Confusion

I have to admit this. Despite those who thought otherwise I didn't believe Ray Musto was approachable by influence seekers. Call me naive, that's okay but I truly believed Musto to be better than that.

A report by the Times-Tribune has changed my mind. Today, Musto's attorneys' annouced a motion to postpone Musto's day in court. This action came despite yesterday's assertion by the Musto camp that he wanted his day in court. Bring it on and get it over with or not.

Mr. Musto should decide what strategy is best for him.. So far his horse is having trouble getting out of the gate.

TARAH TOOHIL RESPONDS TO EACHUS'S NEWEST ATTACKS

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT TARAH TOOHIL

Hazleton, PA- On Tuesday, candidate for State Representative Tarah Toohil, was informed by various media outlets that Mr. Eachus was hand-delivering his newest round of false and baseless attacks to the press.

In response, Toohil remarked, “Once again, it is sad that Mr. Eachus is stooping so low and that he thinks his conduct is acceptable and seems to even be proud of himself. My opponent is exactly what is wrong with politics today. I am running a volunteer, grassroots campaign, fighting for this community… about the issues NOT a lowly mudslinging campaign that represents the worst of politics today. After 15 years in office, shouldn’t my opponent be able to run on his record? He can't run on his record. He is running from it."

Toohil stated, “Unlike Mr. Eachus, I will always be open, honest, transparent and accountable with the people of my community. I will gladly answer any questions anyone might have."

"I am a lawyer. I served as a law clerk for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. When a person is hired by the County to be a law clerk it is always via a Court Order. These Court Orders are signed by the President Judge of the County. I never worked for Mark Ciavarella.”

“Secondly, I have never represented anyone in connection with the Federal Luzerne County Corruption Probe. Mr. Eachus on the other hand is embroiled in the corruption scandal in Luzerne County. Mr. Eachus is tied closely with and has accepted money from many of the major players and admitted felons: Bob Powell, Robert Mericle and Gregory Skrepenak. To name a few. All you have to do is follow the money trail. Those are the facts. I would highly suggest that before Mr. Eachus attacks me again, he takes the time to confirm that the statements he makes are true. Because the statements he made today are misleading and incorrect.”

Paid for by The Committee To Elect Tarah Toohil..

Mericle Makes The News Again

Back on May 13, 2010 Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania et al jointly announced the filing of a criminal information pursuant to an ongoing investigation targeting public corruption in northeast Pennsylvania against Russell Arnone, former Jenkins Township Supervisor relating to the corrupt receipt of a reward for official action and failed to disclose this knowledge to federal investigators. At that time the person giving the "award" for official action was not identified. He resigned his position on May 10, 2010 before the charges were filed.

The Times Leader is reporting that Arnone plead guilty today where he admitted to taking a $5,000 cash payment from developer Robert Mericle in return for the lowering of building permit fees he accepted the money as a campaign contribution but did not report it.

Mericle faces charges in connections to payments he made to two judges in the Luzerne County Courthouse corruption scandal. U.S. officials declined comment on whether Mericle would face charges in this case. Arnone's sentencing is scheduled for September 20, 2010.

Back in 2001 a person named Russell Arnone worked for Luzerne County as director of Personnel and Budget where he authored a position paper on liberal leave for county workers. I guess he will be writing a new one on permanent leave.

So this issue begs the question regarding many campaign contributions on the campaign finance reports of elected officials. How many other elected officials were paid through campaign contributions for decisions with respect to their elected positions?

Anyone with information is asked to call the public corruption task force tip line toll free at 1-866-996-4320.

Kanjorski's "$20,000.00 Midnight Donation" To Tom Leighton

"You mean they found out??!!!"

In a previous post SOP wrote about questionable donations to Tom Leighton's campaign when he ran for Mayor of Wilkes Barre. One of those donations was from Robert Mericle.

