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4/8 Ups & Downs

Polls, fundraising and petitions. See who made this week’s list!

Down ArrowTom Wolf. One of the biggest questions in the aftermath of the budget battle was what effect this episode would have on Tom Wolf’s political standing. Well, the first set of numbers are in and it’s not good news for the Governor. The latest Quinnipiac Poll puts his approval rating at just 35% with 52% disapproving of his job performance. It’s fair to say that Wolf is now officially in a sophomore slump. The only question is whether he can get out of it.

 

Up ArrowPat Toomey. Speaking of the latest poll results, Senator Pat Toomey performed much better in that Quinnipiac survey. The Republican incumbent leads both of the leading Democratic candidates in a general election match-up. Sure, the national atmosphere may be turning against him but so long as he can hold onto those leads over Sestak and McGinty he should be alright.

 

Up ArrowSteve Santarsiero. It was quite the week for the Democratic Congressional candidate. His campaign revealed a massive first quarter haul of $400,000. This was a particularly impressive number given that Santarsiero struggled in the money race last year. Additionally, he scored endorsements from a trio of influential high-profile organizations: Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, and SEIU. His team will try to build on this momentum as the primary showdown with Shaughnessy Naughton nears.

 

Down ArrowLindy Li. The 25 year-old jumped into PA’s political scene with both feet and full of optimism. Unfortunately for her, it seems she was just too green to succeed. After the puzzling decision to switch contests last December, Li was forced to drop out after experiencing petition troubles. Ultimately, her reach exceeded her grasp and she alienated quite a few rank-and-file party members. The real test, however, for Li and anyone else in the political area, is whether they have the ability to learn from their mistakes.

 

Down ArrowKathleen Kane. Speaking of second chances, Attorney General Kathleen Kane was surely hoping the public would give her one after she announced she wasn’t going to run for re-election. She even notched some victories as Michael Eakin was pushed out and found guilty plus she was able to name her own Solicitor General. Nevertheless, her popularity numbers didn’t get any rebound. Her approval rating is a putrid 25% and 47% still think she should resign. Looks like Kane will have to seek vindication in the courtroom.

The tweet of the week goes to Philadelphia Magazine’s Dan McQuade for an A+ vine.

99 Responses

  1. LOL, Mike. They are like “the crooked cops in Making a Murderer.”

    Agree that Kane is smart not to plead guilty to anything. Their trumped-up charges have worked in the past. But you are also correct that this is not the way our Criminal Justice System was designed to operate.

    I am certain that, when the truth comes out, we will see that “Fina & The Corbett Pervs” (great nema, Ha) went on a witch hunt. And the reasons for that witch hunt are already clear. When you are a Deputy AG prosecuting people for mis-using their Government computers (like Frank Fina was), it is pretty damaging when it turns out you were using your Government computer on this:

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

    Chief Justice Ron Castille said that the contents of the Hate-gate e-mails were CRIMINAL. I may have to agree with him. But my guess is that Frank Fina had even more to hide. My guess is that Fina was mis-using Grand Juries and had an inappropriate relationship with Tyron Ali and his lawyer, Bob Levant.

    Just look at the circumstances of Fina’s “plea deal’ with Ali. Fina allegedly stole the file from the AG’s Office before Kane and her team could have a look at it. Look at how they did everything necessary to make sure that none of the “sting cases” went to trial. Look at the fact that Fina let Ali keep the $430,000.00 he stole from PA taxpayers. Look at the fact that Fina and Bob Levant are now suing the State for even more taxpayer $$$.

    And, of course, look at the Superior Court’s Opinion in the Penn State 3 case. They examined Fina’s behavior. And they called it “highly improper.” They threw out most of Fina’s charges against the Penn State administrators he went after in the wake of the scandal there.

    Something is going on at the Philadelphia D.A.’s Office. And it seems SHADY (get it?).

  2. That’s right, Biatch … You better get some practice servicing men. That’s gonna be your full-time job soon.

    How friggin gay are you? I don’t care !!

