In 1958 George Leader was in the last year of his single four-year term allowed as Governor.  

Gov. Leader believed he would actually be more comfortable in the U.S. Senate.  Unfortunately U.S. Representative Hugh Scott aspired to the same office and, Republicans still held a solid registration edge.  Still, Scott, another moderate populist, only won by 33,000 votes, over Gov. Leader in November, 1958.

Gov. Leader followed his father in a State Senate seat in 1951, according to a well-written article by Mike Argento published this week in the York Daily Record.

Mr. Leader died Thursday morning at the age of 95.

Gov. Leader returned home from World War II Naval service, borrowed some money and began his own chicken hatchery.  His father had been a school teacher, raised poultry and was a Roosevelt Democrat in York County.  Gov. Leader earned a degree from University of Pennsylvania and did graduate work intending to be a teacher.

There weren’t many people who thought Mr. Leader had much of a chance when the Democrat Party asked him to run for Governor in 1954.  He would be a token candidate to Republican Lloyd Wood.  The GOP had a 900,000 voter registration edge.

State Sen. Leader ran a tireless campaign, asking for votes in all 67 counties.  Historian Paul Beers estimated Leader traveled 30,000 miles and shook 100,000 hands.  He won by a stunning 280,000 votes.  For his landslide victory, Time Magazine put him on the cover.

By accounts of people who predated me in state politics and personal observations of reactions to Gov. Leader 1968 to 1980, he was far and away the most popular Keystone Democrat politician ever.  Even though Pennsylvania was a solid “red” state in his era, Gov. Leader achieved success in major reforms through the political process.

Gov. Leader improved school funding, raising teacher salaries from $4,000 to $5,000 annually.  Inheriting a significant deficit from his predecessor Governor John Fine, he talked the legislature into bumping the sales tax from one to three percent.  The backlash to this tax hike was thought to be the difference when he lost to Sen. Scott in 1958.

Gov. Leader created the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to offer low interest financing for manufacturing growth.  In the first 30 months PIDA helped create 12,000 jobs, stunting the effects of a national recession at the time.

Even most recent Democrat Governor Ed Rendell said “He served in office for a relatively short period of time (PA governors were limited to a single four-year term until 1971.) . . . and yet he was a dominant, impactful figure in the life of the state for six decades.  You always knew where you stood with him.  He was never afraid of anything.”

Matthew Brouillette, CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank, said this week:

“I had the great pleasure of working arm in arm with Gov. Leader, his family and a broad coalition that transcended partisan boundaries to help bring substantive correction reform to Pennsylvania in 2012.  Governor Leader’s passion for serving the underserved, from his elder care business to his philanthropic work to better serve the lives of the poor, the imprisoned and their families, is an inspiration to all of us.”

Throughout his post-governor life Gov. Leader spoke at many graduation events.  He delivered most of these speeches behind bars.  In a conversation three years ago with Jeanette Krebs, an editor at Harrisburg Patriot-News, Gov. Leader said he believes “the prison system is broken and our lawmakers need to fix it.”

Five or six times a year he would visit a state correctional institution and congratulate prisoners for making it through a program that he largely funded, according to Krebs.

When Leader was governor, the state tended to 7,000 inmates.  Today our prison population is about 52,000.

He campaigned for statewide Democrat candidates often through the sixties and seventies.  All the good words published after his death explain why party faithful would flock to him and pump his hand at every event.

Lowman Henry isn’t a household name, even to active Pennsylvania Republicans.

For the last two decades, however, Henry has been an important reason why his GOP hasn’t strayed to the extremes of their counterparts in Florida, Texas, Arizona and the like.  Each of the governors in those three states builds political support by slapping down President Obama at every chance.

Henry, a self-styled right-wing political pundit, is dangerous to Democrats because he creates an effective barrier between Tea Party members and the rest of the electorate.  Consequently, many efforts of the far-right to make Pennsylvania look more like Extremism USA see little light.

Henry is the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of the Lincoln Institute for Public Opinion Research in Harrisburg.  Lincoln is a two-decade old non-profit promoting all that is Republican with an emphasis on business.

