystone Politics</b></a></span>, yesterday shrugged off an investigator's admission that Corbett's obsession with the legislature left the OAG without sufficient resources to investigate child molestation charges against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky:</span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/CasablancaPA">@CasablancaPA</a> I am familiar, but prosecutors have discretion 2 focus their resources. & resources are always limited. Inherent govt problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">— Jake Sternberger (@JakeSternberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSternberger/statuses/473912489923457024">June 3, 2014</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s an <i>inherent government problem</i> when a prosecutor
gives a child molestation case <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/01/sandusky-slow-walk-son-of-bonusgate.html"><b>short shrift</b></a> because he’s obsessed with rehabilitating
his botched political corruption case in time to launch a gubernatorial campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s not abuse of
office, it’s just a prosecutor exercising his discretion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We suppose we
should be grateful Sternberger acknowledged the situation at all. A more recent
revelation that the OAG used its “discretion” to settle political scores was greeted
with virtual silence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Embattled
prosecutor Frank Fina, likely to be a focus of Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s
<a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6223333-74/report-kane-corbett#axzz33JDmZBk4"><b>forthcoming
report</b></a> on the Sandusky investigation, took some heat when it was revealed
all but one of the secretly-recorded targets of a lengthy “sting” operation were people of color. But
only one news outlet, the Doylestown<b> <i><a href="http://www.theintell.com/">Intelligencer</a></i>,</b> bothered to mention that shortly before being
targeted, Rep. John Galloway <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/214334350/Nukes-Over-Harrisburg"><b>had enraged Corbett</b></a> with public criticism of
his legislative corruption investigation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Funny how few seem to shrug off Kane's decision not to prosecute that sloppily-executed, possibly racially-targeted sting as "prosecutorial discretion.")</span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #292f33;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No one from the
OAG ever has bothered to explain how the targets of the failed sting were
chosen – not that we’ve seen anyone in the media bother to <i>ask</i> - but some Republican insiders were disappointed
that no southeastern Democrats were snared in Corbett’s previous “Bonusgate” and
“Computergate” investigations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33;">Why not exercise
some prosecutorial discretion and try to kill two birds with one stone? Giving
southeastern Republicans some grist for the mill while at the same time retaliating
against an irksome critic? It's just an inherent government problem.</span> </span><br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-16613833838982647572014-04-29T12:49:00.000-04:002014-12-22T22:37:32.768-05:00EXCLUSIVE: BARMAID GOT CASH FOR VACATION FROM ALI DURING "STING"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3119/3172980048_46c7cf6f6b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3119/3172980048_46c7cf6f6b.jpg" /></a></div>
Confidential Informant Tyron B. Ali, while living a <a href="http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/5918888-74/ali-kane-office#axzz30HeK0yxz"><b>free-spending lifestyle at taxpayer expense</b></a> in 2010 and 2011, at least once handed a Harrisburg barmaid an envelope containing $400 cash for her Caribbean vacation.<br />
<br />
The barmaid declined to speak for the record for fear of losing her job or damaging her establishment's reputation.<br />
<br />
Ali spent more than $90,000 in taxpayer funds while working as an informant for then-Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina in 2010 and 2011. The money includes about $22,100 in “payments to suspects.” Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who declined to prosecute the sloppily-executed sting, said $32,600 was unaccounted for.<br />
<br />
It's unclear whether the cash Ali gave to the barmaid is among those expenses.<br />
<br />
Ali befriended the barmaid during 2010 as he was trying to establish the persona of a high-flying Harrisburg lobbyist. The ruse was part of a sting, supervised by Fina, intended to ensnare legislators and others involved in the state political scene.<br />
<br />
During that time, the barmaid was planning a vacation in the Caribbean. Ali told her not to buy a plane ticket, because he would take care of it for her. As the date of her trip approached, Ali still hadn't provided her with a ticket, despite her regular inquiries. About a week before she planned to leave, as she was asking about the ticket, he went to his car and retrieved an envelope, which he handed to her. It contained $400 cash, which he told her to use for her trip.<br />
<br />
It was only after the Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-17/news/48269239_1_investigation-kane-ali"><b>broke the story</b> </a> on March 17 that the barmaid realized that the money likely was part of the taxpayer-funded slush fund Ali was using to attempt to bribe legislators.<br />
<br />
Were plane tickets to the Caribbean for Ali's barmaid pals among the legitimate expenses Fina approved for the failed sting? Or was this $400 part of the $32,600 that went unaccounted for? Were there other spontaneous acts of generosity benefiting Harrisburg's hospitality workforce? As much as $32,600 worth of spontaneous generosity?<br />
<br />
Either Frank Fina approved of Ali handing out cash to his barmaid friends, or Fine had absolutely <i>no idea</i> what Ali was doing with <i>tens of thousands</i> of taxpayer dollars. Which is worse?Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-81567370691556938162014-04-23T07:58:00.001-04:002014-04-23T10:31:28.628-04:00A SIMPLE QUESTION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2013/10/17/420x_q90_cMC_z/Frank-Fina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2013/10/17/420x_q90_cMC_z/Frank-Fina.jpg" /></a></div>If Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina thought that incoming Attorney General Kathleen Kane wouldn't prosecute the long-dormant "sting" investigation he supervised, why'd he strike a deal with confidential informant Tyron B. Ali<i> after </i> she was elected?<br>
<br>
And Fina <i>didn't</i> think she would prosecute, even before she ever learned of the existence of the investigation. Otherwise, why would he <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/OAG%20unsealed%20documents%20fact%20sheet.pdf"><b>turn over files to an FBI agent</b></a> <i>at the very moment Kane was being sworn in</i>?<br>
<br>
He did this, <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/ali_case_files_answer_some_que.html"><b>he says</b></a>, because he was "concerned about a conflict of interest." Fina's previous boss, Linda Kelly - <a href="http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/5801753-74/memo-fina-attorney#axzz2zi1vzdeR"><b>who actually knew about it</b></a> - had declined to pursue the case.<br>
<br>
Fina didn't believe Kane would prosecute. Before she took office. Yet he signed an extraordinary agreement with confidential informant Tyron B. Ali - dismissing all 2,000+ charges of fraud - on November 30, 2012. That's 24 days <i>after</i> Kane, whom he believed <i>would not prosecute,</i> was elected.<br>
<br>
An extraordinary deal. Dismissal of more than 2,000 charges of fraud. In exchange for testimony a case that Fina believed would not be pursued. In a case his previous boss had declined to pursue.<br>
<br>
It's looking more and more as though the case was, <a href="http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/a-messy-sting/article_6cd45270-c1b9-11e3-9f66-0017a43b2370.html"><b>as editorial boards have speculated</b>,</a> "a 'welcome present' designed to blow up in her face."Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-69171366342654657772014-04-16T12:37:00.000-04:002014-04-16T12:45:38.473-04:00EXPLAIN THE TARGETING, EXPLAIN THE STING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLL_5vC6h5GbxAEkgLjx_chtmiAU_zgnbnzCHnePhmzHWacjFdkC_GTtlPjo6YKDd-pz_wjGnc2dseAJG89Cww1FLx9fYJ7Rc_ZbL4YneH5HmZFuW2NzyMXZwrjUJzxOfCjpN3ZJAMzW4/s1600/racial_profiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLL_5vC6h5GbxAEkgLjx_chtmiAU_zgnbnzCHnePhmzHWacjFdkC_GTtlPjo6YKDd-pz_wjGnc2dseAJG89Cww1FLx9fYJ7Rc_ZbL4YneH5HmZFuW2NzyMXZwrjUJzxOfCjpN3ZJAMzW4/s320/racial_profiling.jpg" /></a></div>Did Attorney General Kathleen Kane make the right decision in <b><a href=http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-17/news/48269239_1_investigation-kane-ali>abandoning a sting</a></b> that snared Philadelphia officials who accepted unreported gifts?<br />
<br />
Did the <b><a href=http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-10/news/49003199_1_federal-prosecutors-law-enforcement-kane>FBI</a></b> think she made the right call? Did the <b><a href=http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-10/news/49003199_1_federal-prosecutors-law-enforcement-kane>U.S. Attorney's Office</a></b> think so?<br />
