Fed Ed Case: US Atty's Office Should Indict Itself Next

During the primary season, about 8,000 Democrats decided to run for Allentown Mayor and enabled Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski to win with just four cent of the registered Democratic voters. Though seven people had already pleaded guilty to political corruption and had implicated Fed Ed, the United States Attorney's Office was strangely silent. Some say the office is in complete disarray, thanks to the revolving door in which prosecutors there seem to have no idea whether they are coming or going. Some say that they were licking their wounds after having their heads handed to them in a few high profile political corruption cases. Still others speculated that no indictment would be forthcoming because that might impact the election. A few even suggested that Fed Ed would never be charged.

We now that Federal prosecutors managed to find the most idiotic way to proceed in this matter. Publicly, they curled up in a ball and let Fed Ed march on to victory though they know he's a crook and that the vast majority of Allentown voters preferred someone else. But behind the scenes, they secured pay-to-pay guilty pleas from two more businessmen and kept the public in the dark. Heaven forbid that the public be told the truth. Their dishonest inaction impacted the primary election in a far more negative way than if they had just done their jobs and indicted when ready.

The Morning Call provided some of the details yesterday. The new charges are against Mark Neisser, a glorified salesman armed with a briefcase and cellphone who was employed by T and M Associates; and Patrick Regan, a glorified salesman who is also armed with a law degree and who works for TEN. Neisser has been charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery, while Regan has admitted to a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Both charging documents are based on information that is now years old and has been collecting dust.

Behind closed doors, an information was filed and sealed against Neisser on March 13. He entered his guilty plea on April 6. Earlier this month, the feds quietly unsealed the record with no notice to the public.

For Regan, an information was filed and sealed on May 11, just four days prior to the primary. It was unsealed after the election, on June 14, and he only entered his plea On June 20, with no notice to the public.

What I find especially troublesome, in both of these informations, is the lack of a direct link to Fed Ed.

Neissen is charged with bribing former Mayor Vaughn Spencer, who like Fed Ed is still walking around as though nothing has happened. But in his case, the information includes statements that Spencer made, like “I cleared [a specific engineering contract] for [defendant MARK NEISSER’s engineering firm]. So we need to get something from them,” and "I went out of my way for [defendant MARK NEISSER’s firm] . . . [T]hat project, they weren’t even, they were, they were already ruled out. . . . And I got them back in there and got them approved.”

There is none of that for Fed Ed. Instead we are told that he acted through intermediaries like Francis Dougherty and Miked Fleck, whose credibility can be easily attacked. There are no juicy quotes, indicating either a very weak case on these counts or a terrible job of drawing up the charging documents.

While Fed Ed was publicly proclaiming his innocence and asking, "What cloud?", the Feds were depriving you, the public, of the right to their honest services. Maybe they should charge themselves next.

Their disregard of the public is shameful and should be brought to the attention of the courts when the seek the next round of sentencing continuances.

Mark Neissen Information

Neisser Information by BernieOHare on Scribd

Patrick Regan Information

Patrick Reagan Information by BernieOHare on Scribd