Under the Lincoln label (www.lincolninstitute.org), Henry publishes guest columns in mainstream media and manages talk radio shows across the state and beyond.   His writing is crisp and easy to understand.

Henry began adult life as a newspaper reporter – slash – active Republican.  A story in a June, 1986 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains.

“Lowman Henry, 29, a reporter for the Irwin Standard-Observer, has been elected to his fourth two-year term as chair of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee.”  Small wonder that Richard Scaife, owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, writes big checks to sustain the Lincoln Institute.

Journalists may cringe at the preceding paragraph, but the political right continues to invest in mainstream media.  Richard King Mellon, Scaife and Rupert Murdoch have helped shape American political philosophy, while also making a buck or two.  Now the Koch brothers are looking to go “all in” for metro newspapers, TV and radio stations.

Henry knows that truly “objective journalism” no longer works.  Readers in a busy world look for conclusions from their reporters.  Journalists fear being painted subjective.  Consequently, if the reporter is writing negative about one party or candidate, he or she feels compelled to compose the same about the other side to remain labeled as “fair and balanced.”

That’s fine with Henry.  He jumps into columnist space on the editorial page or soaks up air time, often successfully spinning what passes for a news event.

Recently Gov. Tom Corbett trailed in several polls against every conceivable Democrat opponent in 2014.  Time for Henry to make his move.

The Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research announces its “Spring 2013 Keystone Business Climate Survey.”  Not surprising, business owners weighed in with far higher approval ratings for Corbett.  Just like that, Henry had peppered the populace with a positive Corbett poll.  If nothing else, he diffused a public conclusion that it was time to stick the fork in the current governor.

After helping Westmoreland County start to transition from a half-century Democrat stronghold, Henry, 56, served as political director of the Republican State Committee, worked in the state senate and was a Dauphin County Commissioner.

After losing a race for state treasurer in 1992 Henry and a friend formed Lincoln Institute.  Never denying he is a social conservative, nevertheless Henry steered the Lincoln Institute into more business causes to keep the Republican Party tent as broad as possible.

The 1990s was the era of pro-choice Republican stars such as former Gov. Tom Ridge and Barbara Hafer, a time that required skillful management of GOP voters.  A while back Henry wrote:

“I am frequently appalled at the negative and angry rhetoric which often characterizes social issues policy discussions.  Commentary and arguments tend to be preachy and self-righteous, seeking to demean rather than uplift . . . He (Jesus) did not condemn.  Instead He sought to redeem.”

The National pundits incorrectly say Pennsylvania is turning permanently blue.  Such conclusion defies facts.   The governor’s office, both legislative assemblies and all three appellate courts have majority Republican judges.  As Obama beat Mitt Romney in the Keystone State last year, Republicans still won 13 of 18 Congressional seats.

Democrats hold a million voter registration plurality, but party leadership has trouble walking and chewing gum.

Perhaps guys like Lowman Henry keep the odds even.

Most people love Pennsylvania, for the change of seasons, if nothing else.

Many who think reincarnation is in the works would probably choose to come back to PA.  Exactly where is another matter.

Pennsylvania residents fall into two distinct classes.  People generally living in rural areas, otherwise known as “spongers.”  Residents likely to call a city or borough home are referred to as “hosts" in this article.

The forward choice is obvious.  Go live in a township with the spongers.

It’s all about taxes and community responsibilities.

Hosts foot the bill for services and benefits, not only for themselves, but for most spongers.  Hosts must pay taxes to support work places, libraries, airports, schools, hospitals, stores, social and fraternal clubs and more.  Hosts pay for care of the streets leading to these necessities, fire and police protection and other municipal services.  Some sites – schools, hospitals, churches – are property tax exempt, increasing the burden on the taxable hosts.

Smart people, spongers, live in the rural sections of townships.  Every day they drive to a nearby town to take advantage of these features.  Spongers work there, shop there, send their kids to school there, doctor there and pray there – for free.  Spongers have even been known to attend borough or city council meetings to complain about recreation programs or other services they use but don’t pay for.

