Email chains seem never-ending, quite like this scandal.
According to Mark Fazlollah, Craig McCoy and Angela Couloumbis of the Inquirer, offensive emails were sent to several current and former PA Supreme Court Justices.
This discovery was made by the Judicial Conduct Board during the investigation of Justice Michael Eakin. They judged these emails offensive but not pornographic.
The two sitting Justices that received messages are Max Baer and Kevin Dougherty. The men were recipients of ten and three emails respectively from former Justice Seamus McCaffery between 2008 and 2010. McCaffery was forced to resign in December 2014 over the issue.
McCafferty also sent messages to five former Supreme Court Justices: Ron Castille, Correale Stevens, Joan Orie Melvin, William Lamb and Ralph Cappy.
Castille told the Inquirer that he asked McCaffery to stop sending him inappropriate emails in 2010 and later warned him in an email copied to the other justices that his conduct could prove embarrassing to the Court.
Stevens said that he also urged McCafferty to quit while Lamb couldn’t remember (Melvin didn’t respond and Cappy passed away in 2009).
Seamus McCaffery still insists he did nothing inappropriate.
“It was all harmless banter between friends.”
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122 Responses
Brandy, yesterday you asked what I thought should happen to people who sent these emails. I wanted to add that I believe it’s possible to find humor in them no matter your background (Kane’s sister is a good example), and it is possible to not have that sense of humor effect your business decision-making. However, the decisions to do this at work, on public resources, and create a compromising relationship between prosecutors and judges makes it more difficult to forgive and is a situation that requires a strong message be sent to restore public trust.
She didn’t even mention Eakin’s e-mails until they voted to suspend her license – she thought she had him by the balls – she was wrong.
What these men did was common, stupid…but typical just the same. What she did was criminal and I cannot believe she hasn’t been formally charged with blackmail yet. Soon I supposed
I can’t say. Contact admin. There’s a couple ways, but try PM through Twitter first–and leave a number. I’m sure someone will happily talk to you.
my posts are gone by the time I refresh. Is that a person doing it or a problem with the site?
Absolutely correct about the trust. There are pros and cons to the anonymity though. It’s also not for everyone. Recently, though someone with a bug up their butt for Fina has employed a campaign that takes advantage of the openness here. I’ve been spoofed by them multiple times as well, but the regular readers know what to ignore.
Just a word about this site. I think it was set up for serious discussion of political issues, but it has devolved into juvenile pranks and name-calling. You can no longer trust any post, because there is no control over authentic posts and those by the trolls.
I believe you gulag. Sounds straight outta hahaha’s M.O.
Sorry, guys, but those posts around 6:40pm yesterday were not mine. The trolls were busy. I find it funny (and pathetic) that the troll talks about Sy deleting posts when these troll posts got through with no problem.
The political process in Harrisburg has tried very hard to imply these types of emails only happen here. REALLY! The men in family say this is silly and most men banter like this among their fellow men! Men think very differently than women that’s for sure.
Funny, Kane getting bullied even though she’s the one with the email evidence…LOL.
Even David acknowledged that Republicans are afraid to oppose her because of what she may hold over their head too.
Up is down for hahaha.
Correct, DD.
The people you mention like to put people in jail, arguing about “accountability” in Court. But, when it comes to their own misdeeds — NO ACCOUNTABILITY. Well – at least until AG Kane came along and stood up to them. They are bullies. And, like all bullies, someone just needs to stand up to them. Here, that someone is Kathleen Kane.
Don’t know whether Kane leaked that document or not. We will find out at her trial – or before then perhaps if Steele comes to his senses and sees the “case” for the trumped-up nonsense it really is.
This concerted effort to put charges on a sitting AG and then conspire to remove her with the assistance of pervert buddies and racist pals … It is the biggest political scandal since ABSCAM. And, as usual, the cover-up is worse than the crime itself. Kane’s lawyers need to get the FBI involved in this investigation. These creeps were/are part of the network of corruption. They need to be in orange jump suits – not for receiving hate-filled e-mails – but for being involved in the smear campaign/silencing of Kane.
No emails came out it until someone finally stood up to her blackmail in court.
Did she have to commit crimes to out this bad, non-criminal behavior? No, she just puts out enough to keep her enemies on notice, while treating her sister with a double standard.
Rendell was right.
She’s one desperate and vindictive AG who’s M.O. Is to silence witnesses with blackmail and whistle-blower firings. Jail is appropriate.
Unsanctioned R
Everybody on the emails chains knew about them, well before 2009. So, let’s stop pretending that this was a secret to anyone but the general public.
Supreme court, judiciary board, Corbett’s/Fina’s AG office, etc. ALL failed to police themselves and follow the rules.
