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10/30 Ups & Downs

It’s nearly Halloween and Judges are already looking over their shoulder. See who made this week’s list!

Down ArrowKathleen Kane. Just when you thought this saga couldn’t get any stranger, we reached some new twists and turns. The week began with the revelation that the State Senate would create a special committee to recommend whether to remove the Attorney General and staffed it with six members (three from each party). As the week went on, though, we learned that there is a judge who believes Kane accessed his personal emails and another judge who thinks the AG’s office is having him followed. All the while, polls continue to show Pennsylvanians are tired of this circus. At this point, who knows how low this could go?

Up ArrowHillary Clinton. The past month has been a rebound for the former Secretary of State after a brutal summer. It’s now evident that this surge is being felt in the Keystone State. A Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll showed that Hillary leads all the major GOP candidates such as Trump, Carson, Bush and Fiorina. Furthermore, the latest Franklin & Marshall poll has Hillary thirty-four points up over Bernie Sanders among Pennsylvania Democrats. Maybe those Scranton roots are paying off after all.

 

Down ArrowTom Wolf. Halloween is right around the corner and the scariest reality is that we still don’t have a budget. Two separate polls show Governor Wolf’s approval ratings are taking a major hit as a result of the standoff. Furthermore the surveys show that while some of his proposals, like a severance tax, are popular others, such as an increase in sales and income taxes, are not. Additionally, Wolf’s long battle with Open Records Director Erik Arneson finally ended with a defeat. When you consider the strategic choices the Governor made in his first year so far, it’s hard not to conclude that he may have made some serious tactical errors.

Up ArrowSinceré Harris. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is in a transition period. Last July, Jim Burn stepped down as Chairman and Montco native Marcel Groen was elected to replace him in September. Now, the party is getting a new Executive Director. Harris is a close ally of Governor Wolf’s serving on his campaign and inaugural committees. So while the legislature remains an enigma, the Gov is at last gaining control over his own party.

 

Down ArrowMichael George. One of the Republican nominees for the three open seats on the PA Supreme Court, George found himself in hot water over a case he took in 1988 and his subsequent comments on it in 1999. The Adams County Judge, who was then a defense attorney, sought to explain his defendant’s murderous actions as a response to the victims’ lesbianism. “We wanted to get the local folks talking more about the lesbianism than the murder,” George told the author of a book on the incident. In such a high-stakes race with so many candidates, this is the first real scandal to emerge during the fall election season. Whether it could have an effect on Tuesday’s results will be an intriguing subplot.

The tweet of the week goes to Congressman Joe Crowley of New York for this gem aimed at his colleague Bob Brady.

18 Responses

  1. Someone needs to start examining whether it is right that Frank Fina and his buddies have mis-used grand juries to try to cover their own corruption, misappropriation, and racism.

    For instance, it has been reported that Frank Fina used the FOIA to get all his vile disgusting e-mails – and then proceeded to introduce them into evidence in a grand jury proceeding so that they would be “protected” and Fina could continue to hide the truth.

    Add “devious” and “corrupt” to the list of adjectives for Fina. “Racist” would have to be another.

  2. Carpenter may not be “handling” it, but he’s up to his eyebrows in it. As are Montco Republican candidate for judge Risa Vetri Ferman and “Democrat” DA candidate Kevin Steele. That stench you smell is coming from the Montgomery County polling places.

  3. Hey Brad, before you get you’re panties in a twist, take a deep breath. Judge Carpenter is not handling Kane’s case.

  4. Preach, Brad!!

    “I just cannot understand … why so many are allowed to leak information to some of the press while others are brought to trial for the same thing.”

    It’s called selective enforcement and it’s a form of corruption.

  5. I don’t know about Kane’s guilt or innocence. I must from my own view of the news industry’s rush to judgement be somewhat defensive about her rights. After all what rights have I compared to an elected official within the context of the power plays that should be obvious to anyone who has studied civics, ethics and other basic issues of justice.
    I only know about accusations of guilt and the presumptions of guilt bandied in our so-called free press.

