Things keep getting worse for Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
She is under even more criticism but this time it’s friendly fire.
According to Thomas Fitzgerald and Maria Panaritis of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Democratic Congressman Bob Brady called out the Attorney General for her comments concerning an investigation of Philly State Representatives.
“People make mistakes,” Brady told Fitzgerald and Panaritis. “There’s plenty of time to see how she handles herself, but this is certainly a misstep. It looks like she was asleep at the switch.”
In 2013, the Attorney General called off a sting operation into whether State Reps in Philly were taking bribes. After the Inquirer revealed this last March, Kane said the investigation was “deeply flawed” and “there may have been a racial focus” to it.
Later, Kane and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams got in a public argument after Williams accepted Kane’s challenge to prosecute the cases.
Earlier this week, the Inquirer revealed Williams would be charging two State Reps in connection with the sting.
“She challenged him,” Brady concluded, “and he took the challenge.”
The long-time Congressman is yet another Philadelphia power broker that has questioned Kane’s conduct. In addition to Brady and Williams, Kane’s feud with prosecutor Frank Fina is already well-known.
The Attorney General was never the most popular official in Philadelphia to begin with. In 2012, for instance, she defeated former Bucks County Congressman and Philly-born Patrick Murphy in the Democratic primary. Kane received only 37% of the vote in Philadelphia in that race.
With so many prominent Philly politicos critiquing the AG, it leaves the door open (if only slightly) that Kane could face a primary challenge when she seeks re-election in 2016.
Regardless, the Democratic Party is anything but united behind her right now.
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Kane said one of her top agents, Kevin Wevodau, had interviewed the investigation’s case agent, Claude Thomas, who, in Kane’s account, said senior prosecutors had ordered him to target blacks.
“Our special agent in charge put that in a note, in his case note, and did an affidavit to that effect. . . . That is the evidence we have,” Kane said at a news conference in her office April 10.
She added: “When the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is asking him questions . . . – taking notes contemporaneously with this statement – we put a lot of credibility into our agent.”
But there were NO CONTEMPORANEOUS NOTES, prosecutors said, and there was NO AFFIDAVIT.
What there was, they said, was an unsworn case memo from Wevodau outlining Thomas’ supposed complaint of racial targeting. The memo was dated April 14, 2014 – four days AFTER Kane said she had the affidavit in hand.
“She had people create documents after she said she had them,” said Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson, the prosecutor Williams appointed to revive the sting investigation.
Wevodau wrote the memo about FIFTEEN MONTHS after he interviewed Thomas – and also MONTHS AFTER Kane had ended the sting.
The interview took place before Thomas, a veteran of 26 years in law enforcement, left Kane’s office last year to become a detective on Williams’ staff.
Thomas has denounced Kane’s claim that he said the probe was racially driven.
“I NEVER UTTERED THOSE WORDS or anything near those words. That is a COMPLETE LIE,” he said Friday. “For the entire investigation, race never came up whatsoever.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20141221_Kane_s_account_of_sting_comes_under_fire.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20141221_Kane_s_account_of_sting_comes_under_fire.html
She’s a L I A R.
@ DD:
You really are beating-up the rubber-padding that lines your confines; you haven’t proven “racism” in any fashion, and you haven’t disproven the import of the illicit/unreported $-exchange.
Unsanctioned R
This deal with Tynes shows how weak the “big” case was. Williams doesn’t want Ali on the stand and have to bring in Fina and others to explain the sting.
So, he’s going to keep offering “deals” that amount to nothing.
Maybe the next conviction will be for jaywalking in crossing the street to get money from Ali.
“So, Williams DIDN’T get her on bribery and basically let her go by getting her to agree to a minor charge.”
The only one letting people go is Kane.
BTW,
“On Wednesday, the first person Williams arrested in the case, former Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes, pleaded guilty to conflict of interest for accepting a $2,000 bracelet from Ali as the two discussed his desire to win a collections contract from the court.”
Her lawyer worked out a deal with prosecutors to drop a more serious charge of bribery and other offenses
So, Williams DIDN’T get her on bribery and basically let her go by getting her to agree to a minor charge.
