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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, July 07, 2008

John Morganelli: AG Corbett Buying Campaign Air Time With Taxpayer Dollars

John Morganelli, a no-nonsense District Attorney and Democratic nominee for Attorney General, wants to know who is policing incumbent Tom Corbett. Morganelli charges that Corbett is using taxpayer money, intended for gun control, to promote his candidacy. Here's how John describes this situation:

Attorney General Tom Corbett has spent and misused hundreds of thousands of tax dollars, and maybe even a million, for political style radio advertisements in Philadelphia and SE Pennsylvania. Mr. Corbett’s blatant and unaccounted use of public money to raise his name recognition in an election year is the same kind of misuse of public money for political purposes that Mr. Corbett is investigating in the so-called "Bonus- Gate Investigation." In fact, Mr. Corbett is spending more tax dollars than was doled out in the alleged use of tax dollars to reward political work. The larger question here is "who polices the Attorney General."

Here are the facts. Approximately a year ago, thanks to the effort of Senator Vince Fumo, the legislature allocated 10 million dollars to address illegal gun trafficking in Philadelphia and SE Pennsylvania. The money was entrusted to the Office of Attorney General to establish and deploy a Gun Task Force aimed at illegal gun trafficking. Unfortunately, Mr. Corbett decided that he would divert hundreds of thousands of dollars, and maybe even a million dollars, to create and air radio ads that do nothing about illegal guns. These are nothing but political advertisements disguised as “public service announcements” saturating the airwaves of SE Pennsylvania in an election year solely designed to raise Mr. Corbett’s name identification. Mr. Corbett has decided, like those under investigation in "Bonusgate" that our tax dollars, rather than his campaign funds, can be used for his re-election campaign. Although DA Lynne Abraham appears on some of the ads, DA Abraham is not on the ballot and has no control over the content of the ads or how any of the money is spent. Even the legislature that allocated the funds has no control over how the money is spent. With no accountability, Mr. Corbett continues every day for the last year to saturate the airwaves with tax–payer funded political style ads that do not take one illegal gun off the streets. Every dollar that is spent on raising Mr. Corbett’s personal profile is one dollar less that is used to pay investigators to crack down on illegal guns.

Today, I am calling upon Mr. Corbett to stop campaigning with tax-payer dollars. At the very least, Mr. Corbett should agree that it is improper for him to use tax dollars in this fashion in an election year. Any public service announcement that is needed for this program can be done solely by DA Lynne Abraham who is not a candidate this year.

I am also asking him to give the public a full accounting about how much money was spent on creating the ads, and placing them on the many radio stations. The public has a right to know how tax-payer money is being used and Mr. Corbett is the only person who knows exactly how much public money has been misused to date.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

John's PAC (ostensibly to "fight illegal immigration) is funding robocalls claiming that Corbett is going to block gun legislation proposed by Rendell (which the AG has no power to do).

Will Mr. Morganelli be claiming these anti-Corbett robocalls on his campaign expense sheet?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anojn 1:01, A PAC can spend its money however it wants, is bound by disclosure requirements and is NOT spending taxpayer money.

Corbett appears to be using taxpayer money to fund his re-election, is not making disclosure and may be using the money contrary to the intent of the enabling legislation.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Reichley or some other local pol spend some ridiculous amount on these ads recently?

Unknown said...

Corbett is no better than everyone else in Harrisburg, in fact, worse. His "Bonusgate" investigation is quite similar to what we've seen from the Bush justice department under Gonzales with Rove's hand guiding him. Please check out this item on Youtube where former Congressman Ron Klink discusses the partisan nature of the investigation so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlB6M-FuOi8

Anonymous said...

Reichley and Harhart are two of the biggest abusers

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:34 and Anon 11:09, please be more specific - what are Reichley and Harhart doing that is abusive? And how does that stack up against what Corbett is doing.

The Banker

Anonymous said...

Morning Call has been having a field day with Morganelli's press release, especially his math. No wonder he had to be unopposed to make it past the primaries.

Anonymous said...

Can we please have a transcript of the ads or the ads themselves, Mr. Morganelli? Or should I just take your word for it?

Anonymous said...

I've been hearing of people complaining about Rendell robo-calls, from Virginia phone number, against Corbett. Hasn't it been established robo-call are bad business? Since it's being touted as a PSA, are Pa Taxpayers footing the bill?