Robert Mericle gave a $300.00 donation on 06/10/2009 listed on page 19 and was charged by the U.S. Attorney's office on 08/13/2009. It had been common knowledge that Mr. Mericle was Participant No. 2 in a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney on January 31, 2009 in the Luzerne County corruption scandal. Why did Tom Leighton accept the donation and why wasn't it returned?

Bill O'Boyle of the Times Leader writes an article today about a "midnight $20,000.00 donation" from a PAC associated with Paul Kanjorski to Tom Leighton's Senate campaign against State Representative John Yudichak. The real story will come out when Leighton's campaign finance report makes it to the Luzerne County website. Apparently Leighton is a little light in the fundraising arena and Kanjorski made the donation to bolster his report.

There is no secret of the love lost between Yudichak and Kanjorski after Yudichak's father stood up to a politician who has no shame and takes no blame for wasting the taxpayers' money on his own family. Mr. Yudichak had, not lets make that has the courage and human values not to accept and sit back while a politician tries to spoon feed the public on an issue that just won't go away. Kanjorski maintains that he was never charged in the Cornerstone Technologies issue and he is right about that. But he was judged by the public such that in the race between himself and Corey O'Brien the Times Leader editorial staff has not forgotten the incident and backed O'Brien in their primary battle.



If there were more Joseph Yudichak's in this world maybe the corruption in Luzerne County would have been in check a long time ago.

Look for our next post about how the House Majority Leader's assistant and campaign Treasurer doesn't know how to circulate nominating petitions.

William Amesbury- High Maintenance Magistrate

In today's Times Leader there is a story about the cost of renting offices for magistrates in Luzerne County. While the story focused on a rental in Hazleton it failed to zero in on a candidate for Judge in Luzerne County. In fact the cost of this rental exceeded the one in Hazleton.

As if we didn't have enough with the juvenile scandal this article lists William Amesbury's office rental cost at $80,000.00 per year. To be fair Martin Kane was over $5,000.00 higher at $85,800.00 per year but look at the rest.

William Amesbury, $80,000;

• Martin Kane, $85,800;

• Fred Pierantoni, $12,000;

• Paul Roberts, $12,000;

• Andrew Barilla, $12,000;

• Joseph Carmody, $12,000;

• Joseph Halesey, $30,200;

• Donald Whittaker, $12,000;

• John Hasay, $27,432;

• Daniel O’Donnell, $27,000;

• Thomas Sharkey, $19,392;

• Gerald Feissner, $14,000;

• Ronald Swank, $21,000;

• Michael Dotzel, $32,000;

• Diana Malast, $15,800;

• James Tupper, $29,000

How do magistrates justify such a disparity? How can Amesbury make a plea to the people to vote for him as judge when he appears to forget about the voters when it comes to his own "digs"? He acknowledged the public’s faith in the judicial system has been severely tarnished and must be restored by making the government more open and transparent.

Bill, welcome to transparency. Amesbury has acknowledge accepting donations from people involved in the FBI corruption probe. He donated two of the three donations to charity. The third donation was from Kim Mericle, who is the wife of Robert Mericle. He said he took her donation because she has been a longtime friend of 35 years and she did not have any dealings with her husband’s business. Obviously Kim wasn't part of the probe but her husband pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal.

Mr. Amesbury, and to all the judicial candidates as well as those seeking retention, you should pay special attention to your Supreme Court justices. SOP is not alleging any kickbacks or paybacks on the parts of any candidate. However, it seems the message is still not resonating with all the candidates.

Ciavarella, who is awaiting trial on racketeering charges, broke the law by taking kickbacks from the operator of two for-profit juvenile detention centers and ignored court rules by failing to fully inform juveniles who appeared before him of their right to legal counsel, the court concluded in a unanimous nine-page opinion.

The violations were so egregious that even juveniles sentenced to other centers and those who had legal counsel deserve to have their records cleared, according to the court.

"Given the extent of the taint, this court simply cannot have confidence that any juvenile matter adjudicated by Ciavarella during this period was tried in a fair and impartial matter," the court wrote.

