When the next criminal charges come in the Bonusgate public corruption investigation of the Legislature, they will "shock the conscience of people" because of the staggering amount of tax money involved according to Attorney General Tom Corbett.
The grand jury investigation is proceeding more smoothly than it did a few months ago, since House Republicans agreed to turn over certain records, Corbett said in an interview before he testified to the House Appropriations Committee about his office's budget.
"The investigation is ongoing, and when we are prepared to release information, we will," he said. "If you're going down a bumpy road, you've got to slow down, don't you? It's going more smoothly now."
Corbett said he has no "time schedule" for filing criminal charges.
It seems the people over at the AP did not do their homework before reporting AP: Legislature Spent $5.8M Investigating $3.7M In Bonuses When Corbett releases the figures I am sure the latter will increase by a great amount.
If you are interested here is the link for the first grand jury indictments.
But I think you will have more fun if you click on this link- Statements From Governor, Lawmakers, General Counsel
Something you will notice on the last link. There is a link to the Harrisburg Indictment and the Pittsburgh Indictment. The mainstream media has been reporting that AG Corbett empaneled a second statewide grand jury. According to my sources inside his office and according to the links he empaneled a THIRD grand jury, two in Harrisburg and the one in Pittsburgh.
In the meantime Governor Rendell has his own problems regarding secrecy in awarding contracts.
A lack of transparency leaves auditors unable to "ascertain whether proper controls are in place to prevent fraud, abuse or other inappropriate activity from occurring during the contract" awarding process, states the 2008 audit prepared by state Auditor General Jack Wagner's office and an outside auditing company.
Wagner raised a similar issue in a preliminary audit reported on by The Patriot-News last week. That draft audit involves nearly $600 million in technology contracts awarded to the international consulting firm Deloitte from 2004 through 2007, during Gov. Ed Rendell's administration.
Rep. Douglas Reichley, R-Lehigh County, who has been critical of the Rendell administration's contracting practices, said he doesn't understand why Rendell doesn't mandate full cooperation with auditors.
Rendell must take a lesson from his Democratic friends in Luzerne County.
Here's a great article at the National Institute of Corrections on Building Community Support for New Jail Construction. You could also read an article about Marketing Strategies for Inmate Programs: A Succinct Review. Seems pretty simple to me. Get the FBI and the Attorney General into your county and you have a "captive" audience. Ohhh...wait..that is "captured" audience.
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