Major drilling accident in NW PA. Cameras, media banned from site

An explosion at a natural gas well in northwest Pennsylvania resulted in a spill of at least a million gallons of oil and chemicals mixed with water. According to the AP report, there was a shower of gas and chemical-laden water shooting 75 feet into the air. The leak continued for at least 16 hours. The accident was so severe that the area was evacuated and the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited flights in the area.

When I heard of the accident on Friday afternoon, I immediately left the meeting I was attending in Washington, DC and headed for the site with my trusty Flip Camera in hand.

So where are the photos and video showing the extent of the pollution?

They don’t exist, because EOG Resources, the owner of the wells, won’t allow anyone on the site, especially with a camera. When I tried to shoot some video, they not only wouldn’t let me on the site, they told me I might be shot for being on their property and then sent thugs to chase me and threaten me.

I arrived around 7:30 PM and drove around the area trying to find the site. I asked a number of locals if they knew the site of the explosion. No one knew what I was talking about, so it wasn’t until about 9:00 that I finally stumbled upon the site. It’s about 5 ½ miles from the entrance to S.B. Elliott State Park in Clearfield County.

As I approached the site a man got out of a pickup truck and told me I would have to leave. I told him I just wanted to get some video of the cleanup. He said he couldn’t allow me on the grounds and I didn’t leave right away I would be arrested for trespassing.

In the morning I tried again and got the same answer from another man in a pickup truck.

I could see through the forest that there was work going on in the distance, but my little flip Camera couldn’t get anything but trees. I decided that maybe a hike through the woods was in order, so I drove a few miles to a point on the other side of the spill site. I chose an entrance point that was not marked as private property and hiked toward the site.

Along the way I saw still and flowing water with oily residue. Some of it may be from the spill, but most of it was uphill from the accident site. That means the water in this area is likely contaminated from the numerous gas wells being drilled.

I found a road on a ridge that appeared to head close to the accident site and walked about a half mile on that road when I was stopped by two men in a Gator. They asked me what I was doing out there and I said I was just taking a hike. They told me that I was on property owned by the Punxsutawney Hunt Club and the members didn’t appreciate trespassers. They told me, in a veiled threat, that I should leave now and as long as I was heading out I would probably not get shot.

I’m not one to back down easily, but I wasn’t ready to take a bullet for a grainy video of the spill site. I wished them a good day and turned back to my car, a couple of miles and bridgeless brook away. As I crossed the brook barefoot I noticed another pickup truck parking on the opposite hill, blocking the path. When I approached the truck two men got out. The older man got in front of me and said “Show me some ID.”

I asked him who he was and he grabbed my arm and told me I was on private property. I shook his hand off and continued walking. Without looking back, I told him there was nothing posted that indicated the land I was on was private property. He yelled to me, “We know where your car is. We called the police. You’ll be arrested when you get back to your car.” He then added, “We know you’re taking water samples.”

The truth is, I had filled up some drinking water bottles with samples of water from various sites along my hike. I’m not sure what use they will be, but I thought it was important to at least get something that could be independently tested.

When I got a few hundred yards from my car I could hear the last two men who confronted me. As I approached my car the older man took out an old disposable film camera and took my picture. I tried to get my Flip Camera to take some video of them, but the battery was dead and I only got a few seconds.

They tried to get me to stay and wait for the police to come, but I wasn’t about to test the fairness of the local criminal justice system. I told them to back off or be charged with assault, and susprisingly they complied.

As a parting shot the younger one said,” Don’t come back.” I replied, childishly, “I’ll do what I want.” He said, “If you come back you won’t leave.”

I got in my car and started to leave the way I came in. They passed me and I drove a safe distance behind them. Then I realized that I may be driving into a trap. When they turned a corner toward the spill site, I stopped and turned around. I drove a few miles in the wrong direction, but eventually found a connection to Route 153. And then home.

I have some video that I’ll be posting later today and tomorrow. It’s not very expository, but it’s all I could get. I’ll also be trying to find an independent lab that can identify the chemicals and oily residue in the water samples I took. I’ll post the results of those tests as I get them.

In the meantime, it’s important for the public to know what’s really going on at the spill site.

There has been very little news coverage of this major accident and part of the reason is the lack of access to the site. It’s hard to report when you have no information. It’s harder when the perpetrators are in full control of what little information has been released. “Nothing to see here,” EOG Resources assures us. “It was only a million gallons and we took care of it.”

If that’s the truth, it’s a huge accident that threatens local waterways that flow into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. But what if it’s worse than that? We don’t know because there are no independent eyes and ears on the site. Haven’t we learned yet that we should never rely on the word of the people who caused the problem?