@ DD:
As usual, you draw undocumented conclusions from the narrative, and you compound it by avoiding recognition of the key-concept of “res ipsa loquitur.”
The racism was the initial selection of the targets.
As for the bribery language:
“Ali said, “That’s not a quid pro quo.”
Waters: “Right.”
@ DD [located currently in his rubber-room]:
Explain the “racism” in this piece:
THE LANGUAGE OF BRIBERY FROM THE PHILLY LEGISLATIVE STING CASE
triblive.com/opinion/bradbumsted/7406529-74/waters-ali-money#axzz3MVjzeDwD
Ms. Kane will resign in the future and Dave Barasch will be appointed to fill out her term.
http://tinyurl.com/3p7qqby
Williams is full of crap, because if he were charged, he’d be the first one to claim he was racially targeted.
Williams is offering plea deals that are really less than a slap in the wrist:
“sentenced Tynes to up to 23 months in prison. But he agreed to make the sentence concurrent with her pending two-year federal term in an unrelated case”
This equals ZERO penalty! So, taking a plea deal is meaningless. The “deal” is Williams wants to embarrass Kane by getting a “win” so he offers Tynes no additional jail and saves her the cost of a trial that would have gained her nothing if she won, but saved him the risk of exposing the case and Ali to scrutiny.
The comments by the judge against Kane are completely unprofessional and demonstrate a preexisting bias.
These plea was a sweetheart deal 100% equivalent to dropping the charges completely and letting her go.
I can’t believe how easily people are falling for this scam.
You cited one of the articles I’d pulled yesterday as an explanation for AG-Kane’s pattern of mendacity; the $-claim that allegedly ties-together what she has done seems reasonable:
“When she ran for attorney general in 2012, Kane criticized the pace of the office’s prosecution of Penn State predator Jerry Sandusky under her Republican predecessor Tom Corbett. The politically successful tactic set in motion Kane’s difficulties with Fina, who headed the Sandusky prosecution, and much of her difficulty with the truth.”
philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20141218_The_truth_about_Kane.html#Fy6Wj6hVWIwQOAvM.99″
If memory serve, Rep. Metcalf has had one hearing regarding the possibility she might be impeached; if she is indicted, one would think she would [at least] step-aside while that process is played-out [by whatever mechanism], obviating the need for the legislature to become involved.
Answer: this is how the Inquirer calls someone a liar: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20141218_The_truth_about_Kane.html
UNANSWERED QUESTION: The pattern of unforced-errors in an environment in which she had enjoyed so much positive-press [e.g., touted to compete with Toomey] has yet to be explained; is there a unifying factor [other than “politics” in a generic sense]?
Please see the comment below. The only thing that is debatable at this point is whether or not Kane can recover from the latest and greatest in a series of Corbett-level f-ups. This case is a big fat L for her and her admin.
David and elroy, it’s you guys vs. the world on this one. That’s rubber room territory.
Note that a Republican Judge approved the deal, again undermining any claim that the GOP harbored baseline vindictiveness; one could argue that AG-Kane was “racially sensitive” [recalling her rationale for demurring on the other cases, despite videos] when deciding not to seek jail-time.
timesherald.com/general-news/20141030/pa-state-senator-admits-using-staff-to-organize-birthday-party-fundraiser
The claim that the case was kicked-down-the-road to land in the lap of AG-Kane is unproven; perhaps AG-Kane, were she to investigate THAT claim, would yield the same outcome as transpired with Sandusky.
Sounds like those 10 PENN DOT arrests in Philadelphia area by Kane might have touched a nerve of Party Boss Brady …..! Brady comes out criticizing Kane in an area that shows support for another Philadelphia Politician !!!!! Philadelphia Politics is Well Philadelphia Politics !!!
Lets see former Philadelphia DA’s = Specter U.S. Senator, Castile = Pa Supreme Court Justice, Randell = Pa Governor …. Williams = Pa. Atty. General ? Maybe party BOSS Man Brady can help !!!!!
Looks like a pattern of Philadelphia Politicians being Well Politicians. Surprise !!!!!!!