<br />
Did Dauphin County District Attorney <b><a href=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/03/dauphin_county_da_ed_marsicos.html>Ed Marsico</a></b> agree?<br />
<br />
Did former Attorney General now-Governor <b><a href=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140416_Corbett__Never_made_a_decision_on_Phila__sting_case.html>Tom Corbett</a></b> think she made the right call? What about former Attorney General <b><a href=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140416_Corbett__Never_made_a_decision_on_Phila__sting_case.html>Bill Ryan</a></b>?<br />
<br />
Did Former Attorney General Linda Kelly's <b><a href=http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/4-10-14%20Bruce%20Beemer%20statement.pdf>Chief of Staff</a></b> agree?<br />
<br />
And for heaven's sake, what does Philadelphia District Attorney <b><a href=http://www.casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/04/seth-williams-um-never-mind.html>Seth Williams</a></b> have to say about all this?<br />
<br />
Instead of trying to uncover the facts about exactly where this sting went wrong - so perhaps we all could judge for ourselves - journalists covering the story remain mired in the political judgement of some very conflicted sources.<br />
<br />
Kane succinctly has <b><a href=http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597>listed the reasons</a></b> she chose not to pursue the sting:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>The extraordinary Cooperation Agreement</b>, signed before she took office, dismissing more than 2,000 fraud charges against the Confidential Informant. "It effectively undermined the CI's credibility and that of the OAG for having agreed to it."</li>
<li><b>Lack of corroborating evidence or witnesses</b> to verify the identities of those on the recordings. A prosecutor can't simply waltz into a courtroom, play a recording and allow a jury to decide what it means. The recordings can't be admitted unless someone can verify under oath the identities of the people on the recordings.</li>
<li><b>Failure to establish "quid pro quo."</b> One of the more monumentally dim-witted aspects of the sting was the suggestion that black Democrats from Philadelphia were induced through bribes to vote against a Voter ID bill that Democrats had been fighting tooth-and-nail to defeat.</li>
<li><b>Lack of reasonable suspicion</b> to support targeting the legislators.</li>
<li><b>Possible racial targeting:</b> The OAG Agent who managed the CI "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 ...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."</li>
</ul>
No one one disagrees that racial targeting throws the entire investigation into question; the disagreement is whether Kane had reason to believe there was racial targeting. In other words, is Kane <i>lying</i> about the statements she says the investigator and the informant made? No one ever uses the word "lying" when referencing the question of racial targeting, but either they made the statements or they didn't, and someone is lying in either case.<br />
<br />
The recordings made during the investigation show that all the targets were people of color, except for one white legislator <b><a href=http://www.scribd.com/doc/214334350/Nukes-Over-Harrisburg>against whom Corbett had a specific grudge.</a></b><br />
<br />
"Sources" told the Inquirer financial pitches were made to both Republicans and Democrats. Since there are no black Republican elected officials of note in Philadelphia, that means pitches were made to white Republicans. But there are no white Republicans on the recordings. Why?<br />
<br />
The investigator <b><a href=http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/25197996/fox-29-investigates-lead-investigator-in-corruption-sting-speaks#ixzz2yUbL4aXu>told Fox 29</a></b> "No one would, again, ever suggest asking, ordering me to target members of my own race or any race. It just would not happen."<br />
<br />
He didn't deny that he was told to target specific officials. Was he told to target certain individuals by name? How <i>did</i> they select the targets? Again, can he explain why are all the targets on the recordings are people of color?<br />
<br />
Williams, for his part, is trying to <b><a href=http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-18/news/48334905_1_a-g-kane-investigation-ali>deny the fact and explain it at the same time.</a></b> He says the reason all the targets are people of color is because those are the people in Ali's "immediate realm." Which is it? Were whites targeted, or were only people of color targeted because they were in Ali's "realm?" (And, honestly, is Philadelphia <i>really</i> that segregated?)<br />
<br />
The facts at hand show that Kane was right to drop the sting. The only way to justify continued questioning of her judgement is to show that these aren't the facts. Seth Williams' convoluted "it-isn't-true-but-here's-why-it-is-true" ramblings do not disprove the facts. The investigator denying that he's a racist does not disprove the facts. Corbett and Ryan <b><a href=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140416_Corbett__Never_made_a_decision_on_Phila__sting_case.html#qWBChlyMiSjoJseh.99
>insisting that they didn't "decide"</a></b> not to pursue the case (they just ... didn't pursue it) does not disprove the facts.<br />
<br />
In fact, Corbett and Ryan declining to say whether they thought Kane made the right decision is evidence that she did, as Corbett never would pass on a chance to attack Kane. <br />
<br />
Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-79535266616680070992014-04-11T00:28:00.000-04:002014-04-11T09:53:38.873-04:00SETH WILLIAMS: UM ... NEVER MIND<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AP-seth-williams-frank-fina-photo-matt-burke-900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AP-seth-williams-frank-fina-photo-matt-burke-900.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"[Attorney General Kathleen] Kane said ... federal law enforcement officials agreed with her that the case was 'flawed and nonprosecutable.' But [Philadelphia District Attorney Seth] Williams and the other sources say the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia <i>never made such a judgment</i> about the sting during the several months that prosecutors reviewed the case file." (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140409_Feds_made_no_judgment_on_sting_case__sources_say.html"><b><i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 4/9/15</b></a>)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Feb. 22, 2013: Attorney General Kane's Senior Executive Deputy Attorney General and Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations meet with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI in Philadelphia to determine what, if any, interest they had in adopting the corruption investigation or using the informant in other investigations. Both advised <i>they did not want to adopt the pending corruption case</i> and had no interest in using the informant at that time (p.5, OAG response, Oct. 4, 2013)." (<a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/OAG%20unsealed%20documents%20fact%20sheet.pdf"><b>PA Office of Attorney General, 4/10/14</b></a>)</blockquote>
On January 15, 2013, at the same time Kane was taking the oath of office, Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/OAG%20unsealed%20documents%20fact%20sheet.pdf"><b>directed an OAG agent</b></a> to deliver to an FBI agent a a thumb drive of recordings, made during the course of a sting investigation into public corruption. Kane did not direct him to do so, and Kane was not aware that he did so. In fact, Kane first would learn about the investigation "in a cursory manner" two days later from Fina.<br />
<br />
A little more than a month after that, two of Kane's top staffers met with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI. The feds said they had<i> no interest </i>in pursuing the case.<br />
<br />
Now, how they came to that conclusion without ever making a "judgement" about the case is not for us to say. Williams may have some method of determining whether or not to pursue a case without making a judgement about it, but what do we know? We're not lawyers.<br />
<br />
Williams characterizes the feds declining to take the case as Kane <a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/5889927-74/kane-case-ali#axzz2yY2M6av6"><b>"aski[ng] for the case back."</b></a> We're not sure why someone would have to ask for something back from someone who never took it in the first place.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore, "f</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">ederal law enforcement officials with knowledge of Case File No. 36-622 </span></span><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;"><b>have shared</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"> with current members of the OAG executive staff their opinion that the case is flawed and not prosecutable." As Kane has not said who the officials are, Williams has no way of knowing what </span></span><span style="line-height: 16px;">judgments</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"> they shared with Kane's staff.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