I’m calling on Governor Ed Rendell and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger to use their offices to grant access to the spill site to the media, environmental organizations and the local population. It’s probably too late to see anything damning, but it will at least give us a picture of where the accident occurred so we can begin to ask the right questions and make sure any investigations are accurate and complete.

Delaware County citizens call for Tom Corbett to resign

Residents say that Corbett has compromised the integrity of the Office of Attorney General by politicizing the office

Media, Pennsylvania—Outside the Delaware County Court House today, local health care activists called for Attorney General Tom Corbett to drop his participation in a lawsuit against the health care reform law recently enacted in Washington and then resign from office. Members of Health Care For America Now, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, and Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change claimed that Corbett’s lawsuit against health care reform, and other actions he had taken, had so politicized the Attorney General’s office that the integrity of Mr. Corbett and his entire staff were now in question.

“At a time when Pennsylvanians, including small businesses, people with serious pre-existing medical conditions, and young people under 26 are seeing immediate benefits from the health care reform legislation, it is deeply troubling that our Attorney General is using taxpayer funds to have the law declared unconstitutional,” said Bill West, a member of Health Care For America Now (HCAN).

Marc Stier, Executive Director of Penn Action and State Director of HCAN said that “Mr. Corbett’s lawsuit is clearly inspired by politics and nothing else. He planned to take part in the lawsuit long before the legislation was enacted and used the lawsuit to help raise funds for his campaign for governor.¹ He coordinated his actions with Republican political organizations, including the Republican State Leadership Committee. And, given that Mr. Corbett has been prosecuting other politicians for using the resources of their office for political purposes, it is especially upsetting that attorneys from his office conducted discussions with national political organizations in planning his participation in the lawsuit. “

Stier added that, “We discovered this when the Wisconsin Attorney General released political emails sent to and from Mr. Corbett’s subordinates. But we don’t have complete information because the Attorney General’s office has failed to comply with two Open Records Requests made under the Right to Know Law by our partner Keystone Progress.

Carole Burnett, a Chester member of Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change, said that “The Attorney General’s office should be above politics and partisan dispute. Tom Corbett has clearly shown, in his lawsuit against the health care reform law and in other actions, such as his recent subpoena to have Twitter to reveal the identities of two of his critics; that he is willing to use his office for political purposes. He should resign.”

Stier concluded that, “We are confident that Corbett’s lawsuit will go nowhere. So it is a complete waste of tax revenues to pursue it. But if it were to be successful, Corbett’s lawsuit would not only call into question the recently passed health care reform legislation but would also threaten Social Security and Medicare. Corbett needs to explain to Pennsylvania taxpayers why he is pursuing a lawsuit that is, if not wasteful, then a positive danger to popular programs on which we all count.”

200 Protest Arizona Anti-immigrant law in Philly

Corbett’s Office refuses to accept Right to Know Request from Keystone Progress

(HARRISBURG, PA)—Keystone Progress attempted to deliver a Right to Know Request to the Office of Attorney General, but after a 40 minute wait at 1:30 in the afternoon, was told “Everyone is at lunch. Mail it in.”

“Once again, Tom Corbett’s Office is showing its disdain for the public and for the rule of law,” said Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress. “The Office of Attorney General cannot arbitrarily refuse to accept the legitimate requests of Pennsylvania citizens because its entire staff is at lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon.”

Here is the chronology of the OAG’s refusal to accept a Right to Know Request, by Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress.

1:15 PM I arrived at Office of Attorney General’s reception area on the first floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg. I was asked to call upstairs to the OAG’s office on the 15^th floor to get permission to go upstairs. I told the woman who answered the phone who I was and that I wanted to come upstairs to submit a Right to Know request. At first, she said I could come right up. I asked her to talk to Capitol Police officer on duty to let him know it was alright. When the officer got off the phone, he told me that she could not allow me to come up and that I should wait a few minutes until she got an answer. She told him that she would call back in a few minutes.

1:25 PM The officer on duty apologized for the delay and called the OAG asking whether they would allow me upstairs. He was told “everyone was at lunch.” The person on the phone said they would not allow me upstairs, but I could wait.

1:44 PM The first floor receptionist was called by OAG. They said again that everyone was at lunch and that I would have to mail in my request.

Keystone Progress re-files Right to Know Request concerning Corbett’s suit to overturn healthcare reform

Keystone Progress re-files Right to Know Request concerning Corbett’s suit to overturn healthcare reform

First request was denied. Keystone Progress seeking more specific information after
Corbett’s office tried to hide correspondence with his major political funder.

(HARRISBURG)—Keystone Progress (KP) has filed a detailed and specific Right to Know Request with Tom Corbett’s Office of Attorney General, seeking information on correspondence concerning Corbett’s politically motivated suit to overturn the federal healthcare reform legislation.