@ DD:
Also, can you justify the leniency afforded Sen. Leanna Washington [without attempting to blame the GOP]?
elroy-
Exactly right. They sat on this flawed case so they could stick it to Kane. The only reason Williams is going after it is because he wants to run against Kane for A.G. so he has to find something to criticize her about. Fina is all to happy to help to cover up his own failures and needed a gag order to prevent Kane from revealing his own role in porn-gate. Meanwhile a criminal like Ali goes free as a reward for his role in a politically/racially motivated case of entrapment.
FACT: Of the five people that Frank Fina, Office of the Attorney General at the time, failed to indict in the now famous Philly Sting case, DA Williams has indicted three Philly politicos.
None of the three have been criminally charged to the extent that Tom Corbett and Fina would have acted when they were in the Office of the Attorney General. So far, one has received no additional penalties due to Fed sentencing and two will save their state pensions.
And Kane is being destroyed for Republican Attorneys General Tom Corbett, Bill Ryan, Linda Kelly and Fina’s inaction?
@ DD:
Every once in a while, when it gets too “hot in the kitchen,” you have suspended blogging … only to pop-up elsewhere; in this instance – even as some have written that they have eagerly awaited your input – you have again been silenced by the below-reminder [and demonstration] of your lack of credibility.
Having channeled, presumably, input of those who support AG-Kane, you haven’t even been able to muster a defense against the CONTENTS of the articles cited yesterday [the titles of which will yield their text, with minimal need to search]; this also bespeaks the intellectual bankruptcy you exhibited when your [failed] attempt to indict Brady fell-flat.
To have indicted new state-level officials in the wake of what has arisen [not just from DA-Williams who, BTW, has not been noted elsewhere to be viewing herself as a potential rival], this bespeaks another effort to “change the topic” of “conversation”; the both of you must confront what everyone else is reading and thinking without attempting to muddy-the-water by politicizing alleged-motives of her critics.
Oh just another chapter in the story of incompetence that has been the tenure of AG Kane. She should do the people of the Commonwealth a favor and resign. I cannot imagine Wolf would even want her to finish out her term let alone run for re-election. But as a Republican, I beg the Democratic Party to renominate her.
She will be indicted very shortly.
I n q u I r e r
Reference was made to the inquired ….. gotta be wary of the auto correct function.
@DD:
Inquiries consistently endorses dems in major races and Trudy Rubin always provides lefty mid-east perspective; tony auth mirrored these views since the 80’s.
Again, you are 100 percent incorrect, reflecting how wrongheaded your approach to the foreign policy of bho has been.
It’s a shame but true. The woman is just plain incompetent. She’s in so far over her head that I doubt she’ll even finish this term.
That’s because PoliticsPA is GOP controlled. Don’t you see the polls?
I’ve got no faith in Brady. He’s demonstrated that he can’t be trusted. The Inquirer is so GOP controlled that they wouldn’t make an endorsement for Gov (because owner was big Corbett contributor). The Philly DA has a vested interest in running against Kane, so nothing he says can be trusted as anything other than pre-campaign rhetoric. And there is “guy who didn’t get hired”.
BTW, Kane recently charged 10 people in PennDOT fraud case, and not a peep about it here on PoliticsPA.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141218_10_charged_in_PennDOT_corruption_probe.html
It’s too bad the Chewbacca defense only works in the comments section and not court where both elected officials will be found guilty. But go on and talk about everything except that.
@ DD:
A byproduct of your destroyed-credibility is tangential-thinking, both operationally and psychologically; underlying your effort is the intent to defend AG-Kane, notwithstanding a plethora of negative-press [which you haven’t bothered to refute].
Consider this collection of titles:
D.A. Williams: AG Kane made false statements about sting case
Prosecuting documents: charged lawmakers showed their willingness to play when paid
2 PA LAWMAKERS CHARGED, BUT AG KANE’S WORK CONDEMNED THE LOUDEST
‘I was disgusted that the attorney general would bring racism into this case to pour gasoline on a fire for no reason’
U.S. Rep. Brady: I’ve lost faith in AG Kane
CHRIS KELLY (almost hired by AG Kane): she may be finished
Inquirer Editors: The truth about Kane…’serious doubts about whether Kane can continue’
PG editors: taxpayers & voters left — again — scratching their heads
Philly DA: no affidavits claimed by AG Kane in bribery case existed
Dude-
1) that’s round numbers just for an example
2) There are dozens of committee people per ward, so even my example would total thousands of dollars for ward leaders in unreported income.