Property insurance is likely to be less expensive in the rural areas.  This benefit may be the result of municipal water systems spotting fire hydrants in proximity to rural properties.   Response to fires in rural areas may be as quick as responses to fires in the cities, thanks to mutual aid pacts.  Paid firefighters on duty 24/7 in the cities compared to volunteers in the boonies who no longer can get off their day jobs to respond.

(Paid firefighters and police officers may comprise a special class of spongers.  They work in the cities or boroughs.  They are paid from proceeds of property taxes running 25-30 mills and more.  With decent salaries and exceptional pensions and health benefits, they can easily “afford” to raise their kids in the townships where property millage may be five, or even less.)

Wage taxes are another story playing to the same tune.  The surgeons and professors live in townships but would not have a place to work if the hospital or college did not exist in the nearby city.  The city or borough employers withhold these wage taxes; remit them to the proper city or borough tax collector who then transmits them to the resident municipality.

Next time you might seek directions to the mecca for spongers.  As a result of cunning Republican lawmakers, serving as defenders of the rural populace, you can chose a township that has no police force and relies on PA State Police for protection.  Everyone contributes to this service when filling your vehicle at the gas station.  State cops are paid from the motor license fund, about a half billion per year.  Because of this additional sponger benefit, you could call home a township that has NO property tax.

As always, there is a better alternative.  However, can there be a solution to a situation that neither cunning Republicans nor docile Democrats consider a problem?

The smallest unit of municipal government should be at the county level.  The cost of roads, bridges, crime fighting, fire protection, sewers, water systems and – even – education would be spread over a wider base and operated more efficiently.

That’s not going to happen, however.

In one of the smartest moves to ever benefit Republicans, state lawmakers in the early 1960s passed and Gov. William Scranton signed a law banning piecemeal annexation.  This ended the natural growth of cities and boroughs.  The exit of large manufactures that paid huge taxes and demanded little services was another nail in the coffin.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell talked about consolidation early on.  Near the end of his first term he was asked if he was going to follow up.  His answer was “That needs to wait until the second term, or there will be no second term.”

In Rendell’s second term, consolidation never made it out of the bullpen.

State government leaders ponder how to pay for critically-needed repairs to roads and bridges.

Gov. Tom Corbett recognized previous administrations had “kicked the can down the road,” not wanting to deal with building an adequate transportation fund.  Early in 2011, he appointed a commission to recommend ways to meet this objective.  In a few months they concluded, first, the need was greater than anyone imagined, and, second, every road and fuel tax, fees and motor fines should be hiked to meet the task.

For more than a year Corbett ignored the commission’s report.  After all, he had been elected Governor on the promise to never raise taxes.

Corbett announces earlier this year that he had solved the problem.  He asked the legislature to phase in over several years the removal of the cap on sales tax applied to the wholesale price of gasoline.

Corbett ignored two issues.  First, in his mind, dunning wholesalers for a higher tax is not the same as increasing retail taxes at the pump.  (Based on today’s prices, experts estimate this back door method will eventually raise retail taxes about 28 cents per gallon.)  Second, his plan raises just $1.5 billion the first year.  His own study commission claimed the need was about $3.5 billion and some estimated it as high as $6-7 billion!

Pennsylvania now ranks 15th highest in fuel taxes at 32.3 cents.  Highest is New York at 50.6 cents, California is second at 48.7.  If neither of these two states took a healthy increase over the next three years, the Keystone State could be the highest in the country.  PennDOT maintains more roads and bridges than any other state highway department.

Former Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, somehow concluded putting the PA Turnpike into private hands could create more profit.  This profit would be transferred to PennDOT to help fix other bridges and roads.  He ordered the Turnpike to begin borrowing funds to hand over to PennDOT.  Later, the legislature balked at leasing out the Turnpike or tolling Interstate 80, another proposal that went nowhere.  Even though the Turnpike Commission raises toll rates often, the debt continues to rise.

Today, belonging to the same party as the governor, legislative leaders could not be rude.  Instead, starting with Republican chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, John Rafferty, they claim Corbett’s idea is okay, but “we like ours better.”

At least two versions of proposals are afloat that would raise driver’s license fees, vehicle registration and traffic fines in addition to hiking wholesale taxes on gasoline at a slower rate.  These proposals are supported by both Democrat minority transportation committee chairs of the House and Senate.

