PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: A prosecutor’s internal memo detailed how an Abscam-type sting operation with Philadelphia lawmakers was proceeding and asked for permission to expand the investigation to Harrisburg by setting up a fictitious business with offices and staff, the Tribune-Review has learned.
The long-term plan aimed to uncover whether taxpayer money went to nonprofits for illegal use and to examine relationships “between legislators and certain lobbyists,” according to the July 26, 2012, memo from ex-Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina to former Attorney General Linda Kelly.
The investigation is at the center of a dispute arising from Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s decision not to prosecute lawmakers who took $20,000 in the sting. Kane called the case legally flawed and noted that most undercover recordings of lawmakers were made 18 months before she took office in 2013. The taxpayer money is gone, she said… (more)
