Mar 29, 2010

Stetler's motion about AG could have consequences


Here is a great article on that further explains the motions filed by Attorney Joshua Locke who is defending former Representative Steve Stetler and Representative Brett Feese with Dauphin County Judge Richard A. Lewis. The motions accuse Attorney General Tom Corbett of using office staff and state office resources for campaign purposes. Apparently the defense feels that Corbett violated the same law that Corbett is using to convict state lawmakers and their staff. At first I thought the motions were just a defense tactic but apparently after reading this article I think they have some teeth.
Lock's argument is not the same one made by prior Bonusgate defendants, said Michael Palermo, the lawyer for Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, who was convicted of corruption charges along with Veon.

It's stronger, Palermo said, front-loaded with bits of evidence he and other defense attorneys hoped to elicit from witnesses at trial. That didn't happen because Lewis didn't allow the testimony. Lock has put his allegations on paper, forcing the court to confront them.

But Stetler and Feese go further than the Veon defendants had, Palermo said, when they allege the Attorney General's office has staffers doing campaign work on state time -- a common charge against Bonusgate defendants.

"When I read it, I was jealous," Palermo said. "This is a fully developed motion . . . Our motion was a grain of sand -- Josh Lock's is the beach." (York Daily Record)

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Corbett's office is saying that everything related to campaign activity has been above board and all of these allegations against Corbett had been made before in previous cases, but the details of the motions filed by Lock suggest differently. According to court documents, apparently Corbett hired three former campaign staffers to work for the Attorney General's office. One of the staffers was Brian Nutt who worked for the Corbett campaign in 2004 and 2008. Nutt is now Corbett's campaign manager.

Apparently staffers would take "Leaves Of Absences" to work on Corbett's campaigns and then return and work for Corbett in the Attorney General's Office. Lock is suggesting nine Attorney General employees were given "Comp" time,"flex" time, or their own time to work for Corbett's campaign. All of this seems a little fishy to me. Like I said before the more you research Corbett's political career the more questions arise!

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:45 AM

    Corbutt if elected, will turn out to be even more corrupt than Spendell.

    Vote for Sam Rohrer, a true patriot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:14 AM

    The accusation here is that Corbett is dirty because his staff took unpaid leave to campaign, thus ensuring no taxpayer dollars went towards campaign activities.

    So Stetler hopes to get the charges thrown out because of Corbett's behavior has been VERY LEGAL?

    Huh. Good luck with that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:36 PM

    No, Anonymous #2, the accusation is that Corbett kept these people in a cushy (and probably do-nothing) AG staff job until they were needed for the campaign, then gave them a leave of absence. That's a BIG difference.

    ReplyDelete