Post by keystonejenks on Nov 13, 2009 10:43:00 GMT -5
This isn't a boogieman story like ACORN, this is another legitimate issue of the GOP altering elections. Here is the story. You'll notice a familiar theme of claiming it's "political grandstanding" by Democrats. You'd think they'd have another page in the playbook by now.
Link: Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09317/1013157-454.stm#ixzz0WkpnJoZt
Link: Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/09317/1013157-454.stm#ixzz0WkpnJoZt
Rep. John Perzel, GOP aides charged in state probe
Former House speaker accused in wide-ranging corruption investigation that started with the Democrats
HARRISBURG -- A statewide grand jury yesterday accused former Republican speaker of the House John M. Perzel and nine others in a scheme that misrouted more than $10 million in state funds to political causes.
The presentment, unsealed here by Attorney General Tom Corbett, marked the first time the wide-ranging legislative corruption probe crossed the political aisle, 16 months after an earlier case scooped up a dozen Democrats.
Facing criminal counts of conspiracy, theft, obstruction of justice and conflict-of-interest are:
• John Perzel, 59, the former House speaker and a state representative from Philadelphia.
• Brian Preski, 44, of Philadelphia, Mr. Perzel's former chief of staff.
• Brett Feese, 55, a former state representative from Lycoming County and, until last week, general counsel to the House Republicans.
• Elmer "Al" Bowman, 34, of York County, a former aide to Mr. Feese and spokesman for GOP House campaigns.
• Samuel Stokes, 66, of Philadelphia, Mr. Perzel's brother-in-law who managed Mr. Perzel's campaigns but was purportedly a ghost employee on the House payroll.
• Jill Seaman, 57, of Dauphin County, an assistant to Mr. Feese.
• Paul Towhey, 38, of Montgomery County, Mr. Perzel's current chief of staff.
• Don McClintock, 41, of Voorhees, N.J., a campaign aide to Mr. Perzel.
• Eric Ruth, 34, of Boca Raton, Fla., a former deputy director of information technology for the House Republicans.
• John Zimmerman, 61, of Dauphin County, a Perzel legislative aide.
All are expected to be arraigned today before a Harrisburg district judge.
The 188-page grand jury report sketches a tableau of a Perzel regime that politicized virtually every aspect of his state office, using technology workers to develop political databases, deploying legislative workers assigned to district offices as campaign researchers, even funding anonymous "robo-calls" to homes in the districts of fellow Republicans who defied him on a 2005 pay-raise bill.
In all, Mr. Perzel was charged with 82 criminal counts ranging from conspiracy and theft to conflict-of-interest.
The case spun from Mr. Corbett's earlier probe into allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars were used as phony performance bonuses to state employees as a reward for working on political campaigns. In July 2008, Mr. Corbett charged a dozen people, including two former House Democratic legislators, with theft and conspiracy in that case.
The Perzel grand jury found two distinct criminal conspiracies: the use of taxpayer-paid employees and software for his and other political campaigns, and an effort by Mr. Feese and others in the caucus to stall and mislead state investigators looking into the political campaigns.
Yesterday's charges pitted Mr. Corbett, a Republican who is running for governor, against some members of his own party. He had been criticized last year for bringing charges only against Democrats.
As Mr. Corbett was announcing yesterday's presentment, Mr. Perzel issued an angry statement that the prosecution "smacks of political opportunism" and vowing to fight the charges.
"This investigation has lasted nearly three years and it's only now, on the eve of his gubernatorial campaign and in response to claims that he was unfairly pursuing only Democrats, that Attorney General Corbett has decided to bring charges against 10 Republicans, including me," Mr. Perzel said.
Mr. Corbett shrugged off the accusation and acknowledged that, until the probe began to point to Mr. Perzel and Mr. Preski, he had accepted help from them, including a sponsored fundraiser for his re-election. He said previous help would not be a factor.
"Even if they've helped me, if they've done wrong, we're going to go after them," Mr. Corbett said.
The grand jury report said Mr. Perzel's hyper-political style grew from a narrow 2000 re-election win.
"One of his first acts was to open a permanent campaign office," the report said. He appointed his brother-in-law, Mr. Stokes, to head the office but later hid him on the legislative payroll.
J. Anthony Painter, Mr. Perzel's hand-picked head of the Republican Internet Technology Office, testified under a grant of immunity that his office and its employees became an extension of Mr. Perzel's political efforts. Jurors said they were able to trace more than $800,000 in employee work hours in that office going to political development.
Some employees testified that they spent from 40 percent to 70 percent of their work time on politics.
The major outlays, according to the grand jury, were a series of database purchases from two firms: Aristotle International, of Washington, D.C., and GCR and Associates of New Orleans.