Not content with being wrong about what happened with the feds, Williams<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140411_Kane_calls_on_Philadelphia_D_A__to_prosecute_sting_case.html"><b> compounded his mistake</b></a> by insisting, "You [Kane] have repeatedly asserted it was the previous prosecutors who dropped charges against [Confidential Informant Tyron Ali], when in fact it appears that it was you who did so, and then sealed the proceedings to keep them from public scrutiny."<br />
<br />
Again, we are not lawyers, but we are pretty sure that it is judges who seal court records, not prosecutors.<br />
<br />
In this case, the <i>judge<b> </b></i>sealed the records September 12, 2013, "after the informant's attorney initially requested charges to be dropped per agreement signed before Attorney General Kane took office."<br />
<br />
A request, by the way, that was accompanied by <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/April%207%20response%20in%20support%20of%20motion%20to%20unseal.pdf"><b>an affidavit</b></a> from none other than Frank Fina himself.<br />
<br />
We have previously explained that Williams' childish insistence that Kane "dropped the charges" is disingenuous. Fina <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/OAG%20unsealed%20documents%20fact%20sheet.pdf"><b>signed an agreement</b></a> to drop all charges against Ali on November 30, 2012 - 45 days before Kane took office. Kane wanted to nullify the agreement Fina signed, but because the agreement was a legally enforceable contract, she was forced to honor it on November 8, 2013.<br />
<br />
Considering that records in the case had been sealed - by a judge - <i>two months earlier</i>, the timeline does not support Williams' claim that Kane "dropped the charges, <i>then</i> sealed the proceedings."<br />
<br />
How <i>did</i> Williams manage to come to such extraordinarily erroneous conclusions?<br />
<br />Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-82230258541012945172014-04-10T14:47:00.000-04:002014-04-10T17:19:39.093-04:00CAN INVESTIGATOR AND KANE BOTH BE TELLING THE TRUTH? YES.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzhkBh2jjrIiHpxEM5-2J8vZAME5wybYgKFVo_xKxbdRijbm16G29rgPUb54DbzqCv621stn3l66UEr-aMq_sZMwt4tEQ0Ysj3EtpWx3nTz9FAP32DuRaBKPV2I1lff0dhPnXG67mTI8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-04-10+11.02.59.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnzhkBh2jjrIiHpxEM5-2J8vZAME5wybYgKFVo_xKxbdRijbm16G29rgPUb54DbzqCv621stn3l66UEr-aMq_sZMwt4tEQ0Ysj3EtpWx3nTz9FAP32DuRaBKPV2I1lff0dhPnXG67mTI8/s1600/Screenshot+2014-04-10+11.02.59.png" height="233" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The lead
investigator in the Philadelphia sting operation that Attorney General Kathleen
Kane shut down – in part because of possible racial targeting – this week </span><a href="http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/25197996/fox-29-investigates-lead-investigator-in-corruption-sting-speaks#ixzz2yUbL4aXu" style="line-height: 115%;"><b>came
forward</b></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"> to deny he was ordered to target African-American legislators.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">“No one would, again, ever suggest asking,
ordering me to target members of my own race or any race. It just would not happen," the
investigator, who now works for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, told Fox 29.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597"><b>In a statement</b></a>, Kane said the investigator “</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">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.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are 23 members of the <b><a href="http://www.pahouse.com/PLBC/Members.asp">Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus</a><u>,</u></b> most of whom represent the Philadelphia area. It’s entirely possible the investigator was instruct<span class="apple-converted-space">ed to focus on some or all of these members by name,
without anyone mentioning their ethnicity or their membership in the Black
Caucus. It may not have registered with the investigator that all of the targets
were people of color.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All but one, that is.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"There was several members of both the
House and the Senate, Caucasian as well as African-American, who requested a
number of things,” the investigator told Fox 29. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">He doesn’t mention how many of the targets
were Caucasian or who they were (And Fox 29 didn’t ask. Tsk, tsk, Fox 29). Of 113 recording sessions conducted
throughout the sting, there are <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597"><b>only two white “targets,”</b> </a>one of whom “is on
tape</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"> merely because he happens to be in a room with
two black </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">targets.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Apparently, the sole white target of the sting was a
legislator <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/04/enter-goon-squad.html"><b>who had enraged</b></a>
then-Attorney General Tom Corbett in 2010 with his criticism of Corbett’s legislative investigation as
politically motivated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;">“He started to explode,” <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/214334350/Nukes-Over-Harrisburg"><b>Rep. John Galloway said.</b></a>
“He was this close to my face. ‘What do</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"> <span style="display: inline-block;"></span></span><span class="a"></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;">you know? I’m gonna send agents.’”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Send agents he did. Galloway said, “One sits here like this, focuses
right on me, and he’s asking me 'What do you know? Where did you come from? Why
did you say what you said?' Another guy starts walking around, looking at my
family pictures. 'Is this your daughter? Is this your wife? What does she do
for a living?' Picks up papers, intimidating like you wouldn't believe.”</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Months later, Galloway was then the sole white target for Frank Fina's ostensibly color-blind sting using Tyron Ali. Coincidence?</span></span></span><br />
<span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span class="a"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #222222; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Galloway’s appearance on the recordings does not
exactly make the case that the targeting process was impartial, but it does
give the investigator cover to say that both whites and people of color were
targeted.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-14729054437992630372014-04-09T11:59:00.000-04:002014-04-09T13:31:22.265-04:00SETH WILLIAMS: LET'S YOU AND HIM FIGHT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20130428_inq_pcorrupt28-a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20130428_inq_pcorrupt28-a.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Philadelphia
District Attorney Seth Williams reminds us of that kid on the playground who's
always trying to get someone else to take on the bully he's too afraid to
confront himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever since Attorney General
Kathleen Kane<b> <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597">revealed</a></b> that
two members of his staff engaged in a sloppy sting investigation possibly
tainted by racial targeting, Williams has been obsessed with branding her a
liar. There is, of course, one sure way
to do so: by successfully prosecuting the case she says is unprosecutable. But he won’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The lead investigator, who now
works for Williams,<a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597"> <b>told Office of Attorney General staff</b></a> "<span style="background: white;">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.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The agent, who was <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597"><b>promised a promotion
and cash bonus</b></a> for working on the investigation, has been forced to
recant. Williams trotted him out for a <a href="http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/25197996/fox-29-investigates-lead-investigator-in-corruption-sting-speaks"><b>Fox
29 interview</b></a>, in which he denies racial targeting, but curiously, he never
denies telling OAG staff that he was instructed to focus on members of the
Black Caucus. Not that was he asked.
Tsk, tsk, Fox 29.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597"><b>Another reason</b></a> Kane declined to prosecute the
case is that “f<span style="background: white;">ederal law enforcement officials
with knowledge of Case File No. 36-622 have shared with current members of the
OAG executive staff their opinion that the case is flawed and not prosecutable.</span>” Williams <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140409_Feds_made_no_judgment_on_sting_case__sources_say.html"><b>has
pounced on her assertion</b></a>, insisting that neither the FBI nor the U.S.