Keep your relationships clean. It is up to you to go the extra mile if you want the voters to begin the healing process towards trust in your judicial proceedings. Arrogance or a cavalier attitude toward the restoring process will only keep the wounds fresh and deep.

To be clear SOP is not a Tina Gartley fan although she will be a winner. Her close association to Commissioner MaryAnn Petrilla who, in our opinion, is getting a "free ride" in the Luzerne County probe, is not acceptable. Petrilla was Controller during that period and even the media seems to be gentle about her role.

Robert Mericle- No Miracle Could Avoid Pleading Guilty

Times Leader Photo

Thursday, August 13, 2009 11:26 am Times Leader website

UPDATE: Mericle to donate $2.15 million to benefit children under conditions of plea agreement

SCRANTON - Developer Robert Mericle has agreed to voluntarily donate $2.15 million to a fund that will benefit the welfare of children in Luzerne County as part of a plea agreement to federal charges.

The agreement, which was signed Friday, calls for Mericle to plead guilty to one count of failing to report a felony. Prosecutors say Mericle failed to disclose his knowledge that former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella had accepted kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the PA and Western PA juvenile detention centers that Mericle built.

It was inescapable that a businessman would allow money to pass through his account and not be "accountable"- pun intended.

More Property Assessment Values vs. Sales Price

In an article that appeared in yesterday's Times Leader a property owned by Robert Mericle and his wife, Kim went on the market for $399,000.00. He successfully argued to the Luzerne County Assessment Appeals Board that the house was only worth $235,200.

Today another article appears in the Times Leader written by Jennifer Learn-Andes discussing a different property that seemed to receive the same treatment.

Former Luzerne County commissioner Todd Vonderheid’s property was in the sample group, with a sales price 56.7 percent higher than the assessment.

Vonderheid and his wife sold their century-old restored brick home on West River Street in Wilkes-Barre last month for $520,000.

The assessment: $331,900.

21st Century originally valued the property at $427,500.

Vonderheid said the appeal board granted the reduction because his appraiser valued the property around $331,900 based on the assessments of similar-sized homes in the same neighborhood, the “riverside historic” district.

The mantra of the reassessment was that property values were supposed to be uniform with others in the same neighborhood, Vonderheid said. He estimated school, county and city taxes on the property will increase from $4,500 to about $7,600 with the $331,900 assessment.

More interesting stuff.

Mericles Trying To Sell Home in Wilkes-Barre

An article that appears in today's Times Leader by Jennifer Learn-Andes discusses the sale of a residence owned by Robert Mericle and his wife, Kim. It appears they placed the Wilkes-Barre property on the market for $399,000 only months after he successfully argued the value was $235,200.


21st Century representative Tim Barr reviewed records Friday and said the value was reduced 38 percent, in large part, because Mericle argued at a September informal review that the house was built in 1974 and had no remodeling since.

Barr checked old assessor’s office property cards on Friday and said they indicate that Ciavarella built the home in 1981 and expanded it in 1991.

Mericle also maintained during the informal review that the basement was unfinished, Barr said. The property sales listing says the house has a 783-square-foot finished basement.

Barr reviewed the property sale listing at www.75marjorie.com on Friday and said photographs clearly show the basement is finished.

Six to seven bedrooms are also noted in the sales listing, but the property owner only acknowledged five, Barr said. The sale listing says the property has five baths, but the owner indicated that there were three.

Some interesting discrepancies. No one is alleging any wrongdoings at this point.

Robert Mercile Hires High Profile Team In Civils Rights Case

The Citizen's Voice pulbished an article by Dave Janoski reporting that Robert Mericle, developer involved in the construction of PA ChildCare, hired a law firm from Philadelphia with a reputation for international law to represent himself and his company in two civil rights lawsuits.

Mericle’s Plains Township-based company, Mericle Construction Inc., was the source of nearly half of the $2.6 million in kickbacks paid to two Luzerne County judges who helped secure county contracts for juvenile detention centers Mericle built in Pittston Township and Butler County, federal prosecutors allege.