  3. I’m actually getting fitted for an orange jump-suit … and checking out granny porn …. and servicing my new boss and best friend, Seth Williams.

  4. The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.

  5. … and I was right. Seth did everything under the sun to make sure none of the allegedly corrupt politicians went to trial. He gave away THE FARM
    … and was even reduced to begging one of the politicians to help him keep case out of Court.

    I have the same feeling about Kane’s case. I am just not sure Kevin Steele cares to protect Fina & The Corbett Pervs the way Corbett and Black Corbett (Seth Williams) did. In fact – it probably be hooves Steele, who hired the 1st Assistant that wanted Fina fired, to make sure the truth comes out about corrupt racist Fina.

  6. Agreed Mike.

    A while back, I predicted that Seth Williams would NOT take the steaming pile of dung (sting) cases to Court.

    There is something seriously shady going on at Seth Williams’ Office. He is forcing out or demoting good, hard-working prosecutors who would not let him protect his buddies. He is helping unethical lawyers get elected Judge. And, in addition to hiring and promoting women he has slept with, he is now covering-up for someone who committed crimes at his house:

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160401_Whodunit_at_the_D_A__s_house__Who_slashed_the_tires_.html

    Seth had a duty to immediately report those crimes. He didn’t. Wonder why!!! And then he had the taxpayers foot the bill for the damage caused by that person (jilted lover) he is protecting.

  7. It’s true. I am in prison. And I hope Francis likes the taste of his own feces. Because he will soon be licking it off my shaft!! That orange jump-suit won’t be on for too long.

  8. Sorry BUBBA, not gonna happen. FINA always WINS. Looks like your stuck in prison with HAHAHA.

  9. Can’t wait til Fina gets here!! He won’t have to worry about dropping the soap!! Plan on going A-T-M as soon as we go lights out his first night. I think I will call him Francis.

  10. Ha – that puts me in mind of the crooked cops in Making a Murderer. They miraculously found the victim’s car keys in the suspect’s bedroom. Right there in plain view. After searching the bedroom three or four times previously. And they had no business being there to begin with.

    Kane is smart not to plead guilty to anything. These guys cook up charges to publicly embarrass/shame people into resigning or taking deals. But that is not the way our Criminal Justice system should be used. Dirty prosecutors are some of the most dangerous criminals there are.

  11. HAHAHA the only asshole that was ripped was yours By BUBBA, when FINA sent you to PRISON.

  12. Oh look!! SpongeRETARD, like the Clown Car, still hoping against hope that there is no trial. But Kane isn’t taking any deal. She knows what Fina & The Corbett Pervs have been up to. And she just wants to clear her name. If the trial is as big of a joke as the GJ “report,” Kane will be cleared.

    Don’t forget how totally shady the discovery of the “Oath” was. They searched her Office multiple times and found nothing. Then they get an “anonymous tip” that they should look again. Lo and behold, they go again and find the “Oath.” It’s almost laughable.

    Ferman knew the GJ report is a joke. That’s why she spent so much time trying to find real evidence. They were PRAYING the Driver would flip. No dice.

    Maybe they can get Seth Williams to come in and beg her to take a “deal.” Otherwise – the truth is gonna come out. With the media scrutiny that will be on this case, no corrupt Judge (or friend of Ferman’s and Carluccio’s) will be able to deny Kane a fair trial. Fina will be front and central at that trial. Shargel is going to rip him a new ass-hole.

  13. Jax, how right you are. Steele has already bungled the Cosby case. If he bungles Kane, I doubt Burger King will have a place for him apart from flipping burgers…or maybe that Clown King guy mascot.

  14. David once again you show a lack of understanding how…. You know criminal cases work. Just because you want him to testify does not make it happen. They would have to open the door to him somehow and they won’t need to. All of those confidants she has testifying against her will establish all the motive they need. Her only chance to avoid the orange is to plea out and resign. Otherwise she is going to be making prison wine in due time.