The proposals have attracted Democrat support even though all versions call for continued flat rate vehicle registration fees.  For example, one version would raise four-wheel vehicle registration from $36 annually to $104 for two years.

Same fee for any size vehicle, new or very used, $500 value or $80,000.

According to American Petroleum Institute at least 21 other states have sliding scale vehicle registration fees based on varying factors from weight to age to value.  In most of these states, legislators made the guy with a brand new Escalade pay a higher registration fee than the working single mother driving a beat up 10-year-old Caravan.  Conversely, but equally applicable, the working single mother is not likely to afford a 50 mpg Prius Hybrid, helping overcome the pending hike in fuel taxes.

If Democrat lawmakers in Pennsylvania represent the working poor, it is a well-kept secret.  Too many minority lawmakers in Harrisburg are quick to respond that they have no responsibility to provide votes for contentious legislation.

Both parties have been known to “hunker down” when the other party was in control, but Democrats are better at it.

Tom Corbett needs help from seven Democrat state senators to even sniff at a second four-year governor’s term next year.

Corbett claims he personally was not aware Republican State Senator Jane Orie should be investigated for using state workers for campaign purposes.   His attorney general office, however, snubbed a claim of such conduct by one of the workers.

His subordinates kicking the case launched a series of events.

While Corbett campaigned for governor on his crusade against political corruption, he never met a PA senator who aroused his suspicion.  Even before Jane Orie’s case, the Feds nailed two Democrat Senators.  Critics believe Corbett could not open the Senate door without entrapping close Republican allies.

The Jane Orie case got kicked over to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr., an apolitical Democrat known for lack of ambition for higher office and content to keep on keeping on.  Zappala’s office not only successfully prosecuted Jane Orie, but evidence also linked two of her sisters to the corrupt practices.

Eventually Joan Orie Melvin, a Supreme Court Justice, and Janine Orie, Melvin’s chief aide, were also convicted.  Melvin will resign in early May, a week before she is sentenced, leaving the PA Supreme Court split at three Republicans and three Democrats.

Herein might be Gov. Corbett’s Waterloo.

Corbett needs important programs to survive likely challenges to the Supreme Court.  At least one vote is necessary get his next fiscal year budget, beginning July 1, into balance.

Ever since Corbett took office in 2011 he has cracked the fiscal whip on the public school system.  The first term governor took office in January of that year and a month later introduced his first budget that had public education advocates howling.  His story is that in his first two budgets (2011-12 and 2012-13) he actually provided very modest increases in school funding.  However, Corbett declined to replace Federal stimulus funds and other declining sources from Washington.

For acting like a true Republican, Gov. Corbett’s approval ratings have sunk lower than a sailboat in the Bermuda Triangle.  According to the New York Times, polls about Corbett’s satisfaction show 14 more percent of voters disapprove than approve.

Corbett wants to privatize both the PA lottery and the selling of liquor and wine.  There has been significant public interest in getting the state out of the booze business, but the lottery proposal looks like a hi-jacking.

In the lottery jacking, Corbett tried to sign a 20-year $34 billion no-bid contract with an English firm that has hired former Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, to perform unspecified duties.  New Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, rejected the contract citing violation of three sections of the state Constitution.

Corbett’s staff is trying to re-work the deal with the English.  Kane claims the lottery is a creature of the legislature and the contract end runs competitive bidding.

With the Brits running his lottery, Corbett will introduce Keno on every street corner in every town.  Casino revenues were off a tad this past calendar year, meaning that industry may be maturing in the Keystone State.  Corbett’s projections indicate Keno will increase lottery profits, used for programs for old people.

Replacing state operated booze stores by selling licenses in the private market will raise some one-time, non-renewable cash.  Corbett has promised to hand those funds out to school districts in the form of competitive grants.  The state employees union will obviously challenge this attempt in court to fire more workers.

Without funds from these privatization efforts Corbett’s budget for 2013-14 is not balanced.

Finally, Corbett hopes to bring funding pensions under control by essentially re-writing basic contract law, a sure-fire trip to the Supreme Court.