Although he does not face criminal charges, Mericle and his company have much at stake in the civil-rights claims filed by more than 175 former defendants in the county’s juvenile court. The suits seek millions in damages from Mericle, the judges, and other individuals and companies implicated in the federal case on the grounds that the juveniles were wrongly imprisoned and denied legal representation.

Mericle, 46, has retained Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, which has 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices in the United States and abroad and claims to represent more than 50 of the Fortune 100 companies.

This week, four attorneys from the firm asked U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo for permission to represent Mericle and his company in two of three suits. Caputo’s approval is required because the attorneys normally don’t practice in the U.S. Middle District, which includes Luzerne, Lackawanna and 31 other Pennsylvania counties. Caputo has jurisdiction over all three kids-for-cash cases. The third case has not progressed to the point where defense attorneys have filed notice with the court that they have been retained in the case.

Mericle is featured in the $2.6 Million Money Trail graphic authored by Gary Visgaitis of the Times Leader. It is alleged that over $1.15 million was wired transferred through Mericle Construction to the Pinnacle Group LLC linked to Ciavarella and Conahan. Again, he has not been charged with any crime.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP has some interesting analysis of the 2009 Stimulus package on their site.

Judge Michael Toole Focus Of Investigation

According to the Legal Intelligencer sources close to the federal investigation of the Luzerne County Courthouse leaked that federal authorities have focused on Judge Michael Toole. The article is written by Hank Grezlak And Leo Strupczewski.

March 12, 2009

The focus of the investigation appears to stem from an allegation that Toole may have received a payment from attorney Robert Powell.

The amount allegedly paid to Toole is believed to be substantially less than what Conahan and Ciavarella received, sources said. Those sources either would not, or could not, identify the reason for the alleged payment or the amount.

When asked if Toole had taken a payoff from Powell, one of Powell's attorneys, Mark B. Sheppard, formerly of Sprague & Sprague and now a partner at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, said he could not comment.

"It would be inappropriate for our client or I to comment at this time, except to say that Mr. Powell continues to cooperate fully with any investigation," Sheppard said.

Toole did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. A call to an attorney rumored to be representing Toole was not returned. A call to Martin C. Carlson, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, was not returned.

Luzerne County Common Pleas Court President Judge Chester B. Muroski said he was not aware of any investigation involving Toole.

"I have not been notified by any law enforcement authorities that any such investigation is ongoing," Muroski said.

Muroski, who said last week that he was interviewed by federal investigators concerning court administration issues, would not say if Toole's name had surfaced during questioning.

"I'm not going to discuss any portion of any discussions I've had with law enforcement authorities," he said.

Asked if he ever heard rumors that Toole allegedly accepted payoffs, Muroski responded immediately.

"Never," he said.

The article continues on about past cases involving Powell, Ciavarella, Toole and Judge Olszweski.

The only reported connection between Toole and Powell is a case from 2004 in which the newly elected judge allowed the former co-owner of PA Child Care to continue docking his yacht, "Reel Justice," at a Florida yacht club linked to Conahan and Ciavarella.

Before his election to the bench in 2003, Toole was a partner with Ciavarella at Lowery Ciavarella Rogers and Toole. Court records show that, on at least one occasion, Toole represented The Woodlands Inn & Resort — a hotel on the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre that has ties to D'Elia and that also received a pair of favorable rulings from Conahan in 2000 and 2003. There is no evidence to suggest that the plaintiffs improperly influenced either case.

The resort received another favorable ruling in 2003 from Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. that blocked the construction of a county-owned juvenile detention facility near its property, because it might have scared away prospective guests. The decision essentially paved the way for the construction of PA Child Care.

That is a case federal investigators are looking into, sources have told The Legal. There is no evidence to suggest that the plaintiffs improperly influenced the outcome of the case.

During his time at the firm, Ciavarella represented Robert K. Mericle — the builder of PA Child Care.

Though he was not named in the criminal information filed by federal officials against Ciavarella and Conahan, Mericle's construction company allegedly wired $1 million of the $2.6 million in kickbacks to a company over which the judges had control, according to the criminal information filed against the judges.