  15. garet jax-

    Fina lodged the initial complaint that started all this, since the information leaked was about him, and he is most likely suspect in leak of Kane dropping the sting investigation.

    He could also be called as an “expert witness” on how the AG office operates and what “standard practices” had been. That would interesting.

  16. SpongeBob is right. My bet is that the judge won’t allow Ali or Fina’s name to even surface in Kane’s prosecution. And Steele will stake his career in this case. He needs her to go down. Otherwise he will be applying for a job as in house counsel for Burger King in 3 years

  17. So people can’t just testify about stuff that has nothing to do with the case. You can wish for the case to be a popcorn fest that lights Fina up but it won’t. There is no way they are going to let totally unrelated testimony in. Kane should have picked better confidants because none of the ones she chose had any loyalty.

  18. DD,

    Especially when you consider that he has said that he did not think that Kane would prosecute the case.

    Why the big rush for Frank Fina to let Ali go Scot-free on a $400,000.00 fraud case when you don’t think the case you would use him as a witness on will ever be prosecuted? Something is not Kosher.

    Add to that the fact that Tyron Ali’s lawyer is also Frank Fina’s lawyer … and now you it looks VERY BAD.

    I mean – Fina let his lawyer’s other client keep the $400,000.00 of taxpayer $$$ he stole. Fina dropped ALL CHARGES against his lawyer’s other client. Highly irregular. Highly suspicious.

    And now we know that they still have an ACTIVE Philadelphia Grand Jury on the super old sting case. Why? I have a feeling they have A LOT to hide and they want to be able to call it “protected GJ material” through Kane’s trial.

    Dirty. These guys are dirty.

  19. HaHaHa-

    I’d love to hear testimony about why he gave Ali immunity between Kane’s election and her taking office.

  20. My understanding is that Morrow or King will end up giving testimony that Tyron Ali is a liar and misled law enforcement about the $$$ they were feeding him. This trial is going to be so much fun … if Kevin Steele has the courage to try it. I’m just hoping he doesn’t go all Seth Williams and give away the farm to get Kane to take some “deal.”

    That is my guess as to what will happen. They will drop charges after Kane steps down. Of course – that would be no skin of Lane’s back as she only will have a few months left in Office come August anyway.

  21. Haha- Kane testified that King assembled the docs and gave the envelope to morrow. King said Kane asked him to deliver an envelope to morrow that he believed contained campaign materials-2years AFTER she was elected. Huh? If morrow had a conversation with King about the contents of the envelope as he originally testified, King assembled the docs and knew what they they were-exactly as Kane testified. Why does Morrow come back and say he doesn’t recall his conversation with King? I’m betting someone threatened him with something is much more likely than a sudden memory change. Lol

  22. Haha-something caused Morrow to walk back his initial testimony that he received the envelope from King and had a conversation with him about its content so he could explain the docs to a reporter. The original Morrow testimony completely contradicted King and corroborated Kane. Why would he thereafter say that his recollection of his conversation with King may have been wrong? Sudden memory loss? A catastrophic head injury? More likely he was threatened by the special prosecutor that if he didn’t change his story on the record to support kings lie, he would be charged along with Kane.

  23. Bobby-

    From what I read of the story, he had been behind on some property taxes a few years ago, and has since paid them all off. So, if he’s up-to-date, I don’t think it qualifies as “news”.

    Headline: Fetterman paid all his back-taxes a few years ago.

    That isn’t going to sell papers.

  24. No story on John Fetterman failing to pay his taxes? I guess he really has become irrelevant.

  25. Though it is rare. McNesby is right on this one:

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160409_FOP_wants_replay_on_McCoy_decision.html

    Looks like Seth Williams has given AG Kane the chance to expose him for the corrupt pig that he is. I’m sure AG Kane knows that Seth Williams is regularly a “guest” of the Eagles on the field during games. Does Seth Williams pay for those Field Passes? Does he get them from someone connected to the NFL? The Eagles? Shady himself?

    AG Kane needs to find out. Those injured Officers have a right to know.