Attorney’s Office declined to pursue the case. Kane never said they did. She never asked them to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But even if, for some reason, Kane is lying about all of this
- if there was no racial targeting, if federal officials never shared an opinion
about the case – that won’t explain why Williams himself won’t prosecute.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">If Williams is correct that Kane <i>should</i> have prosecuted, and the feds <i>could</i> have prosecuted, he opens himself to the question, why won’t <i>he</i> prosecute?</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
If the case is solid, Williams should pursue it. If it’s not, he should shut
up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We’re
at a loss why the Inquirer keeps indulging him in his insistence that Kane is
lying about the case being flawed, and the feds never said it was flawed, when <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-18/news/48334905_1_a-g-kane-investigation-ali"><b>he
himself admitted it’s flawed</b></a>. He told the Inquirer </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">it would be difficult for his office to
prosecute the cases</span> because Confidential Informant Tyron <span style="line-height: 115%;">Ali apparently no longer had any legal obligation to testify
against those he had taped because the charges against him had been dropped. “There's
no way I can use him under any prosecutorial theory I can think of,"
Williams said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was Williams’ own Assistant District
Attorney Frank Fina, the supervising OAG attorney on the case, the one who told
the lead investigator to focus on members of the Black Caucus, the one who
promised him a promotion and cash bonus for working on the case, who dropped
the charges. And he did it <b><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597">45 days before Kane
even took office</a>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Williams
contends it was Kane who dropped the charges, but he’s being disingenuous. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;">Fina<b> <a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5837032-74/ali-kane-agreement#ixzz2yOxtYwtH">prepared
and signed</a></b> the agreement on Nov. 30, 2012. Kane didn’t intend to
dismiss the case, but Ali's lawyer filed a motion in court demanding action on
the agreement and she had no choice.</span> The agreement
could be revoked only if Ali broke the terms, and Kane was legally obligated to
honor it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But here again, if she’s
wrong and he’s right, he could have pursued the charges. Fina left the OAG and </span></span><a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-04-29/news/38880260_1_veteran-prosecutors-political-corruption-attorney-general" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><b>joined
the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> in April of 2013, </span></span><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140409_Feds_made_no_judgment_on_sting_case__sources_say.html" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><b>taking
a copy of the rejected sting case file with him</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">. Kane didn’t take action to formally dismiss
the charges against Ali until October. If Williams didn’t think the agreement
Fina signed in November 2012 rendered the case unprosecutable, why </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">didn't</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> he
prosecute it? If he did, he should shut up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alas, he won’t shut up. And he’s too
afraid to touch the case with a ten-foot pole. Meanwhile, who’s showing more
political courage than Williams? Harrisburg gadfly Gene Stilp, who’s<b> <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/political_activist_files_priva.html#incart_m-rpt-1">filed
a private criminal complaint</a></b> against some of the lawmakers targeted in
the sting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a sad state of affairs when a court jester like Stilp has more guts
than the District Attorney of Philadelphia.</span></span>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-76727132055292764732014-04-06T12:45:00.000-04:002014-04-10T08:13:31.835-04:00"A WEALTH OF INFORMATION" <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.triadstrategies.com/files/9613/9362/2673/Mike_Manzo_Web_Site.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.triadstrategies.com/files/9613/9362/2673/Mike_Manzo_Web_Site.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When Mike Manzo, former Chief of Staff to the House Democratic Leader, was sentenced to prison in 2012, prosecutor Frank Fina said Manzo had provided <a href="http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_791589.html#axzz2y7KWMGVR"><b>"a wealth of information"</b></a> on other cases.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">"In his own statement to the judge, Fina said Manzo had helped with a <a href="http://www.witf.org/state-house-sound-bites/2012/04/manzo-sentenced-up-to-four-years-in-prison.php"><b>'large number of investigations</b></a> that have yet to be revealed… entirely separate from what the court has seen.'"</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">According to the <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/04/mike_manzo_last_defendant_in_b.html"><b>Patriot-News,</b></a> "</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">The sentencing of Manzo, one-time chief of staff to former House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese, was delayed because he continued to be a key prosecution witness used by the state attorney general's office.
</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Manzo was "definitely at the tip of the spear in terms of cooperation," Fina said.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Fina would not elaborate. As the years went by and no new cases were brought against House Democrats, we often wondered just what the heck Fina meant.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Then we learned about Fina's <a href="http://www.phillytrib.com/news/kane-defends-abandoning-%E2%80%98flawed%E2%80%99-case-against-black-legislators.html"><b>botched sting operation</b></a> targeting African-American members of the House. And <i>then</i> we learned that shortly after Manzo's sentencing, Fina urged then-Attorney General Linda Kelly to <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-23/news/48471253_1_fina-memo-sting-operation"><b>"expand the inquiry,"</b></a> in an effort to snare even more legislators.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Were these the investigations for which Manzo had provided "a wealth of information?" Did Manzo spend months telling prosecutors about the proclivities and foibles of House Democratic members in an effort to have them arrested, only to emerge from prison and secure employment lobbying those very members?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">It seems obvious, given that</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">the Office of Attorney General has brought</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"> no other cases against House Democrats since Manzo's sentencing.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">When asked about the cases on which Manzo was cooperating, Fina said, "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">We don’t do these things for public notoriety. And we can’t effectively do them if there is public notoriety. The only way we can really do our job is if we do these investigations in secret in a very careful way.”</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">While Fina's "Bonusgate" investigation<b> <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2012/07/doublethink.html">leaked like a sieve</a>,</b> he was incredibly concerned about secrecy in the Philly sting operation. In his memo to Kelly, he worried </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17px;">"the integrity of our secrecy efforts" may have been compromised. His concern over secrecy where Manzo is concerned - given his total lack of it during "Bonusgate" - points to a sting.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Kelly never acted on Fina's suggestion to expand the probe. Had she, it's likely that we'd have seen mugshots of at least a few current members of the House Democratic Caucus. Instead, Mike Manzo, a contract lobbyist, spends his days schmoozing the very legislators his cooperation might otherwise have landed in prison.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 20px;">Several news organizations have <b><a href="http://triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/5889927-74/kane-case-ali#axzz2y7KWMGVR">filed a request</a></b> to have records in the sting operation unsealed, a move supported by Attorney General Kathleen Kane. How will legislators react if they discover they were targeted by a prosecutor armed with the insider information Manzo provided?