Millions in public funds used for political gain, probe finds
Charges include using public funds to bump Ralph Nader from the ballot in 2004 and using state employees to provide political services.
The Post Gazette reported:
Grand jurors here and in Pittsburgh cataloged what they described as a culture of corruption that allowed former state Rep. Michael Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley and 10 current and former Democratic staffers to divert millions of dollars in state resources, including more than $1 million in illegal pay bonuses.
The jurors said Mr. Veon and the staff members conspired to arrange hefty year-end pay bonuses to House employees who worked on political campaigns over a three-year period, while Mr. Ramaley is accused of working full-time on his 2004 House campaign in Beaver County while drawing a taxpayer salary as a member of Mr. Veon's staff.
The findings ran from the political to the salacious.
It found that tax money was used to bump third-party candidates Ralph Nader and Carl Romanelli from the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004 and 2006. Grand jurors said state money was used to provide a no-work job to a high-ranking House aide's mistress.
State employees were routinely diverted from their jobs to provide political services and, in the case of Mr. Veon, to transport his motorcycles to South Dakota for his vacation and to provide dinners to members of Mr. Veon's informal basketball league.
"The theft of taxpayers' funds and resources was extensive," said state Attorney General Tom Corbett, who yesterday filed an array of charges against Mr. Veon, Mr. Ramaley and the others, while hinting at more to come.
"Let me make this perfectly clear: This is not the conclusion," he said at a news conference here.
Attorneys for Mr. Veon and Mr. Ramaley said their clients are innocent of wrongdoing.
[PA] Attorney General Corbett announces charges in legislative bonus investigation - 12 suspects charged in 1st phase of the investigation
ReplyDeleteThis involves the payment of bonuses to state employees who engaged in political activities.
I think this removes Gov. Ed Rendell from any VP list, or at least it should.
""Let me make this perfectly clear: This is not the conclusion," he said at a news conference here."
ReplyDeleteIn other news, construction on the John P. Murtha Old Soldiers Retirement Home is expected to commence after the next round of earmarking in Washington. The federally funded, 20,000 square foot facility is designed to house any retiring Congressman from Pennsylvania's 12th District who qualifies by serving 25 years or more in the U.S. House of Representatives. The eminent domain takings used to acquire sufficient acreage for the surrounding parklands have simultaneously eliminated the last enclaves of Republican resistance to the project, which is seen as a model for similar initiatives in gerrymandered districts across the state.
Meanwhile, from the NYTs we learn that Rep Rangel, Dem/NY has Four Rent controlled Apartments in a town where;
ReplyDelete"While aggressive evictions are reducing the number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent units on the 16th floor overlooking Upper Manhattan in a building owned by one of New York’s premier real estate developers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/nyregion/11rangel.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
H/T to Sweetness-light.com
Posted by Pagar
The arrests and indictments are not over. The only reason the donks went first was because there were strong rumors they were destroying evidence. The trunks turn will come once the investigation is completed. This is a very corrupt state. I mean commonwealth.
ReplyDeleteMore to come
ReplyDelete