A review of Toole's 2003 campaign contributions shows Mericle donated $600.

This news was first brought to light by Zen over at ZensPoliticalRants.com.

Pay-To-Play, Quid-Pro-Quo, And A Lot Of Things The Taxpayers Should Know

In keeping with the theme of my post about Robert Mericle and Company donations Allentown Call writers Darryl Isherwood and Jarrett Renshaw wrote two great articles in Sunday's Morning Call.

Darryl's article is title In Lehigh Valley, contracts and campaign donations are linked. Mr. Renshaw writes Allentown's Pawlowski says there's no quid pro quo.

Highlighting Renshaw's article first one reads the following about Allentown's Mayor Pawloski: In a recent two-hour interview at his home, the mayor defended the contributions, saying he doesn't single-handedly award city contracts. Rather, he seeks the city solicitor's and others' advice. As for development projects and grants, they go through layers of approvals, he said.

Pawlowski also noted that only a fraction of city vendors and developers who do business with the city also contribute to his campaign.

A graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and former head of a campus ministry, Pawlowski said his strong religious beliefs help him avoid ethical pitfalls and influence his decision-making as the city's chief executive.

''My integrity is really important to me,'' he added. '' I have done everything I could to separate myself from these problems.

Mayor Ed, let me help you out with your posture. Here is the next paragraph.
The mayor says he builds his possible donor list by collecting the business cards of city vendors, by tapping friends and acquaintances and lifting the names of contributors who appear on area politicians' campaign reports -- on both sides of the political aisle.

Help me out here. How can he state that he has done everything he can to separate himself from these problems when he is collecting the business vendor cards for donations?

Renshaw goes on to write The Philadelphia law firm Cozen O'Connor doesn't have such a history with Allentown. Pawlowski selected the firm to negotiate a union contract with the city's police department in January of 2008. Nine months later, the firm's political action committee made a $2,500 contribution to Pawlowski's campaign.

In 2008, the city paid the firm $140,417.

Pawlowski said he solicited campaign money from the firm after it was hired by the city, saying ''I got their business card and I added their names to my mailing list.''

Isherwood writes about Lehigh County Executive Donald Cunnigham.

About a dozen county contractors have donated more than $100,000 combined to Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham's campaign war chest while receiving ''no-bid'' contracts worth more than $3 million, a Morning Call analysis of county and campaign finance records shows.

One of those contracts went to Computer Aid Inc., of Allentown, whose president has donated a total of $17,000 to Cunningham's campaign fund in the past four years.

In that time, Computer Aid Inc. has been paid more than $1.5 million under a contract to manage the county's information technology department.

As I previously wrote Robert Mericle and his associated business interests donated over $500,000 alone since 1998 to various political campaigns.

The Allentown articles touch on the topics of qui-pro-quo and pay-to-play. Harrisburg better get its act together.

Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said pay-to-play legislation is integral to assuring the public its tax dollars are being spent wisely by the politicians entrusted with the purse strings. As long as donations and contracts are tied, he said, an appearance of corruption remains.

There is a saying- "The appearance of an impropriety is worse than the impropriety itself." Issues like these further erode the public's confidence in government. What was once an acceptable behavior is now meeting a new, more forceful effort to eradicate the problem. As more information becomes public sweetheart deals will no longer remain private.

How Campaign Donations Can Break Down Barriers To Political Access- Hidden Unfairness

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as the Federal Election Commission have websites where anyone can look up campaign contributions made on behalf of candidates. Curiosity got the better of me concerning the campaign contributions.

There has been a discussion in the business community about grants and loans that politicians bring back home from either Harrisburg or Washington. For example, if a restaurant receives a low interest loan for $1 million dollars it can hurt the competition in the area that does not have the same political access. In this case I looked at Robert Mericle and his companies because the growth and success of his business has been phenomenal when compared to others in the same business. I looked at contributions made by Robert Mericle and/or his business entities for the years 1998 through 2008 on a federal and a state level.