</span>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-50263615699726965742014-03-31T11:13:00.000-04:002014-03-31T17:11:45.870-04:00LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW8D-JKhATfy50I6D2_IvlAhovuXYIQ6CSydEEjZyDScD6DCFkBpSkfm04VkiBlkSysFBK3JteNPGAAciil5yMSMjdDZwi5fWZZ4ncZ1RKAjZsdFKrgQENrJ9Demu-KsJdxoa5WRF8OOk/s1600/8fb48a6f9b4e3c7192fa4ce49e94b06254cbef5f3a0f99290b7330eba57e03e3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW8D-JKhATfy50I6D2_IvlAhovuXYIQ6CSydEEjZyDScD6DCFkBpSkfm04VkiBlkSysFBK3JteNPGAAciil5yMSMjdDZwi5fWZZ4ncZ1RKAjZsdFKrgQENrJ9Demu-KsJdxoa5WRF8OOk/s1600/8fb48a6f9b4e3c7192fa4ce49e94b06254cbef5f3a0f99290b7330eba57e03e3.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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":</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>"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."</i> (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/michael_smerconish/20140330_The_Pulse__The_risk-takers_of_politics.html">Philadelphia Inquirer 3/30/14</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, if they didn't <i>really</i> 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?"</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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. (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/25151029/keith-mccall">Veon pre-trial filing exhibits</a>) 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:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>"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." </i>(<a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/68765615?access_key=key-a2qay8vd29hxt8yynxo">Associated Press 2/19/2010</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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. (<a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2011/09/will-speaker-sam-smith-see-his-shadow.html">9/27/11</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>"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."</i> (<a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Turnpike_Grand_Jury_Presentment.pdf">Grand Jury presentment</a>)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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.</div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-82649818713717918442014-03-24T22:01:00.000-04:002014-03-24T22:13:01.474-04:00SETH WILLIAMS' RACE PROBLEM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4Z4V2IN6JkdOss7vWviXV2y37gjUn0gGMsaAISHJNG2-a9r_xVh5ZSeLIVNfz8pggrZazMrYQ7QwpBFGsaFbTnU0yoKiGztCXAgXGmas-WLASxYhj4zn48b7GoRO0ri7CkjpuDbEIpw/s1600/sethwilliams.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4Z4V2IN6JkdOss7vWviXV2y37gjUn0gGMsaAISHJNG2-a9r_xVh5ZSeLIVNfz8pggrZazMrYQ7QwpBFGsaFbTnU0yoKiGztCXAgXGmas-WLASxYhj4zn48b7GoRO0ri7CkjpuDbEIpw/s1600/sethwilliams.JPG" height="320" width="305" /></a></div>
There is one reason <b><a href="http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/03/i_challenge_ag_kane_to_face_me.html#incart_flyout_opinion">Seth Williams is attacking</a></b> 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.<br />
<br />
After all, Williams has concurrent jurisdiction and is free to file charges if he sees fit. But <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140317_Kane_assails_critics_of_decision_to_halt_sting.html">as he told the Philadelphia Inquirer,</a></b> "[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."<br />
<br />
The charges were dropped <b><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597">45 days before Kane took office.</a></b> The obstacle Williams says he faces is the obstacle Kane faced.<br />
<br />
"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?<br />
<br />
None, of course. As we said, he's not attacking Kane because he thinks Fina built a solid case.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597">According to Kane,</a></b> "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 <b>focus only on members of the General Assembly's Black Caucus</b> and that when he had information of potentially illegal acts by white members of the General Assembly <b>he was specifically told not to pursue it</b>. The OAG Agent also stated that his supervising OAG Attorney promised him a promotion and cash bonus for working on the investigation."<br />
<br />
Furthermore, "Statements about <b>limiting the focus of the investigation to only members of the General Assembly's Black Caucus</b> were also made by the CI to federal law enforcement officials."<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
So he can't publicly accept Kane's version of events.<br />
<br />
Williams excuses the damning fact that of 113 recordings, white targets appear only twice - because, he said, only black targets circulated in Ali's <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140317_Kane_assails_critics_of_decision_to_halt_sting.html">"immediate realm."</a></b><br />
<br />
But his statement contradicts "sources with knowledge of the sting," <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140316_Kane_shut_down_sting_that_snared_Phila__officials.html">who said</a></b> "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.<br />
<br />
Which is it? Were pitches made to white Republicans or were only black Democrats targeted because they were in Ali's "immediate realm?"<br />
<br />
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," <b><a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/press.aspx?id=7597">Kane said.</a></b> And the other one is John Galloway, who has every reason to believe he was targeted because <b><a href=http://www.scribd.com/doc/214334350/Nukes-Over-Harrisburg>he enraged Tom Corbett</a></b> with his criticism of the "Bonusgate" investigation.<br />
<br />
Galloway said,"The idea was to scare the living (expletive) out of anybody who questioned Tom Corbett."<br>
<br>
Was, and still is.<br>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-4801770904781730712014-03-18T17:56:00.001-04:002014-03-19T10:23:55.802-04:00A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We
first read the<b> <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2014-03-17/news/48269239_1_investigation-kane-ali">Inquirer’s Sunday report</a></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>on Frank Fina’s aborted Philadelphia “sting”
online, without having seen the </span><a href="http://t.co/3YJc7yjVcJ"><b>ludicrous “MEN WALK ON MOON”-sized headline. </b></a><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We thought what we were reading was an expos<span style="background-color: white; color: #003399;">é</span> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kane’
<a href="http://t.co/iKZOpOzkHo"><b>main reasons</b></a> for declining to prosecute are unambiguous: <br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The entire case
hinged on the testimony of a swindler accused of stealing nearly a half-million
dollars from a </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">state food program for low-income children and
seniors</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">. 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 “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">so extraordinary and
lenient that it effectively undermined the CI's credibility and that of OAG for
having agreed to it,” Kane said</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The recordings
Ali made are the <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">only evidence, and Ali
was the only one who could verify them. “No other supporting or corroborating
evidence exists,” Kane said</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">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.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">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.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">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 <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/08/13/corbett-krancer-fail-to-disclose-vacation-homes/"><b>failure to report </b></a>the purchase of a $265,000 vacation home in South Carolina - and no one seems to be clamoring for a criminal prosecution of Corbett. </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Probably not in two-foot-high font, though.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since Kane’s exhaustively thorough press
conference yesterday, the punditocracy seems to be backing off its
initial pearl-clutching horror while <a href="https://twitter.com/scottdetrow/status/445590203214729216"><b>still blaming Kane</b></a> for her own
tar-and-feathering. After all, <a href="https://twitter.com/David_LaTorre/status/445515359156977664"><b>they sniffed</b>, </a>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 give</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n to respond, or how the allegations of political
cronyism were presented to her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">We at this blog have spent years – <i>years!</i><span style="font-size: small;"> –
documenting clear-cut instances where Tom Corbett failed to prosecute
wrongdoing by political allies. </span><a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2009/01/corbett-ignoring-evidence-and-looking.html"><b>York
County District Attorney Stan Rebert</b></a><b><span style="font-size: small;">. </span><a href="http://www.ethicsrulings.state.pa.us/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=185977&searchid=cb685721-32d0-48e0-a210-ff2093d4d49c&&dbid=0">Rep.
Matt Wright</a><span style="font-size: small;">. </span><a href="http://www.ethicsrulings.state.pa.us/weblink8/DocView.aspx?id=62332&searchid=f7ecf989-e8de-4b78-99e9-9a4d56fbfaaa&&dbid=0">Rep.
