By Kevin Zwick
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (June 23) – The Office of Attorney General did not seek emails from Gov. Tom Corbett’s election campaign during its review of his handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse investigation.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane and others had suggested the handling of the Sandusky investigation was influenced by politics as Corbett was running for governor. A lengthy report prepared by H. Geoffrey Moulton and released by Kane Monday found there was “no direct evidence” electoral politics influenced “any important decision made in the Sandusky investigation.”
The report includes a footnote that says the review “did not seek or examine email or other documents from Corbett’s campaign for governor.”
“It was beyond the scope of looking at the office’s management of the investigation and he [Moulton] did not have subpoena power to compel them,” said OAG spokesman J.J. Abbott. “The scope of the report was to find out why it took so long and what could be done differently in the future.”
Corbett campaign manager Mike Barley confirmed he was not asked by Moulton for access to campaign emails.
Abbott said Moulton also did not seek personal emails of OAG investigators and executive staff as part of the review.
Kane remarked during a press conference Monday that the review “left no stone unturned.”
The report notes Moulton and David Peifer, OAG’s Special Agent in charge of Special Investigations examined tens of thousands of pages of documents and, with assistance of OAG Senior Supervisory Special Agency Braden Cook, examined millions of pages of electronic material for relevant information.
The report says Moulton had difficulty recovering OAG emails sent and received during the course of the Sandusky investigation because those emails had been deleted. Under a new email retention policy adopted in 2011 by Corbett’s replacement, acting-Attorney General Bill Ryan, emails were deleted after six months due to concerns from IT staff over the cost of retaining such a high volume of email. The previous policy had been to retain emails for five years.
Eventually, Moulton was able to recover the emails. His review cited numerous email exchanges between investigators working the case. Kane has implemented an email retention policy to delete emails after two years.
Fortunately Moulton did not turn this into more of a “fishing expedition” than it already was. Yet I am sure the pundits will begin using whatever words necessary to implicate Corbett in allegations of impropriety.
It never was about Sandusky, it was all about defeating Corbett in the upcoming election.
EDITOR: Tell it to Joe Paterno’s family. Tell it to Penn Sate that is paying an $80 million fine and to the kids whose victories were expunged or were denied scholarships.
Take a look at the huge political contributions to Corbett from members of Sandusky’s Second Mile foundation.
We suggest you read Bill Keisling’s exposes as pubilsh on this web site.
I did read Bill [Keisling’s] piece. Surprise, surprise, surprise, rich Republicans supported Corbett. Some of those rich Republicans also supported 2nd mile. Rich Democrats supported Corbett’s challenger, some of those were 2nd mile supporters too. But perhaps I’m wrong and had Geoffrey Moulton had access to Bills piece Corbett would be under indictment but I doubt it.
Penn State’s lack of backbone caused what amounted to a plea bargain whereby the NCAA gets 60 million dollars (not 80 million), gets to rewrite the record book and trash Joe Pa’s and Penn State’s football legacy, a legacy that will remain the gold standard no matter how the NCAA revises history.
Yes, some students may have suffered but again because of a lack of Penn State backbone. There is nothing in the record that says the NCAA actions would have not occurred had Sandusky been indicted earlier and the NCAA remains in litigation over it’s abuse of power.
I repeat, it never was about Sandusky, it was all about defeating Corbett in the upcoming election, and no amount of smoke and mirror allegations and innuendo will change it.
EDITOR: Who do you think was calling the shots for Penn State when they caved to NCCA. Who was it who didn’t want a real investigation of what took place?
We doubt that Gov. Corbett ever met with the Marcellus Shale heavies and told them that if they donate money to his campaign that he would see that they got a virtual free ride. That would be breaking the law. But a nod here, a wink there….why the hell do you think theyi donated millions?
We believe Tom Corbett delayed the Sandusky investigation until after his gubernatorial campaign because it could have had negative implication and hurt fund raising. That’s not a crime. But it is immoral.
So is selling Joe Paterno and Penn State football down the river.
I have no idea who was calling shots or if any shots were called for that matter. As for the investigation, no one in their right mind wants to be investigated by the government which unlimited resources and the power to make a citizens life and that of his family miserable.