Here is the breakdown:

In 1998 Tom Ridge was the recipient of $36,000.00.

In 1999 The Ridge Leadership Fund received a $10,000.00 donation and Friends of Mike Fisher received $1,000.00

Oddly, nothing of significance was noted in the year 2000 data.

In 2001 The Ridge Leadership Fund receives another $10,000.00 and Robert Casey For Governor receives $16,000.00.

In 2002 Edward Rendell For Governor accepts $10,500.00 in donations. Fisher For Governor receives $10,000.00 and Robert Casey For Governor is given another $5,000.00

In 2003 Edward Rendell For Governor receives another $10,000.00 and Robert Casey For Treasurer accepts $1,000.00

In 2004 Edward Rendell For Governor receives another $5,000.00 and Robert Casey For Treasuer is given another $2,000.00.

In 2005 Mark Ciavarella For Retention receives $2,250.00. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee comes on board for $2,000.00. Friends of Bob Mellow recieve $5,525.00.

And then the winds blow in. Hold onto your hat.

In 2006 the Committee To Elect Eddie Day Pashinski received $2,600.00. Edward Rendell For Governor receives $70,000.00. The Democratic Senate Committee accepts another $5,000.00. The SenatorMellow06 Committee receives $10,000.00 while Friends Of Bob Mellow accept $25,700.00.

In 2007 the Democratic Senate Committee is given another $5,000.00. The Committee For Rob McCord accepts $2,500.00. David Lupas For Judge Committee recieves $6,200.00. Friends of Bob Mellow accept another $75,875.00. Friends of Mike Carroll receive $2,000.00.

In 2008 the Democratic Senate Committee accepts another $5,000.00. The McCord Committee receives $25,000.00. Edward Rendell for Governor is given $15,000.00. Friends of Bob Mellow come up light at $875.00. Friends of Mike Carroll receive $4,500.00.

So lets add some of these up. Tom Ridge and The Ridge Leadership Fund received $56,000.00 but then the donations went mostly Democratic.

Edward Rendell For Governor received $110,500.00 since 2002. Friends of Bob Mellow and SenatorMellow06 were given a combined $117,975.00. Robert Casey For Governor and Treasurer received $23,250.00. The Democratic Senate Committee tallied up to $17,000.00. David Lupas For Judge received $6,250.00. Mark Ciavarella For Retention received $2,250.00.

On a federal level Paul Kanjorski via Pennsylvanians For Kanjorski has received $8,000.00 since 1998. Bob Casey For Pennsylvania Commmittee was the recipient of $2,100.00 while Bob Casey For Senate received $4,600.00. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee received $11,000.00. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee received $10,000.00. The RNC Republican National State Elections Committee received $5,000.00 on 11/03/2000. The Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania received $10,000.00 on 10/04/2005. The Pennsylvania Senate 2006 received $5,000.00 on 11/06/2006.

The total donations made on a federal level was $66,600.00 since 1998 including donations I have not published here. The total donations on a state level(including donations not listed here) were a whopping $444,395.00 for the same period..

The power of Congress lies in the committees where the bills are written. The committee chairman have tremendous control over the language written into a bill. Politicians who are not receptive to big campaign donors usually don't rise to these high offices. Party funds are such a big part of election funding that loss of party funds almost guarantees a loss of the election. On a state level the governor by him or herself is one of the three legislative bodies in most states. It is hard for proposed legislation to become law unless the governor ends up supporting it. A governor of a large state like Pennsylvania is more powerful than the governor of a small state.

Consider the gaming industry in Pennsylvania. Large campaign contributions created legal versions of gambling that were prohibited in the Commonwealth. The current voting methods and funding of candidates means the most ethical individual is so vulnerable to being influenced through money that the average voter really has no say except to place the person in office.

This problem is how we arrived at our financial crisis today. Large corporations influenced Congress to change the laws regarding savings and loans in the 80's. The new laws enabled these businesses to engage in financially irresponsible activity.