James Lynch</a><span style="font-size: small;">. </span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/20596525/20080320-Lebanon-Daily-News-Challenger-Accuses-Gingrich-of-Forging-Nominating-Papers">State
Rep. Mauree Gingrich</a></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">. <span style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/13665736/20060628-Intelligencer-EDITORIAL-Sweat-Equity-or-Sweet-Deal"> State Rep. Eugene McGill.</a> </span></span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/20598102/20090904-Meadville-Tribune-Campaign-Allegations-Target-Courthouse-Policies">Crawford
County Treasurer Fred Wagner</a>.</b> And these are just a few that we know about.<span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps most egregiously, Corbett “cleared” the
Senate Republican Caucus - which<b> <a href="http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_8271272?source=most_emailed">awarded the
largest taxpayer-funded bonuses</a></b> 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 href="http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_638049.html#axzz2wKsMBVMo"><b>“a joke”</b></a> and said his lack of
action was <a href="http://triblive.com/news/2175525-74/senate-investigation-republican-bonuses-caucus-firm-republicans-attorney-general-former#axzz2wKsMBVMo"><b>politically
motivated</b>.</a> Corbett in fact blew off an intern who tried to report illegal
campaigning in Sen. Jane Orie’s office, then his spokesman <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2010/04/get-your-stories-straight.html"><b>tried
to lie about it</b>.</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Senate Republicans contributed <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2011/12/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-about.html"><b>at
least $90,000</b></a> to Corbett’s campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-76409431843649363322014-03-02T16:11:00.001-05:002014-03-02T16:19:22.696-05:00HERE COME THE CLOWNS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpi5t4ZmbyjaS6jK_9D_QmMjJ4tmttxJSnQAdzhhAXXW4Js_5rfzEc6HNRS_txjctQPbykdEB_AR-hhHFKwM0626_7Je8jRxZli64BP6Azg6CAygBF4Clw8X-V-f6p7KfZxAFmUP5hbvC/s1600/14164451-mmmain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpi5t4ZmbyjaS6jK_9D_QmMjJ4tmttxJSnQAdzhhAXXW4Js_5rfzEc6HNRS_txjctQPbykdEB_AR-hhHFKwM0626_7Je8jRxZli64BP6Azg6CAygBF4Clw8X-V-f6p7KfZxAFmUP5hbvC/s1600/14164451-mmmain.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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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:</div>
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<i>"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." (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140302_Defense_attorney__Love_triangle_drove_DA_to_investigate_state_Rep__J_P__Miranda.html">Daily News 3/2/14</a>)</i></div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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At the time, Williams said it was to crank up efforts to crack down on political corruption: </div>
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<i>"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." (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-04-29/news/38880260_1_veteran-prosecutors-political-corruption-attorney-general">Inquirer 4/29/13</a>)</i></div>
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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.</div>
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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." (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-04-29/news/38880260_1_veteran-prosecutors-political-corruption-attorney-general">Inquirer 4/29/13</a>) </div>
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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:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">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 (<a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/02/tom_corbett_and_bonusgate_did.html">Patriot News 2/27/13</a>). 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 (<a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2013/02/cant-find-what-youre-not-looking-for.html">2/21/13</a>).</li>
</ul>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">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 (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2010-01-30/news/25212042_1_ethics-case-ethics-commission-john-contino">Inquirer 1/30/10</a>).</li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">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 (<a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/05/commentary_as_witness_alleges.html">Patriot News 5/25/10</a>)</li>
</ul>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">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. (<a href="http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5599066-74/ryan-corbett-general#axzz2upLJgclX">Pittsburgh Tribune Review 2/14/14</a>)</li>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">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.</span><br />
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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 (<a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2012/06/double-standards-philly-style.html">6/8/12</a>) Of course, that is exactly why Williams hired someone like Blessington...he will turn his head when ordered.</div>
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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 <i>a la</i> Bill Deweese, and not be troubled a bit. (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2010-07-25/news/24970027_1_courthouse-deal-courthouse-project-court-officials">Inquirer 7/25/10</a>). 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.</div>
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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 (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-24/news/43327533_1_district-offices-employee-washington">Inquirer 10/24/13</a>). 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 (<a href="http://friendsofsethwilliams.com/seths-endorsements">Friendsofsethwilliams</a>).</div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-59686763015344257692014-02-24T15:03:00.000-05:002014-03-05T09:52:28.632-05:00WHAT MIGHT CORBETT HAVE WANTED TO HIDE WITH EMAIL DUMP?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two weeks ago, Tribune-Review Capitol correspondent and columnist Brad Bumsted <a href="http://triblive.com/opinion/bradbumsted/5547548-74/kane-corbett-sandusky#axzz2uFxILGlp"><b>helpfully explained</b> </a>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.<br />
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This week, he's followed it up with the <a href="http://triblive.com/opinion/bradbumsted/5631409-74/corbett-emails-ryan#axzz2uFxILGlp"><b>equally insightful observation</b></a> that the Office of Attorney General's February 2011 email dump means either Tom Corbett had something to hide, or he didn't.<br />
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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.<br />
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In other words, Bumsted is asking us to believe that it never would have occurred to Corbett, who built his signature legislative corruption cases <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/frontpage/2007/12/16/E-mails-show-how-Dems-tied-staffers-bonuses-to-campaign-work/stories/200712160217">l<b>argely on email evidence</b></a>, that emails ever could be used against him.<br />
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It's true that Corbett and Ryan could not have forseen in February 2011 Kane's election and eventual examination of the Sandusky case.<br />
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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.<br />
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There's nothing in the public record to suggest that Corbett ever seriously intended to investigate Aaron Fisher's complaint against Sandusky. Corbett has <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2011/11/even-more-corbett-fakery.html"><b>publicly declared</b></a> 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,<b> <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Touched-The-Jerry-Sandusky-Story/dp/1582613575">Touched</a></i></b> - for two years, no one from the OAG ever reached out to any of them.<br />
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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.<br />
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In December of 2010, the mother of Victim 6 <b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/09/jerry-sanduskys-autobiography-reportedly-led-police-to-four-alleged-victims/">reached out to investigators</a> </b>after journalist Sara Ganim gave her their contact information.<br />
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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.<br />
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It was Victim 6's mother who told investigators about the book, <i>Touched</i> - 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.<br />
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Now that they had identified additional victims - and more importantly, now that Sara Ganim <i>knew</i> they had identified additional victims - it was clear by February 2011 that the case would proceed to an indictment.<br />
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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.<br />
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What might the OAG have been discussing over email in the years before the email dump?<br />
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Aaron testified twice to the grand jury, to no effect, in June and November of 2009, according to his book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silent-No-More-Justice-Sandusky/dp/0345544161"><b>Silent No More</b></a></i>. 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?<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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." <br />
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We won't suggest that Corbett didn't have plenty to hide about the pending cases - which, like Sandusky, were cases he <a href="http://www.casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/01/sandusky-slow-walk-son-of-bonusgate.html"><b>never intended to pursue</b></a> 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.Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-21910975251703500452014-02-20T17:41:00.000-05:002014-02-20T17:41:10.471-05:00WHAT 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?<br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/1h25wKH"><b>We may never know. </b></a>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-8143631339956817222014-02-01T09:38:00.001-05:002014-02-01T09:44:15.343-05:00HEY, DOJ! WHY NOT CORBETT?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2a_FCKFG1wRk5E_ZyTUauMX5ipbS_UZnInYPHMLbflwdauL_SCoElPoy0hCykMF__6X0FckAcKAbie4kkbjiPWPeViXVGxxOMRLQXlnYXpDx8DKel0BMu9qFQKAttG5I9u8PFcLRJeJ86/s1600/Governor+Tom+Corbett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2a_FCKFG1wRk5E_ZyTUauMX5ipbS_UZnInYPHMLbflwdauL_SCoElPoy0hCykMF__6X0FckAcKAbie4kkbjiPWPeViXVGxxOMRLQXlnYXpDx8DKel0BMu9qFQKAttG5I9u8PFcLRJeJ86/s1600/Governor+Tom+Corbett.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