Melvin’s successor is to be appointed by Corbett, but subject to two-thirds confirmation by the State Senate.  Republicans can only provide 27 of the 34 votes needed.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille thinks the remaining six Supremes could appoint a seventh judge to fill the balance of Melvin’s term on their own, if Corbett stumbles or Democrats show backbone.

Almost a month has passed since General Kathleen Kane and Col. Frank Noonan jointly announced indictments involving corruption at the PA Turnpike.  Kane, a Democrat, is the newly elected Attorney-General.  Noonan is Republican Governor Tom Corbett’s state police commissioner.  The indictments include former Turnpike officials during a time when the roadway operations were controlled by a Democrat administration.

The indicted ex-officials were accused of accepting gratuities from those doing business with the state.  The benefactors shelled out for tickets to NFL playoff games and Penguins’ events, air fares, hotel accommodations and . . .

Wait! That is not the correct list!

Those goodies are on a list submitted by Gov. Corbett to the state Ethics Board.  In addition to the above, Corbett and his wife admitted to receiving gifts valued over $15,000 from a Philadelphia law firm that represents the oil and gas industry. 

Corbett has not been indicted.  Corbett is not under investigation.  He denies any “quid pro quo” in the receipt of these gifts.

An 85-page investigative grand jury report cited one Turnpike individual who was personally enriched by the “pay-to-play” culture.  He accepted over $6,000 in gift certificates.

Oops! Scratch that also.  Former Turnpike commissioner Bill Lincoln was granted immunity.

Two turnpike executives stand indicted for accepting meals, tickets to events and other gifts similar to what Corbett admitted receiving from his “friends.”

Corbett prepares for a run at a second term as Governor next year.  The indicted former turnpike officials fear imprisonment.   How these circumstances differ is attributed to the major political parties contrast in their manipulation of corruption scandals.

Former GOP State Senator Jane Orie was indicted for using taxpayer-paid employees for campaign purposes.  The Republican controlled State Senate passed a resolution of support.  Various GOP officials made statements praising Orie.

A former intern bearing witness to Orie’s crimes was turned away from Corbett’s attorney-general office.

Republicans in Pennsylvania have been winning the battle of corruption since the days before Richard Thornburgh became governor.  He wrote the book on manipulating grand juries into indicting Democrat leaders.  Corbett is penning a sequel.

Both parties lusted after no-bid contract work at the Turnpike since the road opened around 1940.  For the first four decades the business was split 50-50 no matter which Party controlled the governor’s office.

That changed when Thornburgh became governor in 1979.  Jay Waldman, his chief of staff, demanded all the business at the Turnpike.  The 60-40 split began with the administration of Democrat governor Bob Casey in 1987 and apparently continued to January, 2011.

Presently all the business is handed out by Corbett appointees.  Some companies continue to get business because they contribute to both parties.

Corbett’s grand jury manipulation to create the Turnpike scandal tops his “Bonusgate” operation.  In “Bonusgate,” Corbett focused on a Democrat House of Representatives for enough indictments to get elected governor.  Republicans he indicted during that probe were deemed not relevant to GOP fortunes.

This was during his one and one-half four-year terms as Attorney General, 2005-2010.  He had two additional years where he controlled AG activities through his hand-picked successor, Linda Kelly.  She completed his second term.

Corbett began the Turnpike probe in 2009.

Republicans needed to escape prosecution.  Democrats took control of the Turnpike in 2003 and the statute of limitations on most political corruption charges is eight years, according to Kane.  Corbett needed the grand jury to hear no scandal about Republicans until 2010.

This meant Republicans were safe by the time Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, took over as Attorney-General in January of this year.

When Kane walked into office not three months ago, the Turnpike indictments were all wrapped up, ready for delivery.

Noonan was present for the Turnpike indictments press conference and also for the victory lap for conviction of Jerry Sandusky for child molestation in the PSU scandal.

During the six years Corbett was AG, Gov. Ed Rendell’s police commissioner was left out of such ceremonies.

What about the Democrats?  They seem to hunker down, hoping to avoid any stain from the corruption scandal.  Yielding high ground to the Republicans helps those, as individuals, get re-elected.

What’s more important than that?

There is no guarantee that the PA Supreme Court is occupied by Supreme Judges.