Mr. Corbett's office yesterday estimated that more than $10 million in database purchases from Aristotle and GCR were made primarily to provide political data.
One of the major programs was called the "Blue Card" system, first developed as a survey within Mr. Perzel's district, then expanded through House employees and database information purchased from Aristotle, according to the grand jury.
At one point, the grand jury report found, the Blue Card program was employed to meddle in a state Senate district and for the 2004 Republican campaign against Philadelphia Democratic Congresswoman Alyson Schwartz.
So extensive was the use of state resources for politics under Mr. Perzel, that grand jurors reported that state technology employees were dispatched to use a get-out-the-vote program called Election Day Complete on behalf of the Republican candidate for a special election to replace state Rep. Jeff Habay. Jurors said the program had been assembled by Aristotle under a state contract.
Mr. Habay, a Republican, had been driven from office for using state resources and employees for his prior elections.
The night before the special election, Tim Halula, a Republican information technologies employee, was in his hotel room talking with Marcus Woodring, another RIT worker sent to the district to help the GOP nominee.
"In the corner of the room was a pile of the public equipment to be used the next day to assist the Republican candidate, Mike Dolan," the grand jury report states.
"Halula and Woodring discussed how truly 'weird' it was to be about to use all these public resources to fill the seat of a guy who just went to jail for 'illegal campaign activities.' "
Mr. Dolan lost that election to Democrat Shawn Flaherty.
While investigators found a variety of payments to GCR from Mr. Perzel's campaign account, they said it accounted for only a fraction of the estimated $9 million in state funds spent on data from the firm.
Gregory Rigamer, the owner of GCR, testified under a grant of immunity.
Mr. Painter, the former RIT director who received immunity, told the grand jury that he estimated most of the $6.2 million in House Republican caucus contracts with Aristotle went for politics.
At one point, according to the grand jurors, the Republican caucus staff split into two camps, one backing GCR and the other Aristotle. Aristotle apparently was called in at points to rework data and programs purchased through GCR.
The grand jury also said that Mr. Perzel used state money to buy campaign data and programs from three other firms: Labels and Lists Inc., Constituents Direct LLC, and Weiss Micromarketing Group. The grand jury traced $500,000 in money to Labels and Lists, $400,000 to Weiss and $3.7 million to Constituent Direct.
While the House Republican Campaign Committee lacked funds, the District Operations wing of the caucus under then-director John Hanley filled the gap.
Grand jurors said the office, "became an effective and inexpensive ... staff of campaign professionals ready on very short notice to assist the HRCC in getting Republican candidates elected to office and keeping current Republican House members in office."
Former House speaker accused in wide-ranging corruption investigation that started with the Democrats
HARRISBURG -- A statewide grand jury yesterday accused former Republican speaker of the House John M. Perzel and nine others in a scheme that misrouted more than $10 million in state funds to political causes.
The presentment, unsealed here by Attorney General Tom Corbett, marked the first time the wide-ranging legislative corruption probe crossed the political aisle, 16 months after an earlier case scooped up a dozen Democrats.
Facing criminal counts of conspiracy, theft, obstruction of justice and conflict-of-interest are:
• John Perzel, 59, the former House speaker and a state representative from Philadelphia.
• Brian Preski, 44, of Philadelphia, Mr. Perzel's former chief of staff.
• Brett Feese, 55, a former state representative from Lycoming County and, until last week, general counsel to the House Republicans.
• Elmer "Al" Bowman, 34, of York County, a former aide to Mr. Feese and spokesman for GOP House campaigns.
• Samuel Stokes, 66, of Philadelphia, Mr. Perzel's brother-in-law who managed Mr. Perzel's campaigns but was purportedly a ghost employee on the House payroll.
• Jill Seaman, 57, of Dauphin County, an assistant to Mr. Feese.
• Paul Towhey, 38, of Montgomery County, Mr. Perzel's current chief of staff.
• Don McClintock, 41, of Voorhees, N.J., a campaign aide to Mr. Perzel.
• Eric Ruth, 34, of Boca Raton, Fla., a former deputy director of information technology for the House Republicans.
• John Zimmerman, 61, of Dauphin County, a Perzel legislative aide.
All are expected to be arraigned today before a Harrisburg district judge.
The 188-page grand jury report sketches a tableau of a Perzel regime that politicized virtually every aspect of his state office, using technology workers to develop political databases, deploying legislative workers assigned to district offices as campaign researchers, even funding anonymous "robo-calls" to homes in the districts of fellow Republicans who defied him on a 2005 pay-raise bill.
In all, Mr. Perzel was charged with 82 criminal counts ranging from conspiracy and theft to conflict-of-interest.