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The US Department of Justice recently indicted former Governor Bob O'Donnell in Virginia for accepting gifts from a businessman in exchange for favors (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140121/us--former-governor-indicted/?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=travel">Associated Press 1/21/2014</a>). 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.</div>
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When will one of the US Attorneys in Pennsylvania begin an investigation of Governor Tom Corbett's relationship with fracking waste hauler John Moran? </div>
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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.</div>
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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. (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-16/news/36355296_1_corbett-administration-marcellus-shale-pennfuture">Inquirer 1/16/13</a>) 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 (<a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/12/20/ethics-filing-shows-corbett-took-free-vacation-from-businessman-with-ties-to-gas-industry/">State Impact 1/20/12</a>)</div>
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Oh, Corbett tried to hide the gifts from the public, too. (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Natural-gas-exec-paid-for-Corbett-2011-vacation.html">Inquirer 1/20/12</a>)</div>
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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. (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/67457420?access_key=key-2bsojcfllokqwoyfqw4t">Daily News</a>) 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. </div>
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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." (<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/31929715/Legislature-Grand-Jury-Report">28th Statewide Grand Jury Report Number One</a>) 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."</div>
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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 (<a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-24/news/43327533_1_district-offices-employee-washington">Inquirer 10/24/13</a>).</div>
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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.</div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-46391653794763240462014-01-21T23:59:00.000-05:002014-01-27T12:45:11.530-05:00ISN'T IT IRONIC, DON'T YOU THINK?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukh2QE6SMGAEfrAticB7q_Lw6WeSM7SO47SeN8c_xGHRRtM7rwRNL0G_QBah5bVKthBXg2yVQE9lbUCcIn7brYoeeb3YPDVgAxdRxi3uyd50S-ZjXt0tEv24NCqU5MVlvUS26uWOYvRc/s1600/liar-liar-pants-on-fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukh2QE6SMGAEfrAticB7q_Lw6WeSM7SO47SeN8c_xGHRRtM7rwRNL0G_QBah5bVKthBXg2yVQE9lbUCcIn7brYoeeb3YPDVgAxdRxi3uyd50S-ZjXt0tEv24NCqU5MVlvUS26uWOYvRc/s320/liar-liar-pants-on-fire.jpg" /></a></div><i>"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.</i> -- <a href=http://triblive.com/opinion/bradbumsted/5430768-74/corbett-kane-election#axzz2r5uUHc00><b>Brad Bumsted, Tribune-Review, 1/18/14</b></a><br>
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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:<br>
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<i>"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."</i> -- <a href=http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2009/07/corbett_probe_time_passes_with.html><b>Patriot-News editorial, 7/12/09</b></a><br>
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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.<br>
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We have <a href=http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/01/sandusky-slow-walk-son-of-bonusgate.html><b>demonstrated repeatedly</b></a> - and the lead investigator on the case <a href=http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/561937/Relief-follows-Sandusky-verdict.html?nav=742><b>has admitted</b></a> - 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.<br>
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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.<br>
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It's still stunning that Corbett's September 2008 <a href=http://www.post-gazette.com/breaking/2008/09/22/Corbett-No-new-charges-in-Legislature-case-before-election/stories/200809220216><b>announcement of a "moratorium"</b></a> on additional charges in the legislative investigation wasn't met with incredulous howls of mockery.<br>
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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 <i>Democrats</i> (of <b>272</b> counts which resulted in acquittals or were dropped), but he didn't want to influence that same election by charging any <i>Republicans</i> with wrongdoing. Bumsted still thinks it is a dandy policy to suppress negative information about GOP candidates until after Election Day, <a href="http://triblive.com/opinion/bradbumsted/5430768-74/corbett-kane-election#axzz2qktrIfZ4"><b>suggesting</b></a> "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."<br>
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What made Corbett's 2008 "moratorium" completely ludicrous - as any reporter who had bothered to <a href=http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/GJ-Presentment_No2_page1-63.pdf><b>read the presentment</b></a> 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 <i>after</i> that announcement that he convened hearings to force House Republicans to comply with subpoenas that the caucus had ignored, with impunity, for a <i>full year.</i><br>
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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.<br>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-19003166956691093792014-01-14T14:40:00.000-05:002014-06-03T16:05:37.654-04:00SANDUSKY SLOW-WALK, SON OF BONUSGATE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStL9jW1weDAf9jUiyUuDi2oa_1LKT-_GBdE5bVwKwT4c_V6CvJlL-vdGkJT83dtSUgwy7KxoVziPNApOzcm1NkJFfvPOXFTvJZjigmRL82spxl6cHfcgG1dXHWxUrCaCh8-Dvf__ySdk/s1600/gty_corbett_sandusky_mi_130201_wmain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStL9jW1weDAf9jUiyUuDi2oa_1LKT-_GBdE5bVwKwT4c_V6CvJlL-vdGkJT83dtSUgwy7KxoVziPNApOzcm1NkJFfvPOXFTvJZjigmRL82spxl6cHfcgG1dXHWxUrCaCh8-Dvf__ySdk/s320/gty_corbett_sandusky_mi_130201_wmain.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
"...how did bonus gate interfere w/ sandusky?" former Patriot-News columinst @LauraVecsey asks us via <a href="https://twitter.com/lauravecsey/status/421708777729953793"><b>Twitter.</b></a>
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As many have suggested, then-gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Tom Corbett <b><a href="http://lancasteronline.com/blogs/tommurse/2008/07/17/morganelli-corbett-botched-bonusgate/">botched</a> </b>his so-called investigation of the legislature in 2007 by investigating only one of four "potential targets:"<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">"</span>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.<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">”</span> <span style="font-size: large;">*</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">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 <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2007/09/21/Democrats-attempting-to-block-state-probe-of-bonuses/stories/200709210205"><b>legal maneuverings</b></a><span id="goog_1641245986"></span><span id="goog_1641245987"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a> threatened to drag the case on past the point of political advantage, so he <b><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/16343487/Agent-Soop-Testimony-1">entered into a negotiation</a> </b>with DeWeese<b> </b>to gain evidence on his colleagues and underlings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />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!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>But things weren't going as smoothly as Corbett had hoped. Accusations of partisanship forced him to find a <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2009/11/tale-of-two-investigations.html"><b>Republican to indict</b></a> - a task complicated by the fact that he'd allowed those same Republicans<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/14565762/20080804-Patriot-is-State-Bonus-Probe-Partisan"> <b>to dump the computers</b></a><b> </b>where evidence might be stored. (Who could've <a href="http://lancasteronline.com/blogs/tommurse/2008/07/17/morganelli-corbett-botched-bonusgate/"><b>predicted </b></a>that would happen?)<br />
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With evidence missing and witnesses stonewalling, Team Corbett was in a frenzy in late 2008 and early 2009 trying to build a Republican indictment. <br />
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In March of 2009, in the middle of this frenzy, two things happened. The sexual abuse complaint against Jerry Sandusky<b><a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/11/special_report_why_the_jerry_s.html"> landed on Corbett's desk.</a> </b>And the Tribune-Review published <a href="http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_616264.html#axzz2qOcDbaKZ"><b>irrefutable evidence</b></a> 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 <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2009-04-06/news/25288140_1_bonusgate-case-bonusgate-probe-mails"><b>ample evidence</b></a> of his <b><a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2009/08/case-against-bill-deweese.html">involvement</a>. </b>He in fact<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/state/2010/03/10/DeWeese-takes-the-Fifth-in-Bonusgate-jury-trial/stories/201003100263"><b> invoked the Fifth Amendment</b></a> to avoid testifying in the "Bonusgate" trial.)<br />