Anonymous said...

I'm robo-called regularly by Charlie Dent. Are Dent's robocalls paid for by his campaign coffers or by some sort of constituency outreach fund?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 1:59,

If you mean Micek is having a field day, you're right. It appears Micek and Brett Lieberman are both doubtful that Corbett has spent as much money as involved in Bonusgate. Micek said to check back later today for Corbett's view, but I don't see anything.

Tom D.

Now you must know that a Rendell robo-call directed at Corbett is no PSA.

Hayshaker,

Althogh a transcript would be nice, are you actually suggesting that DA Morganelli is a liar?

I assume that CD robocalls are paid for by his campaign.

Anonymous said...

Althogh a transcript would be nice, are you actually suggesting that DA Morganelli is a liar?

I assume that CD robocalls are paid for by his campaign.


I'm suggesting that without a transcript, the claims are merely campaign bellyaching. I am a skeptic. I am never willing to just take someone's word for it - especially a politician.

I don't have any context whatsoever to make a determination either way. Are the ads simply Corbett doing a PSA about guns? Is it a voiceover actor using Corbett's name in some way? How exactly are these ads used to further the campaign of Corbett?

Anonymous said...

Let's not make this partisan. Rendell and even Pawlowski have had radio ads touting their names also. So have R's.

All POLITICIANS do this in PA. I don't care if they are "R's" or "D's". In fact, I don't even care if it is an election year or not.

There should be a simple principle instituted by Harrisburg.

NO ELECTED OFFICIAL EVER shall have their name mentioned via any taxpayer funded endeavors be they PSA's or "info campaigns".

Should any state agency or entity do this - hefty fines on individuals involved.

Should a non-profit do this (again, with taxpayer money OR with "alternate funds" when they receive taxpayer money) - hefty fines and a loss of non-profit status.

This is not a Party issue. It is an issue of citizens against Harrisburg.

Anonymous said...

citizens against Harrisburg.

Last I checked, this "Harrisburg" you speak of was home of an elected legislature. Why on earth would be be "against" ourselves? This type of rhetoric leads nowhere.

Anonymous said...

This is the same Morganelli that used county funds to promote and propel Paula Rossciolli's run for judge... right! I would also like to know more about the adds!

Bernie O'Hare said...

Actually, that was not taxpayer money, but was money realized from forfeiture proceeedings. Morganelli does send a yearly newsletter with those funds. When Paula Roscioli was hjis First Assistant and seeking a judgeship, he did have her featured prominently, along with a big photograph. That's a fair criticism.

Anonymous said...

Seems some other bloggers are questioning Morganelli's claims and it seems no one has heard or seen the spots to comment on their content. Morganelli never speaks to the content exactly. Also, the "hundreds of thousands of dollars, and maybe even a million dollars" is quite randomly thrown at the wall.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Hayshaker,

John Morganelli may be a consummate pol, but that's one reason why he won't be making a claim that can't be proved. Remember, these ads are running in Philly, not here.

Anonymous said...

Hayshaker -

How many incumbents run unopposed? The Republican Party spent A LOT of money fighting off reformer challengers. The Dems do the same thing. If you are not acceptable to leadership (do what they want) you are opposed.

Government, at all levels, is no longer "us". Which is why the Dem Congress has a 13% approval rating. Not much better than when the Republicans ran it two years ago.

This is not R vs. D. This is taxpayer vs. out of control government.

Most politicians are about themselves, re-election, and power. They usually view citizens as a 'nuisance' and prefer to do things behind closed doors. Like passing last minute budgets when no-one knows what is in the legislation. We will have some nice surprises over the next several weeks when people read the legislation.

Do you really believe that most politicians are 'us' anymore?

Anonymous said...

"The funds for this have come out of the gun violence taskforce budget, which fro the beginning a public education component was always going to be a part."

http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/807/corbett-spokesman-morganelli-just-flat-wrong-criticism-anti-gun-ads

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have a link to either the text or the recording of the message? That could go a long way towards determining the truth of this.
My gut (and I'm not necessarily a fan of Corbett, unless he proves to me that he's serious about going after people on his side of the aisle) is that Morganelli is blowing smoke on this one.