Tom Corbett Just Elected Governor

Deputy AG Frank Fina: “Veon’s been convicted of stealing over a million dollars of taxpayers’ money in the form of bonuses. And we think it’s a good day. We hope it sends a strong message to the rest of our elected officials.”

Bonusgate in 756 Words

Maybe we should pay closer attention to the land of midnight payraises.

Is Corbett Too Soft on Bonusgate Republicans?

Mired as he is in the land of midnight payraises, it's no surprise to me that John Micek has been peppered with emails from an anonymous pen-pal who clearly has no love for AG Tom Corbett. Since the state's top crime dog has indicted half of Harrisburg, this is no shocker.

An email is circulating among "strong" Democrats, urging us to fight back against Tom Corbett. I'm a weak Democrat, but a strong Democrat sent me a copy of the email, which I'll share with you. If the writer refrained from phrases like "partisan Republican liar Corbett," or bothered signing his real name, his claims would have a lot more credibility. But even though the author obviously has an axe to grind, he makes some good points. I suspect hometown favorite John Morganelli will be making them himself when he debates Corbett.

House Democrats:

Just like Sara Palin and her bridge to nowhere, Tom Corbett is a liar.

Tom Corbett is lying about the conduct of his bonusgate investigation and Tom Corbett is lying about his motivations behind his latest decision to not bring charges against Republicans before the Election.

First, the conduct that partisan Republican liar Corbett ignores.

Corbett told the Morning Call yesterday, "I, and the career lawyers in my office, are conducting this investigation as thoroughly, fairly, honestly and as quickly as we can."

Simply not true.

Four times as many Democratic staff as Republican staff have been subpoenaed. (AP 7/31/08; Patriot 8/14/08). No Republican members have had to testify or have even been interviewed. (Post Gazette 8/16/08) The schedule of the investigation has given the Republicans ample time to destroy evidence, most notably their hard drives and servers. (Patriot News 8/3/08)

Corbett strategically timed his investigation in order to give his Republican friends an opportunity to destroy evidence and prepare for what little window dressing of an investigation he felt he needed to do politically. This timeline clearly illustrates Corbett's foot dragging:

4/16/07 – Corbett empanels Grand Jury (Tribune Review 4/12/07)

8/23/07 – Corbett raids Democratic offices (AP 8/30/07)

9/10/07 – Corbett compels House Democratic staff to testify before Grand Jury (Patriot 9/12/07)

10/22/07 – Corbett issues first subpoenas for House Republican documents (Post Gazette 10/24/07)

2/12/08 – Corbett issues first subpoenas for Senate Republican documents (Patriot 2/13/08)

Circa 8/1/08 – Corbett interviews first Republican House staff (Post Gazette 8/7/08)

This morning Pete DeCoursey with Capitolwire put it best:

"Corbett oversaw an investigation that managed to take nearly 19 months so far, and only charged House Democrats before a re-election, where he, a partisan Republican, is running for re-election. And in an election where many believe he could lose, especially if eastern Republicans dumped him, because, say, he just indicted a bunch of their pals, again, the smell here isn't quite right."

Now, let's discuss partisan Republican liar Corbett's motivation behind his decision to not bring charges before the election.

Corbett told the Tribune Review yesterday, "I know this investigation very well," Corbett said. "I know that my office cannot present to the grand jury in that one week ... all of the testimony and other evidence that will be necessary to complete the next phase of the investigation."

Again, Corbett is fibbing about his real motivation.

Corbett's own office has been illegally leaking to Dennis Roddy at the Post-Gazette that his supposedly fleet-footed investigators are looking at the huge political operation John Perzel, Brian Preski and John Hanley ran from the House Republican Caucus:

"Yesterday, several aides to former Republican Speaker of the House John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, were interviewed by prosecutors, according to a source close to the probe." (Post Gazette 9/23/08)

Corbett is lying about being overwhelmed with evidence as his reason to not bring charges. In reality, he succumbed to the pressure from Republican power brokers who understand that charges against Republicans before the election would hamper the GOP's chances of taking back the majority in the House. It is the same kind of pressure Dennis Roddy buckled under to when he erased his coverage of Brian Preski's Fumo-esq use of Republican IT staff to wire his home. (Post Gazette 9/11/08 original; 9/12/08 changed)

And, it probably doesn't hurt that John Perzel and Brian Preski have contributed over $50,000 to Corbett's campaigns. (3/4/04 $25,000 from Citizens for Government Reform to Friends of Tom Corbett; 4/2/04 $1,219 in-kind from Friends of John Perzel to Friends of Tom Corbett; 10/18/04 $25,000 Friends of John Perzel to Friends of Tom Corbett; 12/31/07 $500 Brian Preski to Friends of Tom Corbett)

An even more blatant untruth is partisan Republican liar Tom Corbett's assertion that he couldn't begin investigating Republicans because he had no probable cause:

"Corbett responded that investigators must have probable cause for a search warrant, meaning they must show a judge evidence of wrongdoing." (Tribune Review 9/23/08)

This is where partisan Republican liar Corbett is trying to close the sale of his bridge to nowhere. And, he is hoping everyone will buy it.