The request seeks all correspondence concerning that suit between the OAG and numerous political operatives and organizations. This is KP’s second request for this information. The first was turned down by Corbett’s office.

Keystone Progress recently uncovered emails that revealed Corbett’s office has been working with a Republican campaign organization to plan to overturn the recently enacted federal healthcare reform law. KP uncovered the relationship in a series of emails released by the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice under a similar request by One Wisconsin Now.

Fourteen state attorneys general have filed suit to overturn the Affordable Healthcare for America Act, the federal healthcare reform law. Corbett has repeatedly denied that his efforts are political, despite the fact that he agreed to join the suit even before he had read the healthcare reform law. The lawsuit was filed just seven minutes after President Obama signed the bill into law.

The staff of the attorneys general have been working with the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). RSLC describes itself as “the only national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and State Legislator.”¹ RSLC is organized as a 527 organization which has contributed over $58 million to elect Republicans at the state level. RSLC was Corbett’s largest contributor during his race for reelection as attorney general, giving him $691,000, according to the PA Department of State.²

-MORE-

“At the risk of getting subpoenaed or being subjected to retaliation by Attorney General Corbett, we are filing another request for this correspondence,” said Michael Morrill, Keystone Progress’ executive director. “The Wisconsin emails reveal what we believe is the tip of the iceberg concerning the involvement of the OAG and political operatives in this suit. Corbett’s office should comply with this request as the AG’s office in Wisconsin did.”

The request seeks all correspondence between OAG and the following:

• Republican State Leadership Committee
• Republican Attorneys General Association
• Republican Party of Pennsylvania
• Republican National Committee
• American Justice Partnership
• Caleb Consulting
• Tom Corbett for Governor
• Tim Barnes, Chairman, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Scott Ward, President, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Ben Cannatti, Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Erin Berry, Associate General Counsel, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Casey Phillips, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Michael Luethy, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Adam Temple, Press Secretary, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Robert Sechrist, Director of New Media, Republican State Leadership Committee
• Michael Steele, Chairman, Republican National Committee
• Karl Rove
• Chirag Shah, Campaign Manager for JB Van Hollen WI Attorney General
• Rob Gleason, Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania
• Joyce Haas, Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania
• Christine J. Toretti, Republican National Committeewoman
• Robert Asher, Republican National Committeeman

¹ Republican State Leadership Committee website http://www.rslc.com/about-rslc/
²Pennsylvania Department of State http://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/ContributionSearchResults.aspx?RequestID=346769&StartRow=1&RowsPerPage=10&SortOrder=0

Keystone Progress is Pennsylvania’s largest online progressive network with over 200,000 subscribers. Keystone Progress is also a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

ACLU Representing Critics of Corbett in Twittergate

The following is a news release from the ACLU of PA:

ACLU Representing Anonymous Twitter Critics of Pennsylvania State Attorney General And Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett

Grand Jury Issued Subpoena To Twitter Demanding Twitter Users’ Identities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2010

Contact: Sara Mullen, ACLU of Pennsylvania, 215-219-8359

HARRISBURG - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced today that it is representing two anonymous Twitter users who have criticized State Attorney General Tom Corbett on a social networking site. Corbett’s office asked a grand jury to issue a subpoena earlier this month to Twitter demanding the identities of his critics.

“Any subpoena seeking to unmask the identity of anonymous critics raises the specter of political retaliation,” said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and one of the lawyers representing the Twitter users. “It’s a prized American right to criticize government officials, and to do so anonymously.”

The subpoena seeks the subscriber information of two Twitter accounts, bfbarbie and CasablancaPA. The subpoena, which asks for records to be turned over by Friday, May 14, was issued by the attorney general’s statewide investigating grand jury on May 6.

Twitter has advised the ACLU that they have not disclosed the account holders' identity, after receiving an objection from a user to the production of subscriber information. It is Twitter's policy to delay production in such cases to provide the user an opportunity to assert his or her rights.

A news account earlier today reported that the Attorney General’s Office appeared to justify the subpoena by claiming that they needed to know the identities of the Twitter users because they suspected that it was a former legislative aide, Brett Cott, who had been convicted in the Bonusgate case and who was using the blog to “attack and malign the investigative and prosecutorial process, which resulted in his conviction.” If true, they argued, this would justify imposing a harsher sentence. The ACLU questions whether seeking evidence in aid of a sentencing proceeding is an appropriate use of the grand jury system.

“The ACLU’s concerns are that using the grand jury process in aid of seeking evidence for sentencing is improper and that using the court to unmask political critics is unconstitutional retaliation that violates the First Amendment,” said Walczak.