The case spun from Mr. Corbett's earlier probe into allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars were used as phony performance bonuses to state employees as a reward for working on political campaigns. In July 2008, Mr. Corbett charged a dozen people, including two former House Democratic legislators, with theft and conspiracy in that case.
The Perzel grand jury found two distinct criminal conspiracies: the use of taxpayer-paid employees and software for his and other political campaigns, and an effort by Mr. Feese and others in the caucus to stall and mislead state investigators looking into the political campaigns.
Yesterday's charges pitted Mr. Corbett, a Republican who is running for governor, against some members of his own party. He had been criticized last year for bringing charges only against Democrats.
As Mr. Corbett was announcing yesterday's presentment, Mr. Perzel issued an angry statement that the prosecution "smacks of political opportunism" and vowing to fight the charges.
"This investigation has lasted nearly three years and it's only now, on the eve of his gubernatorial campaign and in response to claims that he was unfairly pursuing only Democrats, that Attorney General Corbett has decided to bring charges against 10 Republicans, including me," Mr. Perzel said.
Mr. Corbett shrugged off the accusation and acknowledged that, until the probe began to point to Mr. Perzel and Mr. Preski, he had accepted help from them, including a sponsored fundraiser for his re-election. He said previous help would not be a factor.
"Even if they've helped me, if they've done wrong, we're going to go after them," Mr. Corbett said.
The grand jury report said Mr. Perzel's hyper-political style grew from a narrow 2000 re-election win.
"One of his first acts was to open a permanent campaign office," the report said. He appointed his brother-in-law, Mr. Stokes, to head the office but later hid him on the legislative payroll.
J. Anthony Painter, Mr. Perzel's hand-picked head of the Republican Internet Technology Office, testified under a grant of immunity that his office and its employees became an extension of Mr. Perzel's political efforts. Jurors said they were able to trace more than $800,000 in employee work hours in that office going to political development.
Some employees testified that they spent from 40 percent to 70 percent of their work time on politics.
The major outlays, according to the grand jury, were a series of database purchases from two firms: Aristotle International, of Washington, D.C., and GCR and Associates of New Orleans.
Mr. Corbett's office yesterday estimated that more than $10 million in database purchases from Aristotle and GCR were made primarily to provide political data.
One of the major programs was called the "Blue Card" system, first developed as a survey within Mr. Perzel's district, then expanded through House employees and database information purchased from Aristotle, according to the grand jury.
At one point, the grand jury report found, the Blue Card program was employed to meddle in a state Senate district and for the 2004 Republican campaign against Philadelphia Democratic Congresswoman Alyson Schwartz.
So extensive was the use of state resources for politics under Mr. Perzel, that grand jurors reported that state technology employees were dispatched to use a get-out-the-vote program called Election Day Complete on behalf of the Republican candidate for a special election to replace state Rep. Jeff Habay. Jurors said the program had been assembled by Aristotle under a state contract.
Mr. Habay, a Republican, had been driven from office for using state resources and employees for his prior elections.
The night before the special election, Tim Halula, a Republican information technologies employee, was in his hotel room talking with Marcus Woodring, another RIT worker sent to the district to help the GOP nominee.
"In the corner of the room was a pile of the public equipment to be used the next day to assist the Republican candidate, Mike Dolan," the grand jury report states.
"Halula and Woodring discussed how truly 'weird' it was to be about to use all these public resources to fill the seat of a guy who just went to jail for 'illegal campaign activities.' "
Mr. Dolan lost that election to Democrat Shawn Flaherty.
While investigators found a variety of payments to GCR from Mr. Perzel's campaign account, they said it accounted for only a fraction of the estimated $9 million in state funds spent on data from the firm.
Gregory Rigamer, the owner of GCR, testified under a grant of immunity.
Mr. Painter, the former RIT director who received immunity, told the grand jury that he estimated most of the $6.2 million in House Republican caucus contracts with Aristotle went for politics.
At one point, according to the grand jurors, the Republican caucus staff split into two camps, one backing GCR and the other Aristotle. Aristotle apparently was called in at points to rework data and programs purchased through GCR.
The grand jury also said that Mr. Perzel used state money to buy campaign data and programs from three other firms: Labels and Lists Inc., Constituents Direct LLC, and Weiss Micromarketing Group. The grand jury traced $500,000 in money to Labels and Lists, $400,000 to Weiss and $3.7 million to Constituent Direct.
While the House Republican Campaign Committee lacked funds, the District Operations wing of the caucus under then-director John Hanley filled the gap.
Grand jurors said the office, "became an effective and inexpensive ... staff of campaign professionals ready on very short notice to assist the HRCC in getting Republican candidates elected to office and keeping current Republican House members in office."