Is there a hidden unfairness in U.S. elections known as the disease "cashous infectous"? Is there an equal amount of access to politicians when individual donations can be drowned out with sizable donations like these?

State Figures By Year
1998- $38,000.00 1999- $11,000.00 2000- $1,650.00 2001- $27,100.00 2002- $26,600.00

2003- $14,100.00 2004- $10,910.00 2005- $18,100.00 2006- $131,075.00
2007- $97,200.00 2008- $68,650.00

Look At The Latest Defendants In The Juvenile Law Center Lawsuit

The Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia has jumped into the foray over the Luzerne County juvenile court scandal by filing a class action lawsuit against parties involved according to the Times Leader.

The following defendants are named in the suit: MARK A. CIAVARELLA, JR.; MICHAEL T. CONAHAN; ROBERT J. POWELL; ROBERT MERICLE; GREGORY ZAPPALA; CINDY CIAVARELLA; BARBARA
CONAHAN; MERICLE CONSTRUCTION, INC.; MIDATLANTIC YOUTH SERVICES; PA CHILD CARE, LLC; WESTERN PA CHILD CARE, LLC; PINNACLE GROUP OF JUPITER, LLC; VISION HOLDINGS, LLC; BEVERAGE MARKETING OF PENNSYLVANIA,INC.,Defendants.

Item 636 of the document is interesting in that it seems to elevate the allegations.

In particular, the defendants intentionally conspired and agreed to acquireor maintain interests in and control of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, as described in Count VI. Additionally, the
defendants intentionally conspired and agreed to conduct and participate in
the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering
activity, as described in Count V.

I am particularly intrigued by this statement in the lawsuit. The defendants knew that their predicate acts were part of a pattern of racketeering activity, and the defendants agreed to the commission of those acts to further the schemes described in Counts V and VI. It will be interesting to see the facts that will be presented to the court to support that allegation.

Again I want to stress that these are allegations that will most likely be defended against. No one should infer liability at this point. Please keep in mind that the defendants can petition the court to be dropped from the lawsuit at a later date. It is a civil action that will need to work its way through the court system.

I am sure this action will not be the last we see in this

Rendell Hits Paydirt Twice- Its a Mericle My Dear Hindrey

Over at Capitol Ideas with John Micek he talks about Fast Eddy Rendell's association with the bodacious donor who caused the demise of Tom Daschell as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Well, to be fair, it was Daschell who made his own choices.

As John reports Leo Hindrey dropped more than a fair amount of money into Rendell's coffers. "If recent history has taught us nothing, it's that where there's Democratic smoke, you'll probably find Gov. Ed toasting his marshmallows."

"A quick inspection of Department of State records show that Hindery has given a truly huge amount of money to Rendell over the years, starting with a $10,000 donation in 2001. Hindery also gave Rendell a stunning $100,000 in 2005, and footed the bill for $$2,257 worth of catering in 2006."
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That story takes us back to Robert Mercile, real estate developer, who believes in the premise that money is neither created nor destroyed it is just moved from place to place. According to a Times Leader article Mericle donated more than $110,000 to Gov. Ed Rendell’s campaigns since 1998 – including $70,000 in 2006 alone. Rendell was kind enough to repay the allegiance.

"About $17 million in grants and loans have been sent from Harrisburg to Mericle to help develop his CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park that spans the Pittston Township and Jenkins Township line."

Mericle is featured in the $2.6 Million Money Trail graphic authored by Gary Visgaitis of the Times Leader. It is alleged that over $1.15 million was wired transferred through Mericle Construction to the Pinnacle Group LLC linked to Ciavarella and Conahan.

No wonder Ed took himself out of Vice Presidential consideration. Almost $175,000.00 from just two donors. That is the way you show the public you have their interests above all others. I guess I didn't define who "their" is.

I could hear Santa now, On Daschell, On Dancing our way through this mess, In Hindreysite Fast Eddie will find a Mericle to deliver his gifts.