Corbett's Sandusky Investigation showed an inexcusable lack of urgency, plus sloppiness

[JPZenger]

http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2014/06/an-inexcusable-lack-of-urgency.html

The linked blogger has spent 7 years criticizing Corbett's political obsessions and incompetence. Instead of putting sufficient resources into investigating Sandusky, Corbett actually used a secret Statewide Grand Jury to try to force Twitter to reveal the identity of this blogger. Here's his latest perspective on the Sandusky investigation by Corbett's Attorney General Office.

"By any measure, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's review of Tom Corbett's investigation of serial child rapist Jerry Sandusky revealed unconscionable neglect, incompetence and sloppiness. Her central conclusion, "The facts show an inexcusable lack of urgency in charging and stopping a serial sexual predator," is undisputed. But because Kane couldn't prove that Corbett broke any laws or expressly told anyone to slow-walk the investigation, Kane's report is being hailed as a victory for Corbett.

... That's not to say that the delay in prosecuting Sandusky is entirely unrelated to politics. The report confirmed what we have long alleged: Corbett's obsession with prosecuting members of the legislature, and assembling those indictments before officially launching his gubernatorial campaign, contributed heavily to the delay.

Two of the agents on the Sandusky Task Force didn't begin working on the case until early April of 2011 - two full years after Corbett took over the case - because they had been working "almost exclusively" on Bonusgate-related investigations and prosecutions for the previous several years.

According to the report, "Bonusgate appeared to affect investigative assignments, arguably exacerbated an existing shortage of investigative resources, and certainly consumed a considerable portion of the time and attention of [Frank] Fina and other office supervisors ... is impossible to determine how the course of the Sandusky investigation would have been different had it, in its early stages, received the same intense focus as Bonusgate."

[Number9Dream]

1. Hatchet job on Kane by Allentown paper

JPZ - Did you read the hatchet job the Allentown Morning Republican tried to do on Kathleen Kane in the Sunday paper? Your thoughts?

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-pa-kathleen-kane-credibility-20140705,0,5947795.story

[JPZenger]

2. Kane was mostly right

Kane was mostly right about the threat of additional victims while Corbett's office was waiting 3 years to charge Sandusky. Few people even knew Sandusky was under suspicion. The initial victim said that he considered suicide because nothing was happening to Sandusky.

In any case, Fina is trying to hit Kane with machine gun fire every chance he gets. Kane knew not to trust Fina -which is why she confiscated his hard drive as her first act as AG on her first day.

The Repubs are hitting Kane because she wants to run against Toomey for US Senate. I think that run is a little premature on her part - I'd prefer someone with more political experience as a candidate. The only other Senate candidate that I have heard is Sestak, who almost defeated Toomey. However, Sestak has many enemies and doubters inside the Dem Party.

Here's a couple other potential candidates who have been mentioned for Toomey's seat:

Matt Cartwright, U.S. Representative

Rob McCord, Pennsylvania Treasurer and former candidate for Governor in 2014

Kathleen McGinty, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and former candidate for Governor in 2014

Allyson Schwartz, U.S. Representative and former candidate for Governor in 2014

Josh Shapiro, Chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners and former state rep