Kane’s drama reverberates through the AG’s office, the DNC picks its platform committee and Voit endorses Trump. Good morning politicos, here’s the Playbook!
Kane’s Struggles Weigh on AG Staff: A new report suggests employees in the AG’s office are terrified of their boss.
DNC Names Convention’s Platform Committee: Bernie Sanders got some input into the drafting body’s make-up.
Voit Endorses Trump: The GOP’s nominee for State Treasurer proudly backs his party’s new leader.
Reader Poll: Do You Think Quigley Deserved to Go?: We ask our readers about the controversy surrounding the former DEP Secretary.
Reader Poll: Marijuana Should Be Legal in PA: Our readers think pot should be legalization in the Keystone State.
Sanders Welcomes “Messy” Convention in Philly: “So what! Democracy is messy” the Democratic candidate says of potential convention chaos.
PA-Sen: Toomey Ramps Up Sanctuary City Attack in New Ad (VIDEO): The Toomey campaign continues to go after McGinty over sanctuary cities.
Statewide
Capitolwire: General Assembly’s Taxpayers’ Caucus says it’s found $3 billion in budget savings, Wolf administration unimpressed
Capitolwire: House hits a wall with gaming expansion measures
Capitolwire: DHS making progress on issues highlighted in ChildLine audit
Capitolwire: Shapiro calls for more robust civil, public protection divisions at OAG
PA Watchdog: Teachers union, religious objectors battle over how dues are spent
StateImpactPA: Deepening the Delaware: Windfall or boondoggle?
WITF: Nearly 42,000 calls unanswered in 2015 at state’s child abuse hotline
Philadelphia
Inquirer: Feibush’s winning lawsuit could cost city $116,393.12 more
Inquirer: School advocates hammer PPA over Uber deal
Inquirer: Pa. seeks more data from Agora Cyber Charter
Inquirer: Pa. seeks financial, contract info from Agora Cyber Charter
WHYY Newsworks: A garden, a redevelopment plan, and a fight over who owns a neighborhood
KYW Newsradio: Philadelphia Principals, School District Come To Agreement
Philadelphia Business Journal: Former Vanguard Group lawyer’s whistleblower lawsuit tossed
Philadelphia Business Journal: Pa.’s ‘Plan on Aging’ lacks details on senior centers, transportation
SEPA
Bucks County Courier Times: Water contamination meeting draws hundreds
Bucks County Courier Times: Morrisville School District to re-register students this summer
Delco Daily Times: Hearing, vote on proposed U.D. budget set tonight
Local Daily News: West Chester agrees to settle litigation with Wyeth, Pfizer
Pittsburgh
Tribune Review: Plum residents call for superintendent to step down at board meeting
Tribune Review: Pittsburgh files for $50M transportation grant in Smart City Challenge
Tribune Review: Plum residents call for superintendent to step down at board meeting
Tribune Review: Lawmaker: Pa. should get rid of instant background check system for firearms
Tribune Review: Gov. Wolf asks Liquor Control Board to allow six-pack sales at gas stations
Post-Gazette: Wilkinsburg School Board approves resignation of acting superintendent
Post-Gazette: City Council to hear arguments about proposed ban on animal performances
WESA: Legislator Pushes To End PA Blue Law Restricting Hunting On Sundays
Pittsburgh Business Times: DoD awards $8.9M to CMU for surveillance research
Pittsburgh Business Times: Pittsburgh submits final application for Smart City Challenge
Pittsburgh Business Times: Taxes and labor laws need to be adapted to gig economy, Congress told
Southwest
Observer-Reporter: Local efforts to fight overdose epidemic highlighted
Observer-Reporter: Monongahela Planning Commission hears testimony on backyard chickens
Observer-Reporter: Trinity approves purchase of alarms for elementary schools
Beaver County Times: Auditor General DePasquale says nearly 42,000 calls to Pa. child abuse hotline went unanswered last year
Beaver County Times: Beaver County waterways receive nearly $180,000 for preservation efforts
Altoona Mirror: Airports at risk of losing gov’t subsidy
NEPA
Times Leader: Tom Blaskiewicz named West Pittston mayor
Times Leader: Luzerne County Manager Pedri still awaiting Penn Place air quality test
Times Tribune: State officials mull option for Scranton’s troubled pension funds
South Central
Lancaster Intelligencer: ‘Alarming’ number of call to child abuse hotline are going unanswered, Auditor General says
York Dispatch: York lawmaker say that can save the state $3B
York Dispatch: Tax collectors ask York County for pay hike
York Dispatch: Group touts fair education funding in York
Patriot News: Gov. Wolf wants to ‘free the six-pack,’ but the PLCB will have the final say
Patriot News: Bill to close background checks loophole for clergy, doctors wins House panel approval
Patriot News: Should Pa. eliminate its conceal carry permit requirement for firearms?