ANYBODY could have exposed this. EVERYBODY had a duty to expose it.
It took Kane to show the public what’s been going on.
4 more years!!
I knew it was only a matter of time before Dougherty would go down. The brother is a DISGRACE TO PHILLY POLITICS. HE’S A CORRUPT LOW LIFE. I HOPE JOHNNY DOC GOES TO JAIL
shall we look what’s on Wolfpack computers and cell phones? Politics pay to play game. guess who opened another Fresh Start Pac fund. new name pac, pay me to play in PA. PPP.
LOL – You are the KingTroll
I’m King of the Trolls and you are a jealous, easily embarrassed, one-note noob.
gulag – DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS
Oh no, the weak of mind are losing it again.
In all my years of commenting. I don’t recall a one being deleted. Maybe one.
Unsanctioned R needs to shut the fuck up already. Jeesh. Where’s Sy Snyder to delete all his comments like he usually does?
Oh look — not one commenter here defended Kane – yet the RETARD TROLL is laughing at the defenses that people are not typing (“selling”).
Poor thing. Pathetic.
Her defenses of her actions are laaaaaaghable: She didn’t know what was in the leak envelope that she had prepared and then passed along; she didn’t retaliate against witnesses against her; she’s not lying.
Her actions are not in dispute. Her motives are clear from witnesses, some without an axe to grind. All you sell is a reality-suspending conspiracy.
It’s not just Fina and Castille. A whole host of Repervlicans occupy the Clown Car. And some pervert, racist, women-hating Democrats too.
Think about it: Repervlican Carpenter gets report from racist Fina about Kane. Repervlican Carpenter goes to Repervlican Castille, who appoints a Repervlican special prosecutor. The Repervlican special prosecutor turns over his joke of a “case” to Repervlican DA of MontCo. She scurries around trying to find real evidence and, under a great deal of pressure from powerful people (mostly Repervlicans), charges AG Kane. The Repervlican Supreme Court votes to temporarily suspend Kane’s law license after the Repervlican led Disciplinary Board sends it to to them.
You mean the allegations that Kane committed crimes? Because nothing has been proven. The allegations are just that. And considering that Frank Fina and Ron Castille are behind those charges, they probably won’t hold up.
I will never be exposed by anyone who values their things.
Exposed? What are you drinking? You’re conflating Kane’s crimes with receiving emails? That’s an Olympic stretch.
Sorry, Troll. You have been exposed. Go back under your bridge now.
This article is about the Supreme Court, the head of the Disciplinary Board (Lamb) and how they were involved in this scandal. They probably should have disclosed that before suspending Kane’s law license. Game over. They are corrupt.
Kane knew about these emails since 2009. She was blackmailing with them and didn’t release them for years until someone stood up to her intimidation. She released GJ info to smear others, fired (violating a judges order) and threatened employees who would testify against her. She’s the worst actor in this soon-to-be movie. Can’t wait.
Not impressed by a judge only receiving a few indecent email; more important if they sent them. But it does show they knew about these matters when they were helping try to lynch Kane. That shows what scumbags they are in aiding the illegal and unethical behavior of other judges. But that’s nothing new. They do it all the time by refusing to consider appeals of atrocious conduct by lower courts (trial and appellate). The whole PA judiciary stinks.
Karen James: You must be new to PA politics and the court system. Surprised that judges have no morals!?!!?
Rollo: Sounds like you have a story to tell. How about details with names, dates, etc.?
It’s about time someone woke up and started bringing this into the light. One can just sense the injustice here. There are too sets of rules: one set for people like Fina, Eakin and the others (where things get swept under the rug or corruptly resolved) and another set of rules for the rest of us.
I’ll bet those sting defendants who made deals moths ago wish they could take them back. Even though they received no punishment and got to keep their pensions, they would have gotten even better deals if they just waited until the eve of a trial the prosecution never intended to have.
No case handled by Fina and his crew will ever be successful again. The Penn State administrators he targeted must be laughing. In that case, he violated rules of ethics and went on TV to discuss his opinion on the strength of the cade and by allowing a witness to appear before the grand jury unrepresented by a lawyer. Not to mention the many leaks – which seem to be the M.O. on Fina matters and a big part of the “playbook” for these corrupt creeps.
Now we know what his e-mails contained and the lengths to which he would go to keep them a secret. The Supreme Court now seems complicit in what was a well-orchestrated smear campaign designed to discredit and silence AG Kane.
This is a disgrace. These people are an embarrassment to Pennsylvania.
I agree that the FBI should investigate – but not because of the porn/hate filled e-mails. It’s the cover-up and the trumped-upcase(s) against Kane that need to be probed. The Cloen Car has enlisted many a powerful person to help them take down Kane. And now we know why. The FBI does too.