The ACLU’s lawyers have entered discussions with the AG’s Office, asking them to withdraw the subpoenas. If the AG’s Office refuses, the ACLU expects to file a motion to quash the subpoenas.

"For a candidate who is campaigning on his desire to protect the privacy of Pennsylvanians who are affected by the new health care bill, Attorney General Corbett shows a disturbing lack of interest in the privacy of critics who, in the best tradition of American democracy, have chosen to criticize his conduct of office anonymously,” said Paul Alan Levy, a lawyer with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is working with the ACLU on the matter.

In addition to Walczak and Levy, also representing the anonymous Twitter users are Barbara Zemlock, a lawyer with Post Schell in Harrisburg, and Mark Sheppard, an attorney in the Philadelphia office of Montgomery McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, LLP.

The Real Story from Tuesday's Results? The Tea Party is a Paper Tiger

The mainstream media are trumpeting Tuesday’s election results as a major victory for the Tea Party movement. That’s only natural. They created the link between the terms “Tea Party” and “movement,” so it’s in their self-interest to keep up the myth of a new, powerful grassroots force. The reality is very different from this narrative, as a quick look at the facts will reveal.

The biggest story, if you believe almost all of the national pundits, is the amazing victory of the Tea Party in backing Rand Paul, the libertarian son of former presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas. Rand Paul won the Kentucky GOP nod for U.S. Senate, and then began to immediately self-destruct by stating that the government shouldn’t force restaurants and other private businesses to desegregate. But that’s a topic for another day.

In his victory speech, Paul declared, "The tea party movement is huge. The mandate of our victory tonight is huge.” That has become the prevailing narrative on Kentucky: the Tea Party won big time by backing Paul. But there are many problems with this story.

First, even if you grant that the Kentucky results are a major victory for the Tea Party (And I don’t. More on that below.), that is virtually the only significant competitive race in the country that the Tea Party can claim.

My home state of Pennsylvania provides fertile ground for the Tea Party. They claim organizations in almost every county. Yet even in the most conservative parts of the state, the Tea Party lost every major race they backed.

Their big push was in the special election in the 12^th Congressional District to replace Jack Murtha. The 12^th CD is custom made for the Tea Party, being the only district in the nation that voted for John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008. It’s a very conservative district, despite its Democratic registration edge.

The Tea Party made its major national push in this race, bringing in yet untold amounts of outside money. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck made this race their priority, hoping to make Republican candidate Tim Burns the second coming of Scott Brown of Massachusetts. They even brought Brown in to campaign for Burns, in case people weren’t tuned in to Fox, et al.

So what was the result on Tuesday in the only race where a Democrat faced a Republican? Democrat Mark Critz won 53% to 45%.

The Tea Party didn’t fare that well in any other race in Pennsylvania. In the gubernatorial race the Tea Party backed Sam Rohrer, a true believer in laissez-faire capitalism and the entire TP agenda. Rohrer lost 69-31%. They backed Peg Luksik for US Senate. Luksik lost 82-18%. Their candidates for Lt. Gov. lost as well. Statewide, the Tea Party was “o-fer.”

In the PA General Assembly, they targeted Republican State Senators and Representatives. They did not unseat one incumbent anywhere in the state. And in my home county, the leader of the Berks County Tea Party, John Stahl, came in 9^th out of 10 candidates for a seat on the Republican State Committee.

If you can’t win even one victory in Pennsylvania, then where’s the mandate?

Back to the Rand Paul victory in Kentucky. First, even though Paul was backed by the Tea Party, there were many other factors at play in Kentucky. Chief among those factors was a growing and palpable dislike of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell was seen as the king-maker, pushing his hand-picked candidate Trey Grayson to join him in the Senate. That fact, combined with the general anti-incumbent sentiments among the electorate nationwide was the prime driving force behind the results. In reality, this was more of a loss for Grayson/McConnell than it was a victory for Paul.

The media have been trying to hype this race as the epitome of the anger and disillusionment that is driving people to the polls in large numbers. But then there are those pesky facts to deal with. The Republican turnout in Kentucky’s US Senate primary was a dismal 33.7%. On the Democratic side it was 32.1%.¹ These are hardly the numbers that could be considered a mass movement.

The truth is Paul got less than 7.3% of the eligible voters in Kentucky (206,816 voted for Paul out of 2,851,996 registered voters ). Furthermore, Paul got fewer votes than either of the top two Democrats in the race. Jack Conway got 228,531 and second place finisher Daniel Mongiardo got 224,989. These numbers cannot in any way be considered a mandate or a roiling mass movement.

As I stated earlier, the mainstream media have made an investment in the Tea Party. Angry confrontations, funny costumes, controversial rhetoric. From a media standpoint, what’s not to like? The Tea Party makes a good story, so they get lots of press. But the facts of their impact are vastly overstated by reporters and pundits who don’t take the time to look at the actual numbers or ignore them for the sake of continuing the myth.