3) Also, hiring of temporary election day workers WITH TAXPAYER DOLLARS was “handled” through nepotism of giving the jobs to ward leaders relatives. One ward leader I know complained when the commissioners office wanted actual applications/resumes from potential workers claiming that he was “entitled” to have his nephew get that job. So, there had been the expectation of elected or appointed officials to hire workers at the ward leaders behest (and let’s not forget that several of the commissioners are ward leaders themselves already handling street money).
Not to mention, if the Ward Leaders are stiffing their people, that is not something Brady is necessarily aware of.
You are talking about $100-200 here, DD, that’s not exactly a huge scandal.
Maybe AG Kane can do a [racist] sting on him.
Unsanctioned R-
I’ve heard of the practice/problem of signed blank receipts discussed openly as a warning to new committee people so that the ward leaders don’t give them $100, but mark it as $200 and pocket the $100 for themselves, leaving the committee people on the hook as having signed for receiving $200. This warning was prompted by past abuses.
The exact method used by Brady to “dissuade” candidates would require testimony under oath to extricate. The people familiar with Brady’s antics expressed belief that Brady would just get away with it, and didn’t want to ruin their own political careers to expose what they knew and ask for an investigation or publicly challenge Brady.
Basically, the entire Philly machine hinges on payoffs and jobs given to relatives of officials and operatives in exchange for political favors.
Bob Brady rips someone he never liked in the first place, and who won office over his preferred choice. Calling Captain Renault!! Just goes to show that Brady isn’t a team player.
David, if you have any evidence of these accusations, do share.
Dude-
Actually, quite a bit of it is unreported income that is not taxed and receipts are forged/faked/altered or signed blank with amounts entered later.
“There is no ethical issue with street money.” I concur.
There is no ethical issue with street money.
Dude
Who do you think hands the ward leaders the street money?
@ DD:
Your lame attempts to defend AG-Kane should be ignored, recalling the documentation of your lack of credibility, compiled following a series of e-mail exchanges [extending over multiple sites] that led painstakingly to establishing the following:
“You have advocated the overthrow of the Israeli government throughout Israel’s entire lifetime … explaining why you have endorsed the behavior of Hamas [which the USA has designated as a terrorist organization] that is, itself, promoting policies that are consonant with those of the Islamic State.”
politicspa.com/kathleen-kane-tells-cnn-pornographic-emails-included-pictures-of-children/61928/comment-page-2/#comment-925106
Ward Leaders handle street money, and Brady ran for Mayor just to stop Knox.
I don’t know why everyone is calling it a bribe. It’s just an elected official taking undocumented cash in direct exchange exchange for a vote. That’s not a bribe.
Dude-
There are more than a few insiders who believe that Brady sabotaged those races to help Taylor for some deal. There was a pretty clear implication from people at HDCC that Brady may have bribed or threatened potential candidates not to run. Brady certainly has the power to get people some jobs either in gov or campaigns or unions as an indirect form incentive or payoff just by making a few calls.
There are plenty of stories about how the street money is handed out, and not all of it recorded/reported.
Brady has shown ambitions for higher office before and failed. But I think now he’s mostly into the power and influence peddling aspects of running Philly Dem committee.
I greatly enjoyed Brady’s failure to extort $300K from Wolf for street money, and Wolf won by more than the total vote out of Philly.
LOL DD with the conspiracy theories. Brady is not corrupt. He’s doesn’t have ambitions for higher office, and he also doesn’t need the money. There’s also nothing wrong with street money, it’s just paying your election day volunteers for their time. Not to mention, the Democrats can’t beat John Taylor. They’ve tried for years, and it just hasn’t happened.
This is very ironic for Brady to complaining about an A.G. being asleep at the switch. He should pray every night that she doesn’t “wake up” and decide to investigate what he does with all the street money (reported and unreported) and how he influenced legislators on redistricting, or interfered with HDCC efforts to recruit candidates to run against John Taylor.