This strikes me as a crisis. The highest Court in PA can no longer be trusted. Just look at Eakin’s conduct recently. It’s abhorrent. Look at who was involved in the e-mail exchange. Lamb – the guy on the Disciplinary Board.
To think I was typing the following back in November. Impressive!!!
Pat Unger says:
November 12, 2015 at 9:54 pm
I applaud Nick Field for calling the e-mails what they are – “offensive e-mails” rather than “porn e-mails.”
Calling them “porn e-mails” plays right into the narrarative of Eakin (Republican) and the Racist Creeps – who have been setting up their defense since Kane found the 20M emails that Corbett and Ryan (both Republicans) tried to destroy. Step 1 of that defense was to attack Kane. It is a tactic used by all criminals who have power/money.
The fraud of an “investigation” (led by a Republican lawyer appointed by a Republican Judge) into Kane allowed them to leak tons of material that Kane could not respond to. The “investigation” was authorized by Eakin’s buddy – Castille (Republican) who wants Kane’s job.
The charges that flowed from that “investigation” allowed them to go to the Bill Lamb (Republican) – led Disciplinary Board and get a temporary suspension.
The Senate (Republican majority) took the temporary suspension and is pretending that is akin to senility to take advantage of an obscure provision drafted in the 1800s to remove low-level officials who have become senile.
Can’t make this stuff up.
The F.B. I. Should investigate porn in the supreme court? Okay, that’s how they got started when J. Ed went after Al Capone’s hoes in Chicaghoe.maybe they could look back when Godfather Zap used Rolf Larsen’s chief justice drawing room for his private…uh, conversations.
I have to say that I am extremely disappointed. These are the people that are supposed to be the cream of the crop morally. And here they are trying to get rid of Kane for personal reasons. The idea that they would not disclose their involvement on this scandal prior to suspending her is just disturbing. Very disturbing.
If it is true that Fina once prosecuted a woman for using her State computer to pay her son’s Penn State tuition, then he should get LAUNCHED by his sentencing judge. Once he gets to prison, he will get a letter from me. Hope his cell-mate, Bubba, doesn’t make Fina eat it before he reads it.
A little while ago, one of the shills was here – as usual. Another commenter suggested that the “new” Supreme Court would reinstate Kane’s temporarily suspended law license. One of the shills typed: “Don’t be so sure about justice Dougherty” ruling in favor of Kane.
Now I know why.
stopmcg – Everything in that comment is fact. Ali and Fina have the same lawyer. Martin is Levant’s wife. She is totally unqualified for the job that was created for her. When Fina found his lawyer’s other client, Mr. Ali, he was in jail in Dauphin County facing hundreds of counts of criminal violations, facing many years in prison. He did, after all, steal from a non-profit set up to help children.
After Fina gave him $90K (estimated) in slush-fund $$$ for fancy dinners in Philadelphia, he let him meet the $400K he stole and dropped every last one of the criminal charges pending against Ali.
Tyron Ali, Fina’s lawyer’s other client, got away scot-free – with $400K of our money.
Now that lawyer’s wife is getting paid with taxpayer money – and seems to have taken a special interest in matters involving Kane and Fina. She can be seen on TV at the hearing where the DA’s Office bent over backwards to get the “sting” defendant to take a plea deal … the one where the allegedly corrupt politician got to keep her pension, serve no jail time, and have her record expunged.
A long time ago, I predicted that there was no way that the DA’s Office would take the steaming pile of dung (sting) case to Court. I knew the “playbook” layed out below. And I could see them doing what they always do. The “playbook” makes them predictable. And it appears that I was correct.
The questions I raise are spoken about behind closed doors by many: Is Seth Williams going to tell us it is a coincidence that the person he chose for this newly created high paying job just so happens to be Levant’s wife? Have you looked into how much $$$ Levant gave Williams? Have you looked into whether Levant was involved in representing Williams or finding attorneys to represent Williams in the Federal Criminal Investigation into Williams? Have you asked whether Kathy Martin even interviewed with the Hiring Committee at the D.A.’s Office?
And here’s another one for Williams: Is it really your response to the women of Philadelphia and Hardy Williams and NOW and the NAACP that they should be OK with you hiring racists and women-haters at the Philadelphia D.A.’s Office because the AG’s Office hired racists and women-haters? Really ??
I get emails from the Commonwealth Foundation and the Heritage Foundation. Does that mean I’m a crackpot tea partier?
stopmcginnis, are you serious? HaHaHa is a mental patient. He is also Pat Unger, which means he is having conversations with himself in the comments.