The real story from Tuesday’s results should be this—the Tea Party is a paper tiger. It is a small but vocal group of disgruntled Republicans who will have little impact in any general election in the fall. It is possible that they will take over many local and state Republican organizations, but they have not, and cannot, win competitive general elections.

-Michael Morrill

¹ All numbers can be found on these two pages. All calculations are mine.
KY State Board of Elections Total Registration Numbers http://elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9B962D0A-E25D-43DE-8DE6-8603346E3433/227148/statcong.txt
KY State Board of Elections US Senate Results http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/KY/15261/25675/en/summary.html

Is Tom Corbett losing it? Thin-skinned PA AG going after critics.

Two under-reported items in the last few days have us wondering if Attorney General Tom Corbett has the temperament to serve in his current office, never mind being governor.

According to a first-person account by a self-described Republican Tea Party member on Monday Tom Corbett got so angry at a question that he came off the stage to confront the questioner. He then had the person removed from the venue.

“Tom Corbett had just finished his speech and I raised my hand to ask him a question. There were only 30 people in the room 15 were his staff and 15 showed up to hear him. I had two people with me so only 12 actually showed up to hear him. Anyway I asked the question Mr Corbett if you win tomorrow how will you handle your campaign and your subsequent Federal trial for alleged fraud in the Attorney Generals office. Tom Corbett got so irate he came off the platform through the crowd and confronted me to my face on the issue. All he said was that the info I was referring to was fraudulent and put out by the Sam Rohrer campaign. He shook his finger in my face and told me to go back to Sam and get my facts straight etc. I have nothing to do with the Sam Rohrer campaign! I was refering to the Thomas Kimmett / Sherry Bellaman civil complaint and the subsequent possible criminal trial of Tom Corbett and he knew it. I went there as a private citizen to ask a legitimate question as well as others but I could only ask the one before I was directed to leave. Tom’s state paid body guard/chauffeur the black guy tried to move me out but I would not budge. He actually tried to push me out but when he touched me he could not budge me so I stood there peacefully then he walked to the side when Tom came over to me. You will notice Tom also tried to usher me out with his hand on my left arm.”

Here’s the full posting:http://repatriotradio.com/these-pictures-were-taken-this-morning-at-the-4-points-sheraton-on-airport-rd-in-allentown/

Then, we found that Corbett is having a blogger who is critical of Corbett subpoenaed. This has been reported throughout the web. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/tom-corbett-subpoenaes-tw_n_581618.html)

According to techcrunch.com: “Tom Corbett, current Attorney General of the state of Pennsylvania and Gubernatorial Candidate, has subpoenaed Twitter to appear as a Grand Jury witness to "testify and give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of Pennsylvania".

The subpoena orders Twitter to provide "any and all subscriber information" of the person(s) behind two accounts -- @bfbarbie and @CasaBlancaPA -- who have been anonymously criticizing the man on the popular micro-sharing service.”

Here’s the subpoena: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31583273/20100506142515358-Subpoena

Either of these actions by themselves is bizarre. Taken together, they raise questions about the temperament and judgment of Corbett.

As the old saying goes, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” www.corbettmustresign.com

Let’s hope that we at www.keystoneprogress.org aren’t the next ones on Corbett’s target list.

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Emails link Corbett’s AG office to Republican campaign group in suit to overturn healthcare reform

Keystone Progress uncovers coordination between Corbett’s office and Republican State Leadership Committee, Corbett’s largest campaign donor.

Corbett’s office tried to hide relationship by denying Right to Know Request.

(HARRISBURG)—Tom Corbett’s Office of Attorney General has been working with a Republican campaign organization to plan to overturn the recently enacted federal healthcare reform law. Keystone Progress uncovered the relationship in a series of emails released by the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Keystone Progress had attempted to get this information through a Right to Know request, but Corbett’s office opted to keep the correspondence secret.

Fourteen state attorneys general have filed suit to overturn the Affordable Healthcare for America Act, the federal healthcare reform law. Corbett has repeatedly denied that his efforts are political, despite the fact that he agreed to join the suit even before he had read the healthcare reform law. The lawsuit was filed just seven minutes after President Obama signed the bill into law.

The emails reveal that the staff of the attorneys general have been working with the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). RSLC describes itself as “the only national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and State Legislator.”¹ RSLC is organized as a 527 organization which has contributed over $58 million to elect Republicans at the state level.

RSLC was Corbett’s largest contributor during his race for reelection as attorney general, giving him $691,000, according to the PA Department of State.²

The emails list David Sumner, Senior Deputy Attorney General and Ann Marie Kaiser, Director of Legislative Affairs as participants in the email exchange that included Ben Cannatti, the Political Director of RSLC.