    That being said I do know that there seems to be a great rush to judgement based on a form of justice that seems designed to defame the defendant before the trial1 To my dismay it appears that many of my fellow citizen’s seem not to be aware that there are the same characters involved in her trial that were involved in her indictment and the grand juries that led to it. And it now appears that some dirty deeds were going on far longer than her term of office.

    I believe it is time for the Judge Carpenter to step down for the sake of judicial appearances and perhaps this entire case should be moved to another venue. At the least the appearance of fairness and objectivity about leaks appears to have muddied a very difficult and overly murky system of justice in Pennsylvania.

    Seriously we could do much better in respecting the rights of the accused as much as we respect the rights of some who seem to be equally as immersed in leaks to conduct or give her a fair trial.

    It increasingly, in my view, seems to be a case of unequal justice that mirrors the old systems of insiders trying to keep this state mired in a justice system that makes the old southern style of kangaroo justice seem to be amateurish.

    I just cannot understand why PA’s stylistic approach to never allowing anyone to understand just who is allowed to leak, and why so many are allowed to leak information to some of the press while others are brought to trial for the same thing. I am only a lowly citizen who was taught to allow the case to be tried in a courtroom of people who are independent of those involved. But I guess I am at my late stage in live naive to the system in place.

    I say it is time to change the setting and people engaged in the prosecution and judgement to impartial people on the jury and equally independent prosecution and judges.

  6. Since I am giving updates and refreshers, I thought I would include this:
    http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/08/26/kathleen-kane-frank-fina-porngate-emails/

    No discussion of this matter should ignore the genesis of the criminal charges against Ms. Kane. For those who do not like my hyper-links, see below:\

    The very first image in the binder — part of an email from Fina to two colleagues — depicts a topless woman on her back, giving oral sex to a man in a dress shirt. It is captioned in the style of a motivational poster: “WILLINGNESS: Bend over backwards to do an exceptional job.”

    The next image? Another woman. Also giving oral sex. “DEVOTION: Making your boss happy is your only job.”

    It’s not all blowjobs. The next image in the set featured anal sex.

    The stuff that wasn’t pornographic was still demeaning to women and minorities. Fina’s group of faux motivational posters included an image of a white man, carrying a bucket of fried chicken, being accosted by two deranged-looking black men. The caption? “Bravery at its finest.”

    One of the few pictures of a clothed female showed a woman wearing a T-shirt emblazoned: “WIFE: Washing, Ironing, F**ing, Etc.” (The letters in the explicit word were blurred in the photo) That caption? “PLACE: Know it!”

    And that’s not even mentioning another email — this one not to or from Fina — that carries the subject line, “Hot Ghetto Mess.” Or another email that featured a number of men engaged in a group sex act.

    “How friggin gay are you?” Fina wrote in the last email.

  7. frpm another artiicle:

    “Someone needs to start examining whether it is right that Fina and his buddies have mis-used grand juries to try to cover their own corruption, misappropriation, and racism.
    For instance, it has been reported that Frank Fina used the FOIA to get all his vile disgusting e-mails. He then proceeded to introduce them into evidence in a grand jury so that they would be “protected” and Fina could continue to hide the truth.

    Add “devious” and “corrupt” to the list of adjectives for that racist creep woman-hating pig.”

    Apropos here as well.

  8. No DOWN ARROW for Eakin?

    The chorus is growing loud. The harm he does to the image of the Court continues. And his woe-is-me, I’m-the-victim apology still rings hollow.

    He made fun of rape victims. He made fun of female victims of domestic violence. And he still hasn’t resigned. At least McCaffery had the decency to do the right thing.

  9. Yay!!! I now have a Groupie!!! I’m so psyched.

    You know it’s bad for Fina & The Corbett Pervs are now resorting to this argument: Sandusky is bad; so Fina is good.