During the last two decades, lower court judges or connected lawyers from Philadelphia and Allegheny counties, ran for appellate court on the Republican ticket and usually won.

In Pennsylvania, qualifications are seldom an issue in the partisan elections.

Only two Supremes are not from either vote-rich county.  Of the 15-member PA Superior appellate court, eight are from Allegheny and one from Philadelphia.   Of the nine-member Commonwealth Court, currently only two hail from Allegheny and none from Philly.

Of the 31 appellate judges (and nine more who have retired senior status) only one is not Caucasian.  Superior Court Judge Cheryl Allen is female, African-American and from Allegheny County.

If you are female, sexual diversity is somewhat better.  On Commonwealth Court females outnumber males, five to four.  Ten of the 15 Superior Court jurists are females.   Two more women remain members of the Supreme Court, at least until May 1.

That’s the date Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, from Allegheny County, promises to resign.  Melvin, 56, voluntarily stepped away from judicial duties last May to battle criminal charges.  Melvin and her sister, Janine Orie, 58, chief of staff in the Justice’s office, were convicted this February of campaign corruption.

Melvin’s absence leaves the PA Supremes with a 3-3 tie politically.  Once this was not a problem because judges were thought to make rulings on points of law.  Now Chief Justice Ron Castille, a Republican, openly talks about the partisan split Court.

Castille is concerned because the Supremes must rule on state legislative re-apportionment plans and could be the final arbiters of Gov. Tom Corbett’s plans to change the lottery, state stores and government workers and teacher pensions.

Corbett gets to pick the successor to Melvin but the replacement must be confirmed by 34 votes in the state senate.  To get that many, he needs at least seven Democrat Senators.

Corbett will argue that the appointment will only serve until the next judiciary election, 2015.

Political affiliation is an issue in all three of the state’s appellate courts.

The Supreme Court (including Melvin) is 4-3 Republican.  In addition, Superior Court has nine Republicans and six Democrats.  Finally, seven of the nine Commonwealth Court justices are Republican.

Republicans have been successful at partisan judicial elections despite having one million less registered voters than Democrats.

Democrat candidates for appellate court judgeships are not necessarily inferior in quality.  One year in the last decade, all three Democrats on the ballot were rated “highly recommended” by the state bar association and superior to their Republican opponents in qualifications.  All three Democrats lost.

President Superior Court Judge Kate Ford Elliott, an Allegheny County Democrat, considered to be exceptionally qualified, lost when she attempted to move to the Supreme Court.

Now sitting judges hope to push back or eliminate altogether the mandatory age of 70 for retirement.  Mandatory retirement will be debated before the PA Supreme Court this summer, decided by judges who will benefit from the change.

Castille is not alone in his conflict about changing the mandatory retirement age.  He is running for retention this year but will turn 70 next year.  By 2020 five other Supreme Court justices, under the current rule, must retire.

One, Seamus McCafferty, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer this March 4, has turned his position into a money-making enterprise.  The Philly Democrat is paid $195,309 yearly.  He hired his wife, Lise Rapaport, as his chief judicial aide at $75,395 annually.

Justice McCafferty has been a Supreme since January, 2008.  His wife is licensed but does not practice active law.  She does refer cases to other lawyers.  The Inquirer said her most recent of 18 referral fees was $821,000 from a settlement in a medical malpractice case.

Senility is not an issue in the Federal courts.  All judicial appointments at that level are for life.

In 2006 -- midway through his first term as state Attorney General -- Tom Corbett formed a public corruption unit.  Activities there propelled him to a first term as Governor in 2010.  Extended control through handpicked successor Linda Kelly until this past January boost chances for re-election in 2014.

Corbett’s campaign benefited from publicity associated with the “Bonusgate” scandal late in the last decade.  Carefully orchestrated prosecutions against state representatives, press conferences and “perp” walks of Democrat lawmakers wearing handcuffs helped erase a million voter registration deficit.

Harrisburg observers thought the ax would fall on state Senators for using their staffs for campaign purposes.

The Feds nailed Democrat senators Bob Mellow and Vince Fumo with evidence corruption existed in that legislative body.  Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala sent GOP State Sen. Jane Orie to prison for using taxpayer-paid employees for campaign tasks.