Cannatti is described on the RSLC website as “the RSLC’s Political Director since the group’s inception in 2002. Working with the RSLC political staff, Ben oversees the expenditure of millions of dollars each year and developing the committee’s political strategy and tactics in attorneys general, state legislative, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state races across the country.”³

The email exchange was obtained by Keystone Progress from One Wisconsin Now (OWN). OWN got the emails by filing a public records request with the Attorney General of Wisconsin, J.B. Van Hollen.

Keystone Progress asked for the same information from Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office, but was denied. “Now we know why Corbett refused to comply with the Right to Know Law,” said Michael Morrill, Executive Director of Keystone Progress. “He wanted to keep these emails secret.”

The emails that were released do not reveal much detail about strategy, but they expose the long-denied political motives of the suit.

“We believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” added Morrill. “There are undoubtedly going to be more revelations about the political nature of this suit. Corbett should learn from history and release all related correspondence now. The cover-up is always worse than the original act.”

¹ Republican State Leadership Committee website http://www.rslc.com/about-rslc/
²Pennsylvania Department of State http://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/ContributionSearchResults.aspx?RequestID=346769&StartRow=1&RowsPerPage=10&SortOrder=0
³ http://www.rslc.com/rslc-staff

# # #

Keystone Progress is Pennsylvania’s largest online progressive network with over 200,000 subscribers. Keystone Progress is also a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

Keystone Progress Calls for Corbett's Resignation

www.corbettmustresign.org

The Office of Attorney General is one of the most important offices in all of government. The Attorney General, as the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth, is responsible for the safety and security of all of the residents of Pennsylvania. The Attorney General has the power to file criminal and civil charges that can end a person’s life, lock someone in prison away from family and friends, and impose penalties that can eradicate a life’s savings.

It is therefore incumbent upon the Attorney General to not only impartially prosecute the laws of the Commonwealth, it is vital that he avoid even the appearance of bias.

In the last few weeks Attorney General Tom Corbett has come under almost daily criticism for appearing to be using the Office of Attorney General for political gain. Among the criticism are the following:

· Corbett has politicized the Office of Attorney General by joining in a highly partisan lawsuit to repeal the recently passed federal healthcare reform legislation. Corbett agreed to join the lawsuit before the bill was even written, meaning he made his decision before reading the legislation. Most constitutional law professors think this suit is frivolous and a politically-motivated waste of taxpayers’ money.

· Questions have been raised about the appearance of selective prosecution of legislators who may have used their legislative staff and offices to run political campaigns. Corbett has pursued the prosecution of mostly Democrats in what has become known as the “Bonusgate Scandal.” Recently, it has been reported that Corbett’s office did not investigate allegations against Republican State Senator Jane Orie. Sen. Orie was indicted by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala after Corbett’s office did not follow up on a complaint by a former Orie intern of her office using legislative staff for the campaign of her sister, now PA Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

· Corbett’s campaign staff has admitted that they had been planning to file their suit against the healthcare reform legislation even before he had read the bill, sending out a fundraising mailing in February saying that he is "leading the fight" against "government-run socialized medicine."^1,2

· Corbett has been accused of using his office and staff for his campaign for governor—the same charges he has brought against mostly Democratic lawmakers. The accusations come in a motion filed by the attorney for former State Representative Steve Stetler. The motion also accuses Corbett of selective prosecution, prosecuting Democrats while ignoring similar actions by Republicans. According to the York Daily Record, the allegations in the motion say that “Corbett improperly took control of the grand jury, illegally revealed details of its deliberations to the media, found targets that, if toppled, would benefit his re-election campaign in 2008 and current run for governor, illegally gave key campaign staffers jobs in the Attorney General's office between campaigns, had staffers do campaign work on state time and used campaign resources to further the Bonusgate investigation.”³

· Keystone Progress filed a Right to Know request on March 26 seeking correspondence between the Office of Attorney General and outside entities, seeking to determine if there were political motives behind the Corbett’s decision to join the lawsuit against healthcare reform. To date the AG’s office has not provided that information. ⁴

When there are so many concerns being raised it puts the integrity of the Office of Attorney General in serious question. The Attorney General’s judgment and actions cannot be doubted. His performance must be beyond reproach. That is why so many attorneys general, including Virginia Republican Bob McDonnell, New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte, and even New York’s ethically-challenged Democrat Elliott Spitzer , have resigned when seeking a higher office.

After taking all of these factors into consideration, we have come to the conclusion that it is time for Mr. Corbett to resign as Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The people of the Commonwealth need to trust that the justice system will work impartially, but the clouds of doubt and suspicion that are engulfing Mr. Corbett are raising too many doubts.

