Pennsylvania Infected By Culture of Corruption

Two years ago, at a booth inside the Nazareth Diner, I had a meeting with a source who was upset over Attorney General Kathleen Kane's handling of a Grand Jury investigation into pay-to-play at the Pa. Turnpike Commission. Eight people, including a former State Senator and the ex-CEO of the Turnpike Commission had been charged, and Kane piously condemned these men for lining their pockets, but when the dust had finally settled, no one went to jail. They got slaps on the wrist. One of the participant was local engineer Matt McTish, but I ultimately decided against writing about it. Obviously, I made a mistake. I overlooked a culture of corruption that extends far beyond Allentown and Reading, and appears to have infected the entire state.

Let's back up a second and look at that Turnpike investigation. Consultants and contractors looking for work showered gifts on turnpike officials, including trips to Florida, golf outings, use of a Las Vegas condo and gist certificates. McTish admitted that he gave a $4,000 travel voucher to the Turnpike Commission CEO. Though he had "no reasonable explanation," he knew it wasn't "the right thing to do."

The turnpike commission investigation was finished by an Attorney General with ties to Ed Rendell. She even employs his former spokesperson. She didn't start it, and it was beginning to point in directions she did not want to go. So she cut sweetheart deals and ended the case before some of her supporters were dimed.

McTish not only got a free pass, but his firm continued to be awarded contracts by the state. He continued doing the wrong thing. His lawyer tried to paint him as a victim, but the facts reveal him as a willing participant in bribery who already had dodged one prosecution.

An example of this is his $5,000 contribution to AG Candidate Josh Shapiro a few months after his firm received a $1 million construction inspection services contract in Montgomery County. Why Shapiro accepted money from someone who admitted to bribery is a question that Republican nominee John Rafferty might want to ask.

Maybe McTish was buying insurance from another political hack. Whatever his motive, his luck has run out. The feds, unlike political prosecutors, don't play that game.

In recent days, they've been awful busy. On Friday, Governor Rendell's former Chief of Staff, John Estey, pleaded guilty to stealing $13,000 of $20,000 in sting money provided to him by the FBI. He donated the remaining $7,000 to then State Rep. Josh Shapiro ($2,500), State Rep. Dwight Evans ($1,000), State Sen. Vincent Hughes ($2,000), State Sen. Larry Farnese ($1,000) and State Sen. John Yudichak ($500). All either are or were Philadelphia politicians with deep ties to Ed Rendell and Dem party boss Marcel Groen.

One of these donees, Larry Farnese, has been indicted, too. On Tuesday, he was charged with misusing campaign funds in a vote-buying scheme to get himself elected to a ward leader position in Philly. The feds are obviously trying to roll him to name other people who have participated in a pay-to-play culture that was so apparent in the turnpike investigation that Kane ignored.

Evans is now running for the U.S. Congress, having beaten Chakah Fattah in the primary. Fattah is currently on trial for political corruption.

And Josh Shapiro, believe it or not, is the Democratic nominee for Attorney General.

He is connected to Estey and McTish and is an active participant in the pay-to-play culture that has gravitated out of Philly and extended its tentacles into Allentown and Reading.  But don't worry. He has an "integrity agenda."

Feds are doing their best to eradicate the rampant bribery and extortion going on between vendors like McTish and public officials like Pawlowski..This is a statewide problem, not just a local nightmare.

Getting closer to home, feds are reportedly looking at vacation stays by Fed Ed and his family at the Florida Keys home of Richard Somach, a partner in the Norris, McLaughlin law firm known as "Law Firm #4."

Jennifer Mann reportedly also spent time at Somach's Florida Keys home when she was a State Representative.

Neither Fed Ed nor Mann disclosed these vacations on their Statements of Financial Interests.

Also, in the first real sign of his involvement in this mess, NIZ developer J.B. Reilly also made his summer home in New Jersey available to Fed Ed. .

Instead of integrity agendas and other such bullshit, Pennsylvania needs to take a much harder line on campaign finances than it has ever done. But its legislative branch is a big part of the problem.

Updated 10:00 am: Does this culture of corruption include the rest of the Lehigh Valley? In Nazareth, we have a mayor charged with $8,000 in felony theft, and he and his Council think it's perfectly OK for him to stay in office. Bethlehem politicians are largely funded by CRIZ developers. In Easton, where its Mayor has used at least two false names to manipulate public opinion at lehifh Valley Live, we watch as the City forefeits $500,000 in billboard rent in a settlement with entrepreneur Abe Atiyeh. Only one Council member, Pete Melan, recuses himself. Decimated newspapers miss most of these stories, or purposely avoid writing about them for fear of losing access.

The McTish- Mann connection: - McTish was using former State Rep. and NIZ Queen Jennifer Mann as a "consultant" until the end of 2015, when he realized he as going tets-up. He also contributed $5,000 to Mann's dishonestly named "For the People" PAC. She also raked in $2,000 from Ramzi Haddad, who pleaded guilty to bribery.  she paid approximately that amount for lunches between January and March, and charged it to "For the People."