While some disagree with the Marcellus Shale business model the fact is that the taxes paid by the gas companies are passed on to the consumer in the price of the gas i.e., in the final accounting the gas companies pay no taxes, consumers pay them. Thus all companies get a free ride because taxes are business expenses. For the record, oil and gas contributed $1.3 million of Corbett’s $26.7 million total. That is less than 5% of the total and way short of millions. While we are on the subject, democratic supporters donate millions too.
Do you believe democratic supporters are excessively altruistic or do they expect to get something in return? I bet it’s the latter. I also could not find anything showing Corbett threw Joe Pa under the bus. In fact, I believe it was Corbett who filed suit to overturn the abusive NCAA sanctions.
You may believe what you want including your assessment of Corbett’s moral compass but trashing someone’s reputation minus proof is immoral too.
EDITOR: The above is riddled with inaccuracies.
The writer is wrong concerning the effect of a Marcellus Shale tax in two ways: First, to the extent it results in higher prices, the burden is shared with the rest of the world,not carried solely by PA consumers. Secondly, the extent to which it can be passed along is dependent of the cost of gas from other sources.
There is a difference between backing a candidate because you share their views and a tacit quid pro quo. There is a reason why Marcellus Shale interests were Corbett’s largest contributors in 2010.
As for Penn State and Joe Paterno, the record is clear that prosecution did not take place for a hiatus covering the run up to the gubernatorial campaign and large contributions were received from board member of Sandusky’s Second Mile Foundation. Also it is clear that Corbett was a main force for the firing of Paterno and acceptance of the NCCCA penalties.
Lastly, Tom Corbett does not need our hep in trashing his reputation. He has done it again and again.
Newslanc is attempting to sustain the unsustainable. At the risk of too much detail let me explain. It is true that PA consumers may not pay the full tax because of worldwide distribution but who in the world currently has an economy robust enough to sustain an energy price increase? No one. My family members in Germany, for example, are already paying the equivalent of $6.40 a gallon for gasoline and $0.30 a kilowatt for electricity. We are paying around $3.65 for gasoline and 8.1 cents per kilowatt. In addition a personal acquaintance, who has a gas contract in PA, tells me the drilling companies are already pulling back in PA in anticipation of a tax.
Fracking technology is applicable worldwide and there are many countries vying for companies skilled in fracking know how. With the recent Ukraine situation Europe needs a stable source of gas within their borders. Fracking companies will be there to fill their needs. The end result is PA consumers will pay a large part of the tax or the anticipated revenue from the tax will not materialize causing a need to increase the sales tax, income tax, property tax or some of all three.
I ask who within the 2nd mile or Penn State board circle of contributors had money bags so large to cause Corbett to delay an investigation? An investigation I might add that was a local responsibility, not a state responsibility. Had the locals did their job this would not be an issue. Yet no locals seem to be in the hot seat. Why? If Newslanc will name “the mystery money bags” there are resources that can nail down the contribution amounts which Newslanc seems unable to do. I, among others, would like to know the price of delaying the prosecution of a child molester.
Newslanc seems stuck on the largest contributors angle. Let me repeat, Oil and Gas interests were not the governors largest contributors by a long shot. His largest contributors were Republicans at $6.5 million, of that $6.0 million was from the Republican governors association. Next in line are lawyers and law firms at $2.5 million, then the aforementioned oil and gas interests at $1.3 million. The $1.3 million represents only 5% of Corbett’s total of $26 million. As one can see Marcellus Shale interests were not Corbett’s largest contributors. Lacking the minimum of credible proof one can only assume the tacit quid pro quo is a figment of Newslanc’s imagination.
EDITOR: Is the contributor suggesting that the Marcellus Shale industry will plug and abandon the wells they have drilled over the past few years if extraction is taxed here as it is across the USA and probably throughout much of the word?
The subject of contributions from the Second Mile Foundation was covered in Bill Keisling’s reporting on the subject which appears under a separate heading on our hoe page.
Of course Republicans contributed to the Corbett campaign. Of course the national party contributed. Law firms dutifully collect funds for both candidates in order to assure future ‘access.’
But $1.3 of identified support (and we do not know how much more came through the party and other sources) is a very large sum. We can gauge its effect by Corbett’s resistance to suggestions by his own party members that an extraction tax be levied to help balance this years state budget.