Corbett remained unconcerned about corrupt practices in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Corbett began the investigation of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in 2009.  He did not take the convicted child molester off the streets until 2011.

Critics contend Corbett did not want the Sandusky investigation to surface before the 2010 gubernatorial election for two reasons.  Sandusky was once considered to be successor to head coach Joe Paterno.  PSU nation members became irate when they learned Corbett was poking around Paterno’s empire.

Second, large campaign donations poured in from these same people.  By one count, directors of a charity for wayward boys, founded and run by Sandusky, donated over $600,000 to Corbett in 2010.

Some experts in child molestation crimes believe the suspect should be taken off the streets as soon as possible.  Corbett argued time must be provided for other boys and parents to come forward.  He denied “slow-walking” the Sandusky investigation to benefit his political campaign.

Earlier this month new Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced indictments of eight men for corrupt practices in the business of the PA Turnpike.  These prosecutions are also the work of Corbett’s public corruption unit.  The last two years this staff served at the direction of Linda Kelly, Corbett’s handpicked successor as AG.

Did Corbett and Kelly also slow-walk the Turnpike probe to improve his chances for re-election in 2014?  Certain factors contribute to this theory.

Political contributions and doing business with the Turnpike have been synonymous since the road opened in 1940.  This is why the non-bid business has always been split between the two political parties.

The 33rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury met for a week a month for the last five years.  Indictments against Sandusky and three PSU administrators were an early product.  The Turnpike Eight are its latest.  Throughout, they have been spoon-fed targets, witnesses and documents.  Prosecutors and staff were all hired by one of the last six elected and appointed Republican state attorneys-general.

The Turnpike indictments were directed only against practices that occurred while Democrats were in control.  Now the forthcoming court actions will crimp that party’s fund raising in next year’s governor election.

The 85-page grand jury presentment barely recognizes periods when Republicans controlled the Turnpike, 26 of the last 50 years.  For example, contributors seeking Turnpike business made donations to former Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell and 2010 Democrat candidate Dan Onorato, according to the presentment.

The grand jury made no mention of corrupt practices by vendors contributing to Corbett.  By agreement, forty per cent of the non-bid work was given to Republican-approved vendors while Democrats controlled the Turnpike.

With Democrats in control for the years 2003 through 2010, the statutes of limitations are expiring against any illegal GOP practices.  Most laws against public corruption require prosecution within five years of occurrence.

A Judge may approve an application for an extension of statutes up to an additional eight years.  Common Pleas courts in Central PA and the state appellate courts are controlled by Republicans.

In politics, timing is everything.

New England Compounding Center (NECC) was in a very lucrative business which has somehow escaped regulation by either the state of Massachusetts or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Pharmacists alter or remix existing drugs to meet particular needs of patients who otherwise are not responding to treatment.  This is known as drug compounding.

State pharmacy boards are mostly responsible for oversight even though some, like NECC, have been supplying regular drug stores across state lines.  The FDA claims that whenever they try to assert jurisdiction, courts rule otherwise.

This system remained under the radar until last fall’s fungal meningitis outbreak.  The outbreak was eventually linked to an epidural steroid injection produced by NECC.

This report has been put together with dispatches by Reuter News, the Associated Press and CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

Now the toll has reached 620 documented cases in 19 states, resulting in 47 deaths.

NECC claimed FDA did not issue a meningitis warning for 684 days.  FDA admitted to a “significant delay” but insisted the delay “in no way diminishes our serious concerns about (NECC) operations.

Now that the lax oversight has passed from the Bush Administration to Obama’s watch, the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives makes headlines, convincing us they ride white horses.  Some reform measures granting FDA more regulatory power might be taken up by the 113th Congress, but don’t hold your breath.

Then again, the crisis might languish, similar to the recent debate on gun control.  This could be another example of more concern about burdensome regulations causing corporations to lose profit.

Regardless, back in Boston, New England Compounding Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to deal with 130 lawsuits, and more being filed every day.  The bosses at NECC claimed they would attempt to set up a fund to pay the victims inside the bankruptcy.