Patriot News: Enviros rush to defend ousted DEP boss John Quigley
Lehigh Valley
Express Times: Why the DA thinks allowing online gambling is a bad bet
Morning Call: Pa. House rejects bids to expand gambling
Morning Call: Vote on 55-plus housing Green Pond Country Club
Morning Call: Gov. Wolf pushes gas pedal on letting Pa. Stores sell gas and beer
Reading Eagle: City Council breaks up Reading Area Water Authority
Reading Eagle: Advocates ress Reading for a municipal ID card
Reading Eagle: Daniel Boone School Board votes to outsource support staff
North by Northwest
Williamsport Sun Gazette: No tax hike in South Side
Centre Daily Times: Auditor general: Kids’ lives at risk from unanswered hotline calls
Centre Daily Times: SCASD board approves change orders for State High project
Erie Times-News: Erie County Executive Dahlkemper named to national committee
Opinion
Morning Call: Legislation would give people convicted of minor crimes a ‘clean slate’
Patriot News: Wolf made the wrong move by vetoing teacher layoff bill
Daily News: What’s the (bleep)ing problem with caring about Pa.’s environment?
Inquirer: PennDot puts drivers at risk of identity theft
Pottstown Mercury: Is it true what Democrats say about Republicans and voting?
Post-Gazette: Delayed, but justice: The Supreme Court speaks loudly for fair trials
Post-Gazette: City in motion: Downtown and Lawrenceville are on the rise. Millvale too!
Post-Gazette: As goes Austria … : A far-right populist almost became president
Blogs
2 Political Junkies: My Chat With Representative Mike Doyle
Third and State: Finally: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse!!!
Third and State: Make believe Budgeting in Harrisburg
Commonwealth Foundation: Lawmakers Identify Billions in Budget Savings
Keystone State Education Coalition: PA Ed Policy Roundup May 24: “The state has said that students in other districts are worth more than you are. That’s what this broken system says”
Keystone Crossroads: Department of Human Services calls for more affordable housing in Pa.
Citified: Activists: Uber and Lyft Tax Should Fund Philly Schools, Not the PPA
Citified: City Officials Target Illegally Towed Cars
Citified: Op-Ed: Kenney Broke His Campaign Promises to Minorities and the Poor
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The “Kane’s Struggles” article is just the same old, same old … just another day in the smear campaign. Here’s how it works:
The PA Corruption Network’s Playbook
The similarities between the prosecution of Kathleen Kane and of the PSU 3 reveal the “playbook” of Pennsylvania’s corruption network.
The cases of current Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Kathleen Kane and that of former Penn State University (PSU) officials (i.e., the PSU 3) are connected by a common thread.
A group of the Commonwealth’s attorneys, judges, political operatives, and their media accomplices — hereafter referred to as the “network” — used trumped up charges, purposely misinterpreted laws, and oversold highly dubious evidence to convict these individuals in the court of public opinion.
After examining the timelines and evidence of these cases, it appears that the network has a well defined playbook for taking out its targets and it works like this:
1. Individuals within the network fear their own heinous acts may be exposed and publicly accuse their opponents of crimes as a means of deflecting attention away from themselves.
2. The network next co-opts individuals close to the target(s) –insiders — to assist in setting up the target(s) to be charged with perjury and other crimes.
3. After the insiders have sufficiently undermined the targets (using various means of deception), the network’s attorneys and/or judges leak damaging information about the targets to the media.
4. The media arm of the network uses the information in an attempt to compromise the targets or to promote guilt by association in the press.
5. At the conclusion of this “framing,” that was mislabeled as a criminal investigation, attorneys go public with charging documents that allege crimes based on misinterpretations of the laws and that are chocked full of questionable testimony from unreliable witnesses, completely illogical scenarios, and dubious evidence. Perjury charges are standard in order to publicly smear the defendants as being dishonest individuals while attempting to pump up the veracity of the Commonwealth’s lousy witnesses (who would be eviscerated at an actual trial).
6. The media accomplices ignore the illegal application of relevant laws, that the charging documents are illogical, the lousy witnesses, and the highly questionable evidence in order to continue treating the allegations as facts and even go as far as to allege the target committed crimes for which he or she has not been charged.
7. The public falls for the deception and believes the targets are guilty of everything and are corrupt individuals — whether they have been charged with a crime or not. Citizen activists, public officials, and other groups and individuals — who are beneficiaries of the corrupt network — jump on the media bandwagon to publicly condemn the targets.
8. Witting and/or unwitting employers recommend the targets be relieved of their duties or actually do so through employment actions — before anything is proven and without conducting a legitimate legal review.
9. When legal proceedings in the cases reveal the false and questionable testimony put forth in the charging documents and the dubious evidence used in the case, the network’s media arm ignores the information and continues to slant the reports so the public continues to assume the targets are guilty.
10. The legal issues from the misapplications of the laws result in appeals to the network’s judges, who refused to rule on simple matters and keep the trials on permanent hold. If the cases make it to trial, the targets will be convicted of lesser crimes — that the media will treat like crimes of the century.
The network’s playbook achieves the goal of protecting its corrupt dealings and/or heinous crimes by never legally proving, but publicly scapegoating the targets in a media firestorm that is high in supposition and light on facts.
To wit: the grand jury and Montgomery County DA Risa Ferman did not find the evidence to charge AG Kane with directly leaking grand grand jury information in the Mondesire case, but you wouldn’t know that if you just read the news headlines.
Instead, they charged her with perjury (part of the playbook), lesser crimes, and for orchestrating the leaks, the latter of which Ferman and others know can’t be proven.
Then again, the network’s playbook doesn’t include actually prosecuting the case.