  26. If Lindy Li had any honor or integrity she would return the money she raised. Steve Welch did it after his aborted attempt to succeed Jim Gerlach in the 6th district. My bet is that these contributors will see nothing.

  27. garet – Arevyou suggesting that they twisted his arm to give certain testimony in front of the grand jury? That would need that Carluccio needs to get fitted for an orange jump-suit with Fina and Seth Williams.

  28. LMAO … What a RETARD.

    SpongeRETARD is one of the vaginas Kane was referring to.

    He is a TEA-guzzling loser too.

  29. @Pat Unger-I wouldn’t be so sure that Josh Morrow is the prosecution star witness. I have a sneaking suspicion that Morrow will tell WHY he changed his testimony which will be an atomic Bomb dropped on the special prosecutor.
    @HaHa-don’t be so sure that the whole truth comes out at the Kane trial. It appears those MontCo judges have it in for her and will most likely severely limit and restrict any evidence she tries to admit. Keep your eyes on Adrian King. This thing will shape up to a he said/she said between him and Kane. My money is on Kane in that credibility determination.

  30. David your ability to be so obstinate is mind boggling. She was reminded of the secrecy requirements by a room full of people. She said flat out that she did not sign a secrecy oath, yet when you sign the thing it literally spells out what happens if you violate the oath. How dumb do you honestly think she is? I mean I think she was in over her head and an awful leader of people but I never thought of her as stupid. You on the other hand must truly believe that she is a complete idiot. I am sure there was surprise when she said she had not signed the oath given the testimony of others that they had in fact reminded her of her obligation to follow said oath. I knew you hate Law Enforcement with a passion and of course despise special needs kids but to think so little of Kane is shocking even coming from you.

  31. SpongeBob-

    1) Not the same thing as her remembering a specific document
    2) Not the same thing as believing her staff (who she has said she disagreed with)
    3) Not the same thing as people who may have told/given her alternate interpretations that she believed more reliable/correct or she found their arguments uncompelling. My boss listens to idiot friends of his who consistently give him bad/wrong information on computer stuff (but, I wind up getting lots of work fixing stuff and saying “I told you so”). This is very common with bosses.

  32. David,
    If you’ve bothered to pay attentiIon you would see that I pointed out that she can’t claim to have forgotten when there are so many people involved who are testifying against her that have identified that not only did she know, that she intentionally ignored warnings and guidance from her staff. It’s not trumped up when she flaunted how little she cared in the face of opposition. Maybe if you did not ignore the evidence you might see past your party blindness. But of course that’s not you.

  33. SpongeBob –

    If you’ve bothered to pay attention. The perjury charge regarding the document is her saying that she didn’t remember signing any such document and doubting it ever existed. Her alleged violation that secrecy oath isn’t a felony. So, they are taking her failure to remember signing the oath and claiming it’s perjury so they can charge her with a felony.

    Your saying “it’s her job to know” and (in your opinion) doing poorly at her job is not “criminal” and especially not a felony.

    That’s why they had trump up these bogus perjury charges because nothing she was accused of doing was a felony.

  34. Keep dreaming, Pussies. Im not pleading guilty to anything. PROVE IT IN COURT OR SHUT THE FUCK UP.

  35. David,
    When you sign a secrecy oath, you are signing a legal document, that is notarized. What you seem too f*cking stupid to understand in your support Kane is that it’s her job to know that she signed the oath. The reason people flipped on her is going to come out which is why she will plead. I hope there is a trial because if she get’s to plead she will get less than she deserves. You can’t claim to be capable of being Attorney General and simultaneously not know when you have signed a grand jury secrecy oath. Especially when the rules were brought up in meetings about the very things leaked. You cannot claim you did not know when you were warned by your own people. She lied, just like she has many many times. Your blind loyalty to party doesn’t even allow you to admit that she got caught and instead of owning up she went full tilt in trying to cover it up. Steele can’t drop the case or it hurts him politically but if she had just owned up early on she likely would have gotten the wrist slap you want her to get. Now she is going to get what is earned.