The Associated Press reported the bankruptcy filing last December 22.  NECC lawyers supposedly said the company “intended to do the right thing.”

Exactly a month later, January 22, 2013, AP published another report.  This account detailed actions NECC shareholders took prior to filing bankruptcy.

Financial records indicate that cost of sales was only about half of revenue generated.  NECC sales went from $20 million in 2010 to $32 million in 2012.  The company had closed by the time the 4th quarter of 2012 had rolled around.  NECC shoveled in the $32 million in just nine months.

What to do with all that cash?

NECC ownership is in the hands of four family members who also served as corporate directors.  Profits needed distributing.  Carla Conigliaro, largest shareholder, grabbed $8.7 million between late December, 2011 and late November, 2012.  Three of Carla’s relatives awarded themselves another $8 million combined.

Such a tragedy could repeat.  What NECC did is not unusual, except for killing so many people.  A drug may not be on the market to cure an ailment or cause it to regress, but the solution exists.  A pharmacy compounds a single dose for one patient.  Sometimes the compounded prescription works and – by word of mouth and other means – word about the results spreads.

Soon doctors are sending in prescriptions since one is always needed.  Some rogue health care providers stockpile dosages by using the telephone directory to fabricate prescriptions.

The judge who presided over the state grand jury that indicted former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky for child molestation has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate grand jury leaks. 

Judge Barry Fuedale is on senior status with the state’s Commonwealth Court.  He appointed current Lancaster County assistant district attorney James Reeder with special powers that expire Aug. 8.  The six-month appointment took effect Feb. 8 but was not discovered by the media until three weeks later.

The order gives Reeder power to probe the 33rd and 36th Statewide Investigating Grand Juries and the Dauphin County Fourth Investigating Grand Jury.  The 33rd also charged ex-PSU President Graham Spanier, ex-athletic director Timothy Curley and retired V.P. for finance and business, Gary Schultz for covering up Sandusky’s actions.

A Center County common pleas jury convicted Sandusky last year and he is serving a 60-year prison term.  The other three await trial.

Reeder may cross paths with new Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s special prosecutor.  Keeping a campaign promise, Kane appointed college professor H. Geoffrey Moulton to determine if Gov. Tom Corbett slow-walked the Sandusky probe to accommodate his gubernatorial campaign.

The Dauphin County Fourth Investigating Grand Jury probed Scranton businessman Louis DeNaples’ pursuit of a slot machine license seven years ago.  Another judge dismissed perjury charges against DeNaples in 2009.  Fuedale did not explain how the two grand juries are related.

The 36th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury has yet to be empaneled.  Fuedale did not say how his prosecutor will investigate leaks in a grand jury that never existed.

Gov. Corbett served as attorney general during the periods of both the 33rd Statewide and 4th Dauphin County grand juries.  He has defended himself against charges of politicizing the criminal judicial process to advance his gubernatorial campaign.  Reeder was an assistant attorney general, helping Corbett indict and prosecute legislators and their staff in the probe known as “Bonusgate.”

Fuedale did not explain how Reeder would or could remain objective while investigating his former boss, now the Governor.

Until Judge Fuedale penned this order, few were aware that secrecy in these grand juries was an issue.  When attorneys for DeNaples raised this issue in 2009, a special prosecutor reported in 2010 that he was unable to learn where the leaks occurred.

Reeder will only be paid $72 per hour on this assignment.  He can hire an assistant at $20 per hour and must complete his work and file a report by August 8.  Moulton also makes $72 per hour, but is on no deadline.

The Judge said he may elect to withhold parts of Reeder’s report from the public.

If the leaks, as perceived by Judge Fuedale, involve the Penn State matter, trials of the three University officials could be delayed until after August 8.  This would put these trials on the front pages as Corbett runs for a second term as governor.

The Attorney General usually asks the Court to empanel a grand jury.  This statewide grand jury met in secret in the offices of the Attorney General meaning the leak, if any, happened in a building overseen by Corbett.

Fuedale may believe that since the leaks happened on his watch, he is responsible for plugging them.  He also could be running interference for Corbett, hoping to make Reeder’s findings of greater public interest than the Governor’s machinations.