We therefore urge Mr. Corbett to resign immediately. www.corbettmustresign.org

Keystone Progress
www.keystoneprogress.org

We are not alone in our questions about the recent actions of Attorney General Corbett.

· The DuBois, PA Courier-Express has called Corbett’s anti-healthcare suit “grandstanding,” “specious,” and “showboating with taxpayer money.”⁵

· The Chambersburg Public Opinion said that the “accusations of hypocrisy warrant investigation.”⁶

· The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board says his lawsuit “clearly looks like a political ploy and a waste of state tax dollars.”⁷

· The York Daily Record said “his [Corbett’s] decision to join a lawsuit seeking to undo the recently passed health care reform package looks a lot like using state resources to make political hay.”⁸

· The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News editorial board declared that “Corbett has gone too far” by joining the anti-reform lawsuit.⁹

· The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that even some Corbett loyalists are questioning his motives. “’He's not representing the people of Pennsylvania, he's representing the Republican Party,” said Ruth Kahn of Warminster.” Kahn is described as a “former Corbett supporter.”¹⁰

¹ Philadelphia Daily News, April 2, 2010 http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Election_2010_Serendipity_In_The_Mail_For_Tom_Corbett.html

²Philadelphia Daily News, March 31, 2010 http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/89580282.html

³York Daily Record, March 27, 2010 http://www.ydr.com/ci_14770694

⁴PA2010.com, March 26, 2010 http://www.pa2010.com/2010/03/liberal-group-wants-information-on-corbett-health-care-suit-rendell-says-drop-it/?utm_source=PA2010.com+First+Read+Opt-In+List&utm_campaign=364b81ed86-The+First+Read+3/29&utm_medium=email

⁵Courier-Express, March 27, 2010 http://www.leader-vindicator.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20419132&BRD=2758&PAG=461&dept_id=572980&rfi=6

⁶Chambersburg Public Opinion, http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_14773094?source=most_viewed

⁷Philadelphia Inquirer, March 25, 2010 http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/89095067.html

⁸York Daily Record, March 26, 2010 http://www.ydr.com/ci_14764186

⁹Patriot-News, March 26, 2010 http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2010/03/out_of_bounds_attorney_general.html

¹⁰Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 2010 http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/89343487.html

Just a question about Corbett and Orie-gate

Why is no one reporting on the fact that Jerry Orie, the brother of Republican State Senator Jane Orie and Republican Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, works for Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett?

Jerry Orie is the Deputy Attorney General in the Insurance Fraud Section.

Corbett is being accused of selective prosecution for not investigating Jane Orie's use of her Senate staff for her sister's 2009 campaign for Supreme Court. Corbett is running for governor this year, largely on the basis of his record in prosecuting mostly Democrats for using their staffs for political campaigns. Jane was indicted this week by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala after Corbett ignored complaints about the Orie sisters.

We're not suggesting that there's a connection, but I'm surprised that this Orie relationship to Corbett hasn't been reported in any stories related to this issue. At least none that we've seen.

Corbett Uses Legal Loophole to Delay Providing Information on Partisan GOP Health Reform Lawsuit

Corbett Uses Legal Loophole to Delay Providing Information on Partisan GOP Health Reform Lawsuit

Right to Know request delayed up to 30 days to “determine whether the records requested are subject to access.”

(HARRISBURG)—Keystone Progress filed two Right to Know requests with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office on March 26, seeking copies of all correspondence concerning Tom Corbett’s joining in a lawsuit with 12 other Republican Attorneys General to block the federal Affordable Health Care for America Act signed into law last month by President Obama.

Corbett’s office responded by claiming that “a legal review is necessary to determine whether the records requested are subject to access under this act and the extent and nature of the request precludes a response within the required time period. As provided by in the above statute, the Office of Attorney General will require up to an additional 30 calendar days, or until April 30, 2010, in which to provide a final written response to your request.”

Corbett’s response was signed by Robert A. Mulle, Chief Deputy Attorney General and Right to Know Officer for the Office of Attorney General. Mulle was called by Keystone Progress to clarify their position, but has yet to reply. Mulle’s response was dated April 1, but was postmarked April 3, two days after the deadline under PA’s Right to Know Law.

“What is Corbett hiding?” asked Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress. “This is a straightforward request for information that has nothing to do with the case itself. Our request is for information about the political aspects of how they determined whether to file a suit on a law that hadn’t even been written. This 30 day delay is not necessary if the AG’s office has nothing to hide.”