  36. Don’t worry, DD. Smokescreens do not last forever. And trumped-up charges get exposed at trial. Kane will come out of this stronger. In fact, if Kevin Steele is smart, he will drop this before he get embarrassed in Court.

    He can take a page from Seth Williams’ book. Remember when Seth was BEGGING the defendant to take the “deal”? The one where there was no jail, no loss of pension, no probation, and the defendant’s record expunged so that it was as if she had never been arrested … OMG — that was on one of Fina’s other GREAT cases – the steaming pile of dung (sting) case …. LMAO.

  37. SpongeBob-

    You don’t get charged for perjury for not remembering that something was in the driving code.

    Ignorance of the law is not an excuse/defense for getting away with an office, but it ABSOLUTELY is a perfect defense against being charged with perjury for not knowing/remembering/aware-of particular rule.

    The violation she’s accused of is only a misdemeanor if proven. So, they trumped up the perjury charge for her not remembering the document to “get her” on something more than jaywalking.

    That’s the part you seem too f*cking stupid to understand in your opposition against Kane and women in power.

  38. It seems the Repervlican CLOWN CAR is still PRAYING that there will not be a trial. See SpongeRETARD below.

    Whatever happened to those Impeachment proceedings? LOL. Oh — that’s right. That would have required a trial as well.

    These pussies are all scared of a trial. I wonder why!!?!! LMAO

  39. You guys do know that people in the office, people she hand picked, people who were her confidants have been flipped so they can save themselves. Ignorance in the face of the law is not permission to break it. There are hundreds of items in Pennsylvania’s driving code. Do you get to claim that you did not break the law if you violate one of those codes because you forgot that when you accepted your license you agreed to follow those and any new codes created? How about when you sign a cell phone contract that has terms for ending it early. Can you just not pay because you were really busy and so much info was thrown at you? No, you are responsible for your actions and she will plead out likely because guys like Dave Peiffer and others who have been turned will force her hand.

  40. Seth Williams cannot continue to protect the person who committed crimes at his house. he will eventually have to explain why he did not report those crimes. He will have to tell us who, at his Office, he tasked with investigating those crimes (LOL – I’ll give you 3 guesses!!). He is going to have to tell us what made that young lady so angry … and why he made the taxpayers pay for the damage she caused.

    Desperate politicians do not make good District Attorneys. Desperate politicians demote hard-working prosecutors who have the morals and decency that Frank Fina and his pals do not. Desperate politicians protect criminals because they have given lots of $$$.
    Desperate politicians have bartenders and Corbett Republicans running their PAC.
    “A new day; A new D.A.” is not working out too well for Philadelphians.

    Here’s Seth Williams’ new Chief of Staff/General Counsel, Kathy Martin, defending Frank Fina and his racist, pervert buddies:

    “Keeping them here [at the Philadelphia D.A.’s Office] exhibits our faith in them that they’re smart, capable, hard-working, dedicated civil servants,” Martin said.

    But their attitudes towards minorities, women and homosexuals are very disturbing.The fact that Fina and his pals shared the material with Judges they appeared in front of is even more disturbing. They created a group of people who all had the goods on each other. People that shared the same racist, woman-hating attitudes. And, once you were part of that group, the other members had a hammer they could hold over you.

    We know that Frank Fina was one of the prosecutors in this group. He prosecuted people for mis-using their State computers. And then he used his State computer on this:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/… .

    That e-mail is but one example. There are many others. Many are just as disturbing.
    When AG Kane won, but before she took office, Frank Fina finalized his “unjust” plea deal with Tyron Ali. Bruce Beemer called it “unjust.” Fina dropped all of the over 2,000 criminal charges that were pending against Ali. Fina also let Ali keep the $430K he stole from a non-profit set up to help children.

    Con-man Ali’s lawyer is Bob Levant. Fina negotiated that sweet deal, in the 11th hour (right before Kane was set to take over) with Levant.