Republican campaign activity in the Capitol has been known and written about for years. Corbett is just choosing to ignore it. Just refer to Mario Cattabiani's item "A tangled web at statehouse" from 2/18/07 (yes, 2007, 20 months ago):

"[An animated Perzel political commercial] was parked online by the state House Republican Caucus, on a Web site funded by tax dollars. So, too, were other campaign materials: photos of Perzel going door to door in his Northeast Philadelphia district, and a 20-minute video tribute narrated by his wife, Sheryl. There was even a 487-page primer on how to run legislative campaigns, produced by the Republican National Committee…. The site containing the campaign-related material was registered and paid for with state money by the House Republican Caucus."

Even Steve Miskin admits it was blatantly illegal. "It's wrong. It should not have happened, and it should never happen." (Inquirer 2/18/07)

This isn't enough probable cause for Corbett to seize documents, issue subpoenas and begin his investigation?!?!?!

Instead, the Republicans were given ample time to purposefully and systematically destroy their hard drives over the summer of 2007. (Patriot 8/3/08) Thus, eliminating evidence for Corbett to follow (even though he has shown no propensity to aggressively do so.)

There is still time to return this bridge to nowhere back to the partisan Republican liar Tom Corbett!!

He is slapping all of you in the face with not even a whimper from you. Many of you are being battered in your campaigns because of Corbett's bonusgate charges against Democrats.

Demand that he stop this partisan charade and bring charges against Republicans!!!

Corbett has the evidence. Corbett has the probable cause. But, just like Sarah Palin and her bridge to nowhere, he is hoping that if he lies enough times to you that you'll all start believing him.

BonusGate: Will AG's Refusal to Appoint Special Prosecutor Result in Case Being Tossed?

It's no secret that Northampton County DA John Morganelli would like to be our next state attorney general. He's only mentioned this about a gazillion times. But Capitol Ideas' John Micek seems to think it's really, really important that Morganelli disclose this widely-known detail in every communication he sends about everything. In his entertaining and very informative poliblog, Micek has now seized on this omission, twice, as a reason to sneer at Morganelli's recommendation that a special prosecutor be appointed in Bonusgate.

I'm just not seeing an ethical lapse there. But for reasons that only his hairdresser knows for sure, blogger John seems to have a hot nut for DA John. He's even gone so low as to attack Morganelli's height in one of his rants, calling him a "pint-sized prosecutor."

That's not political satire. That's just mean.

Perhaps the very notion that a LV-based prosecutor would dare aspire to the top cop job in the land of midnight payraises has folks in that oxygen-deprived atmosphere reaching for their bugspray. And Morganelli has done little to help his cause, especially with that anonymous email gaffe.

So DA John would like to be our next AG. Does that mean his criticism of the AG's refusal to appoint a special prosecutor is to be dismissed? Does blogger John really think that DA John is trying to pull a fast one? Blogger John refuses to publish John's press release. "[W]e know many of you are just waking up, and we don't want to put you back to sleep." I'll take that chance, and will post the relevant portion of Morganelli's concerns. He has a point.

Last week I requested Attorney General Tom Corbett to appoint an independent counsel/special prosecutor to investigate whether taxpayers’ dollars were used improperly for political work. I cited the fact that some Republican House and Senate members, who may have improperly authorized bonus payments, were significant financial supporters of the attorney general in 2004 and likely would be again in 2008. I also pointed out that some Democrat House and Senate members, who may have also authorized improper bonus payments, supported Mr. Corbett’s opponent in 2004. They would likely support the democrat nominee for attorney general in 2008 in opposition to Mr. Corbett’s re-election and would be considered political opponents of the attorney general. As such, the attorney general has a clear “conflict of interest” as established under the above law in that the entire investigation involves political supporters and opponents. The Morning Call newspaper in an editorial dated October 22, 2007 stated that the call for an independent special prosecutor by me was not a “bad idea.” Unfortunately, the need for an independent counsel/special prosecutor is not just a “good idea,” but now vital to the future of the investigation and/or prosecution of any wrongdoing.

The United States Supreme Court has held that an impartial prosecutor is a constitutional necessity. When a prosecutor’s personal interests or biases threaten society’s interest in impartial proceedings, courts squarely hold that disqualification of the prosecutor is required. Moreover, a criminal conviction can be overturned if obtained by a prosecutor who had a conflict of interest.

This investigation is too important to be later challenged on the basis that the attorney general was conflicted. The conflicts of interest are so clear, that one has to wonder why the attorney general fails to acknowledge it or remedy it by the appointment of an independent counsel. As I have stated before, this is not in any way impugning the personal integrity of Mr. Corbett. He has always carried out his duties with integrity. But the integrity of the investigation must be protected, and the work of the grand jury and any indictments they might issue must be protected from any later challenges that can now be remedied and avoided. We need an independent counsel/special prosecutor now. We need the legislature to reauthorize the independent counsel statute that expired in 2003. An independent counsel is in the public interest and in the interest of the attorney general. It will quiet any further comment on the investigation until the grand jury ends its work, and assure that any prosecution will proceed without calls to disqualify the attorney general at a later date, or worse, overturn any successful prosecutions.