Corbett has come under increasing criticism in recent days for politicizing the Office of Attorney General. In addition to the obviously political lawsuit challenging healthcare reform, Corbett has been accused of selectively prosecuting mostly Democrats in the “Bonusgate” scandal, while ignoring Republican malfeasance such as Senator Jane Orie’s alleged use of public funds to help elect her sister, state Supreme court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

The Right to Know request asked for all correspondence to and from Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett and the Attorney General’s staff with individuals inside and outside of Pennsylvania urging Corbett to file the Republican-orchestrated frivolous lawsuit. Corbett’s announcement of filing his suit occurred before anyone had a chance to read the legislation.

The first request is seeking any correspondence between Corbett and his office and entities outside of the Commonwealth. The Attorney General has coordinated his activities with other attorneys general, even before there was legislation to challenge.

The second filing seeks correspondence between Corbett and his office and Members of the General Assembly and their staff. Legislators were encouraging the Attorney General to file a suit, again even before there was legislation.

Keystone Progress created an online petition (http://www.keystoneprogress.org/page/s/pacorbett1) asking Corbett not to file this lawsuit. More than 10,000 people have signed that petition to date.

Great chart on jobs numbers, and more...

While Congressional Republicans are spinning themselves sick today disparaging the encouraging economic news that 162,000 jobs were created in March, including 123,000 jobs in the private sector -- desperately trying to justify their near unanimous opposition to the President’s stimulus program that has since created over 2 million jobs and continuing to shrug off any responsibility for enabling the failed Bush policies that led to the Great Recession in the first place – see below roundup of quick takes from actual economic experts…

CHART SOURCE:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023170.php

Associated Press: 162,000 Jobs Added in March, most in 3 years; Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007

“There’s a lot of good news in this report,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida, who had the closest forecast for payrolls. “We’re clearly on the recovery path. We expect to see this continue to build. We’re on our way.”

"The job market is slowly but surely turning the corner from job declines to job gains. Most encouraging is the improvement across more industries," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at forecaster Moody's Economy.com. "With corporate profits and stock prices up strongly, hiring will revive in coming months."

“Good Friday is apparently a good release date for the U.S. employment report. The last time, the BLS published the employment report on a Good Friday was in April 2007. Back then, nonfarm payrolls rose another strong 239,000 and the unemployment rate fell to a cyclical low of 4.4%. While the overall economic situation couldn’t be more different this time, today’s employment report is the strongest in more than two years. – Harm Bandholz, Unicredit

"While the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent, this was a fundamentally good report, indicative of a slightly improving economy, and potentially, an earlier emergence from the job-less recovery than had been previously anticipated," said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics LLC of Austin, Texas.

"The labor market has turned," Nigel Gault an economist at IHS Global Insight. “Today’s report suggests that the economy has broken through to sustained job creation.”

"It looks like the recovery has finally reached the point where it is actually boosting employment," said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics of Toronto.

"It's the first month of really solid growth," said Bart van Ark, chief economist at the Conference Board, a business-membership and research organization in New York. "We see the job gains spreading across the economy."

"The labor market is on the cusp of generating a sustained but moderate increase in new jobs," said Steven Wood, economist at Insight Economics, in a note.

The top economist at the U.S. Treasury Department said the job growth suggests the labor market is stabilizing and that federal policies targeting the jobs crisis are working. "The report confirms that our policies are helping to improve the jobs picture," said Treasury Chief Economist Alan Krueger, although he noted the report at the same time "makes us aware of how much damage the recession has caused."

“The most salient insight to be gleaned from these data is the net gain excluding weather and census effects, and that is positive. Despite the distortions in these data, the labor market definitely improved in March, and the trend in the payroll statistics is decidedly positive. The March nonfarm payroll data was slightly weaker than expected and the revision to the prior two months, January and February, was positive.” –Ray Stone, Stone & McCarthy

“Jobs grew 162,000 in March with important signals of improvement in services (trade/transportation, business services, leisure & hospitality) and manufacturing (up 3 months in a row) sectors.”– John Silvia, Wells Fargo

“Particularly encouraging was the increase in hiring in the service sector, which always lags the overall recovery. We attach particular importance to hiring in the trade and transport sector which are leading indicators of a resurgence of growth. Recent manufacturing data strongly suggest that increasing production should stimulate future job growth and three consecutive months of new hiring in the trade and transport sector do provide a useful leading indicator that the economy should see a modest boost in private sector employment going forward. – Joseph Brusuelas, Brusuelas Analytics

“The third increase in jobs in the past five months indicates that the labor market has begun to stabilize. The increases were broad-based with 60 percent of the industries hiring. Manufacturing has turned the corner adding 45,000 jobs so far this year. More than 58 percent of the manufacturers have increased employment along with more overtime and hours worked. Temporary employment, a good sign of an improving labor market, continues to increase.” – Sung Won Sohn, Smith School of Business and Economics

Source:

Our friends at www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org