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"During the Bonusgate investigation, we had a shortage of investigators in Harrisburg," Randy Feathers, lead agent on the Sandusky case, <b><a href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/561937/Relief-follows-Sandusky-verdict.html?nav=742">told the Altoona Mirror.</a> </b>His admission has received remarkably little media attention given the public outrage over the length of the investigation.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">*</span> If just one more Corbett apologist drags out the <a href="http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2012/09/no-matter-how-many-times-we-have.html"><b>tired and discredited excuse</b></a> that he <b>had</b> to investigate House Democrats<b> first</b> 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.</span></i>Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-56916225372006494592013-11-19T19:00:00.000-05:002013-11-20T09:27:14.274-05:00GET THE GRAND JURY READY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcP6Um3c3WtYbvISKGopdz6XfyAcW80ZTaCXx8C-9WoNROzitCCDnH7nG-Z1MK8wm4Z27X62v2W1EXCp1HyW_Y8f3qyEexNDiEPHf6R0lK6mKDBTPKM0_upu6cixcw0wrl_stX0Cf6VZ_/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcP6Um3c3WtYbvISKGopdz6XfyAcW80ZTaCXx8C-9WoNROzitCCDnH7nG-Z1MK8wm4Z27X62v2W1EXCp1HyW_Y8f3qyEexNDiEPHf6R0lK6mKDBTPKM0_upu6cixcw0wrl_stX0Cf6VZ_/s320/Capture.JPG" width="295" /></a></div>
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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 (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131117_Montco_legislator_to_fill_Kerns__shoes_as_county_GOP_chair.html">Philadelphia Inquirer 11/17/13</a>).</div>
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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." (<a href="http://www.repvereb.com/NewsItem.aspx?NewsID=9331">Repvereb.com 7/26/10</a>) </div>
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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." (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/suburban_pa/20131115_Moncto_GOP_chair_resigns_amid_reports_of_sex_assault_probe.html?c=r">Philadelphia Inquirer 11/13/15</a>) 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.</div>
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Yet, how will Vereb find the time to do all this extra work without breaking the law <i>a la</i> bonusgate?</div>
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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:</div>
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<i>"As caucus secretary, Mike is responsible for helping to establish a legislative agenda and recording all official legislative activities in the House of Representatives."</i> (<a href="http://www.repvereb.com/bio.aspx">Repvereb.com Bio</a>)</div>
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In fact, when Vereb was first elected caucus secretary he outlined just how busy his new job would be:</div>
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<i>"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."</i> (<a href="http://www.timesherald.com/article/JR/20101111/NEWS01/311119970">Times Herald 11/11/11</a>)</div>
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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.</div>
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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?</div>
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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."</div>
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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.</div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-85349473172566892362013-11-14T12:59:00.002-05:002013-11-14T12:59:37.164-05:00A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH VS. CRONYISM <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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:</div>
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<i>"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."</i> (<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Source-Montco-GOP-chair-to-be-charged-with-sex-assault.html">Philadelphia Inquirer 12/13/13</a>)</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. (<a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/neighborhoods-east/2008/08/27/Bedford-DA-Sex-in-office-no-crime/stories/200808270239">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8/27/08</a>) The two cases are amazingly similar:</div>
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<i>"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." </i> (<a href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/528701.html">Altoona Mirror 4/10/10</a>)</div>
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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. (<a href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/516532.html?nav=742">Altoona Mirror 2/27/2009</a>)</div>
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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:</div>
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<i>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.'" </i>(<a href="http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/528701.html">Altoona Mirror 4/10/2010</a>)</div>
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Corbett's repeated refusals to turn over any investigative materials to the woman spiked her appeal efforts throughout the process. (<a href="http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20PACO%2020110505653">Braman v. Corbett 5/5/11</a>) 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.<br />
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Instead, Higgins' fate was decided by Corbett personally and behind closed doors.</div>
Ugartehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03569197600238141135noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5454535989576644455.post-77324054353722728992013-09-04T11:49:00.000-04:002013-09-05T10:34:03.722-04:00THE INEXPLICABLE BEATIFICATION OF BILL DEWEESE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. <b><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/reg-henry/even-prison-cant-erase-deweeses-cheer-692364/">Brian O'Neill</a> </b>of the Post-Gazette,<b> <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/john_baer/20130812_DeWeese___quot_No_real_complaint_quot__about_life_in_lockup.html">John Baer</a> </b>of the Philadelphia Daily News and now <a href="http://www.abc27.com/story/23328882/former-speaker-deweese-speaks-from-behind-bars"><b>Dennis Owens</b></a> of ABC27 appear to be willing participants in DeWeese's campaign to rehabilitate his public image.</span><br />
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Let's start with some facts:</span><br />
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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 <b><a href="http://www.abc27.com/story/23328882/former-speaker-deweese-speaks-from-behind-bars">incriminating email </a> </b>(including the infamous "U R welcome" email) in which he explicitly acknowledged paying a bonus "for campaigning."</span><br />
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The cache of evidence was turned over as part of a <b><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/16343487/Agent-Soop-Testimony-1">"negotiation"</a> </b>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 <a href="http://earlyreturns.post-gazette.com/index.php/early-returns-20/archives/1299-deweese-aide-i-campaigned-on-state-time"><b>quietly removed </b></a>campaign fundraiser Kevin Sidella from the state payroll and <b><a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/75152483?access_key=key-1lpm0uc2nv32lw17h7qq">began paying him, from campaign funds, the equivalent of his state salary. </a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We know DeWeese <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2009-04-06/news/25288140_1_bonusgate-case-bonusgate-probe-mails"><b>used a state-paid contractor for political work.</b></a></span><br />
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And we know that DeWeese never was charged in connection with <i>any</i> of the evidence turned over as part of the "negotiation."</span><br />
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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.</span><br />
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Despite the fact that DeWeese <b><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-state/democrats-attempting-to-block-state-probe-of-bonuses-502716/">spent months obstructing</a> </b>Corbett's investigation, in the aftermath of the "negotiation," DeWeese began claiming that he'd <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-21/news/30184998_1_tom-corbett-bonusgate-charges-general-election"><b>cooperated from the beginning</b></a>. No journalist ever has pointed out the contradicition.</span><br />
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Although DeWeese steadfastly has <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-21/news/30184998_1_tom-corbett-bonusgate-charges-general-election"><b>maintained his innocence</b></a> 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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Owens_abc27/status/375094026078531584"><b>In response to a Tweet,</b></a> Dennis Owens today asked us, <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">What questions did you want asked? Here's a list:
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">What were the terms of the 2007 negotiation with Corbett's office? </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">What were the terms of the 2007 negotiation with Corbett's office? (We <i>really</i> want to know the answer to this one)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why did you drop your legal challenges to the investigation? </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can you claim you cooperated with Corbett when you tried to block the investigation? </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">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? </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why did you plead the Fifth during Veon's trial? </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you still consider Veon's indictment <b><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/65806528/20080718-Capitol-Wire-One-of-the-Best-Days-of-My-Life">"one of the best days of [your] life?</a></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you found anyone to balance your checkbook and <a href="http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_658877.html#axzz2dvz0rCrB"><b>buy your condoms for you?</b></a></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 28px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Add your own questions in the comments.</span></span></div>
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Signor Ferrarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02772759878412493174noreply@blogger.com12