    It’s sad. So sad. These guys are supposed to be moral and ethical. This crew is far from it. Their e-mails tell a whole lot about their character. Their behavior tells even more.

  10. I agree with Frank Fina’s quote on philly.com. A Special Prosecutor should be appointed immediately …. but not just to look into Kane’s actions. The Special Prosecutor (not a friend of Castille’s/Carpenter’s this time) needs to look into EVERYONE involved – and not just those involved w/ “Porngate.”

    Fina & The Corbett Pervs have run ram-shot over the rights of Pennsylvanians – including child rape victims (read AARON Fisher’s book) for long enough. Their e-mails were a peek into their souls. It is criminal what they did at the OAG – using State equipments of send their racist and woman-hating material around to their white male buddies. They prosecuted people for such behavior.

    And the ex-parte communications with Judges and cozy relationships with Judges, at the very least, create the appearance of impropriety. Most likely, with this morally bankrupt crew, there was actual corruption. Prosecutors and Judges are supposed to be better. This saga will not (cannot) end with Kane being removed. There are too many wuestions. Too man issues. Too many racist pervert creep pigs.

    Special Prosecutor NOW. how about Moulton? He was fair and honest in looking at the Sandusky probe – and the reasons Fina and Corbett let Sandusky attack children for 32 months.

  11. Why the persistent down arrow for Kane? Politics PA uses leaks and rumors to always downgrade her. That seems biased. The big down arrow should be going to Judge Feudale!!! No matter how his emails were obtained, they show he was leaking sealed court documents to Inky. He should be charged with contempt of court. If that’s the charge for the AG, then it’s the charge for the Judge.

  12. It seems the “Clown Car” is getting more crowded.

    This story gets better and better every day. The smear campaign never ends. I wonder when the folks at the INKY are going to slam the brakes on Craig & Angela? The ombudsman there must be paying attention now … Right?

    I also wonder if the folks on that Senate committee realize that they have stepped into a shit-storm. If they remove Kane, she can’t get her job back after she is exonerated at trial. This EXTENDED smear campaign – complete with 50x more leaks than Kane is accused to have committed – is proof that they never expected Kane to still be standing. And their chances of prevailing at trial gets worse with every revelation that Fina & The Corbett Pervs will stop at nothing to silence Kane.

  13. Uh-Oh …. Fina & The Corbett Pervs are in trouble again. So are their co-conspirators, Craig and Angela at the INKY. Feudale the sneak is exposed below. figures he is a good buddy of Fina’s.

    E-mail to Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Craig McCoy from Barry F. Feudale dated July 8, 2013:

    “Subject: Re: nice meeting you “two” Craig forwad this to Angela I don’t have her email handy

    I am also considering giving you the brief Order initialy removing me and the Order denying reconsideration with explanation why I was removed…Since…you and Angela seem to be aware of the content of such (I believe you said it, or parts of it was read to you and or parts of the Application for a Writ of Prohibition,) it seems to not in the interest of transparency and completeness to not “confirm” what was said in the order. My Problem is that the Application for a writ was sealed (as are all Kings Bench matters) so I need both your assurance it will only be used as background and you will not reveal me as a source of such.” (emphasis added)

  14. There should be a HUGE DOWN ARROW for Frank Fina.

    I am really hoping that Fina’s misdeeds do not result in a new trial for that animal – Sandusky. Fina and Corbett already gave that rapist 32 extra months of freedom. Fina sat on his hands watching bestiality videos while Sandusky raped children. Now his antics with the grand jury may put the case in jeopardy.

    He is just about useless as a prosecutor now. He is a confirmed racist and his ethics are highly questionable.

  15. I hope it goes as low as it needs to go to weed out ALL the rasists, perverts, and woman-haters … not to mention the corrupt.

    There is no place in government for people who use their State computers to distribute vile crap like this:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/zadock1/3580634808

    Can’t wait to see if Feudale got this one too. We know that he brandished a knife at the AG’s Office when Kane motioned the Court to have him removed (a Motion that was granted).

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