    And now Fina is suing the AG’s Office for money. And guess who one of his lawyers is? Yep — Bob Levant.

    Rumor has it that Bob Levant has also helped Seth Williams with the FBI’s criminal investigation into Williams.

    A ways back, Seth Williams hired Frank Fina. Whether he knew of Fina’s “issues” when he hired him we may never know. But Williams certainly knows now. The Superior Court just called Fina’s conduct in the Penn State case “highly improper.” Williams certainly knows that too.

    “Chief of Staff/General Counsel” is a high paying job. Seth Williams hired Kathy Martin off the street into that job. She has zero general counsel experience and hardly any prosecutorial experience.

    But – she is Bob Levant’s wife. Now – Seth Williams’ “Chief of Staff” is in the Press, speaking on behalf of the Philadelphia DA’s Office, defending and praising her husband’s racist client – Frank Fina.

    Huge coincidence, huh?? I think not. It’s no wonder that Williams refuses to fire Fina. They are in bed together. Levant and Martin are on that stinky mattress too.

    Is it OK that Kathy Martin, a high-paid City employee, has a financial interest in smearing the AG and propping up her husband’s client, Frank Fina?

    Is it OK that Williams is now demoting hard-working career prosecutors who speak out to Seth about not wanting to drag the DA’s Office down?

    Is it OK that he covered-up crimes committed by a jilted lover and made the taxpayers foot the bill?

    Something is rotten at the DA’s Office.

  41. David – it is total BS. And, it will be nearly impossible to prove. They would have to prove she KNOWINGLY lied. As opposed to her having forgotten; or her being mistaken. Without a mind-reader, they cannot prove what they need to prove.

    Also – the perjury charges are the tell-tale sign that the prosecutor has no faith in the underlying charges. In this instance, you also have them continuing, ad-nauseum, to search for real evidence. Read the GJ report. It is a joke … filled with he-said/she-said nonsense.

    Remember that their STAR witness, Josh Morrow, has told two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VERSIONS of what happened. That won’t play well.

  42. The perjury charge about her not remembering one particular document she signed (among dozens/hundreds her first week) is complete bullsh*t. Who can list/remember everything they signed (several years before)?

    The other charges may be questions of perception/memory. I’ve left plenty of business meetings where my boss had a completely different understanding of what was agreed to than the rest of the staff, yet he was completely unaware that we weren’t all on the same page. He is just honestly and completely out of touch with his employees and has terrible communications skills. (It’s not a crime, though the staff often wished/felt it was.)

  43. hard for me to see kane winning on her perjury charges, when many of her staffers are key witnesses on her sophisticated scheme to leak of confidential grand jury documents. her initially ‘forgetting’ she took an oath to ‘hold all GJ recs confidential,’ and her claim that ‘she was only a housewife not the AG bound by confidentiality ‘ when that particular set of GJ recs were released, does not help her case. (NB all AG attorney / investigative staff are required to sign the confidentiality oaths.. and if one does not remember doing so, it might be wise for KK to have reviewed her personnel file before publicly proclaiming she never took such an oath…) nor do her efforts at witness intimidation and retaliation against people on her staff subpoenaed to testify in the grand juries redound to her credit. she did do a fine job releasing porn gate records (albeit on her own timeline, calculated to be most favorable to her.. ) it will be interesting to see if the trial judge lets her use her current most favorite defense of the GJ perjury charges against her just being an effort by the ‘big boys’ to continually punish her for unearthing porn gate..

  44. Tom Wolf is a hero and Pat Toomey is a zero, no matter what the numbers of the week say.

  45. DD – The trial is going to be SOOOOOO much fun. Can’t wait!!!

    The CLOWN CAR never wanted this to be a trial. Because, at trials, the truth comes out!!!!

  46. Kane’s poll numbers don’t mean sh*t at this point. She isn’t running for reelection.

    If she loses her trial, they will matter even less. If she wins her trial the numbers will flip to support her (and still not matter).

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