PoliticsPA, it sounds like you have a scoop, if HaHaHa’s allegations are true.
Will this hit the larger media, as it should? After all, railroading a public official seems like an important story, something worthy of of real journalism. Seems like a genuine opportunity.
Nick — Is there any reason why you haven’t written anything about Seth Williams’ new “Chief of Staff” and “General Counsel?” This a high paid position – and one that did not exist before Williams created it for Kathy Martin.
Kathy Martin has zero general counsel experience. She has very little prosecutorial experience. But – Kathy Martin is married to Bob Levant.
Bob Levant is Tyron Ali’s lawyer — the con-man “cooperator” in the legislative sting case. Levant negotiated a sweet “deal” with Frank Fina for Mr. Ali on that case. It really wasn’t a deal though – as Fina dropped all the charges against Ali in an 11th hour move right before Kane took office. What was the rush?
Also – Frank Fina let Tyron Ali keep the $400,000.00 he stole from PA taxpayers.
And guess who is Frank Fina’s lawyer is?!? I’ll give you three guesses …. Yep — Bob Levant. And guess what Fina and Levant want now? More taxpayer $$$. They are suing Kane and the State of PA for money.
And, now we have Levant’s wife, on behalf of Williams and Fina, talking negatively about Kane in the Press.
Is Seth Williams going to tell us it is a coincidence that the person he chose for this newly created high paying job just so happens to be Levant’s wife? Have you looked into how much $$$ Levant gave Williams? Have you looked into whether Levant was involved in representing Williams or finding attorneys to represent Williams in the Federal Criminal Investigation into Williams? Have you asked whether Kathy Martin even interviewed with the Hiring Committee at the D.A.’s Office?
Isn’t it time to tell this story? Who in the Press will have the balls?
Looks like Kane’s lawyers will have more ammunition for this:
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-kathleen-kane-law-license-suspesnion-0114-20160114-story.html
Wasn’t Bill Lamb involved with the Disciplinary Board’s decision to temporarily suspend Kane?? Is that the same William Lamb who received Hate-gate material?
Oh look – the pathetic Troll-Boy (AKA Scranton Suck-Boy) is asking me questions!! as if I ever respond substantively to his RETARD TROLL comments. LOL.
Pat — Totally agree. If I am Kevin Steele, I am taking a close look at this trumped-up case against Kane. Even if he really thinks she leaked a document, it seems that the people behind the investigation are/were “corrupted sources.” And selective enforcement is still a form of corruption. The “case’ against Kane was a calculated effort to silence her. It was an attempt to cover-up the actions of some very powerful people. He now has to know that. Not only that – his star witness has told TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORIES.
The case against Kane is dirty. Always has been. Now it is starting to stink …
Well said, Marie.
This is a MAJOR victory for Kane …. You can tell by the troll/shill comments being all disjointed!!
There is now clear evidence of a concerted effort to “go after” Kane. And the motive couldn’t be more obvious. From Castille’s authorization of the leak “investigation” to the Supreme Court voting to temporarily suspend Kane’s law license to Eakin’s cover-up attempts – this is the very definition of corruption.
These are bad people who will stop at nothing to protect themselves and their careers. The trumped-up charges agains Kane were part of a plan to undermine her – to silence her. But it didn’t work. And now the truth is coming out.
Pennsylvania politics is a cesspool. It needs to be DRAINED.
HaHaHa, first of all, it’s no surprise that there are a bunch of corrupt Democrats or that this all stems from Shameless McCaffery.
Second, please tell us what federal law was broken by these justices. There is no “corruption” statute that would apply to some emails.
What a scandal! They RECEIVED a couple of emails that were offensive!
Those of you that have your panties all bunched up over someone being sent an email that someone or other says is offensive, get a clue. Maybe put down the keyboard and troll your neighbors.
Not surprised at all. The PA network of corruption runs very high up. These are powerful people who put peoplein prison, arguing about “accountability.” But when it comes to their own actions – NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
This Court is in serious trouble. Kathleen Kane is going to end up looking like the hero again. Have to wonder now if Seth Williams was on these e-mails too. Why else would he get into bed with the likes of Frank Fina? Why else would he call himself a “recovering misogynist” when talking to the Press?
This is the biggest political scandal since ABSCAM. And, as usual, the cover-up is worse than the crime itself.
HaHaHa !!!
What a fucking joke these people are. They temporarily suspend Kane’s law license knowing that they are involved in Hategate – the very scandal Kane was in the middle of exposing. Shame on them.
Kane’s lawyers need to get the FBI involved in this investigation. These creeps were/are part of the network of corruption. They need to be in orange jump-suits – not for receiving hate-filled e-mails – but for being involved in the smear campaign/silencing of Kane.