Corbett Plans Photo Op with Former Players

Governor Tom Corbett invited former players to his mansion for a photo op this Tuesday.  All part of his plan to win back support of the PSU alumni and supporters and to deflect attention away from his failed investigation of Sandusky.  And does it on the anniversary of JVP's passing!

by
Ray Blehar

The e-mail went out on Tuesday, January 15th.  Much like he did when announcing the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the NCAA, Governor Corbett plans to use Penn State football players as props in this "Hail Mary pass"  to win back favor with PSU supporters and deflect attention away from the state's slipshod investigations of Sandusky.  And he does the most classless thing of all by scheduling it on the anniversary of Paterno's passing.

I can just hear his phony tributes to Joe now.  The lettermen need to pack a healthy supply of barf bags if they attend.

 The e-mail is below.

From: "Bernstein, Luke" <lbernstein@pa.gov>
Date: January 15, 2013 7:10:09 PM
To:  <Redacted>
Subject: Meeting with Governor Corbett

Good evening,

Governor Tom Corbett recently met with Justin Kurpeikis, Todd Rucci, Tim Sweeney and several others in State College.  During their discussion, an idea was presented to have a follow-up meeting with additional Letterman.  Thus, we would like to invite you to attend a meeting at the Governor's Residence with the Governor.  Todd, Justin and Tim will be in attendance and will try to ensure we did not exclude anyone that should be included.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at the Governor’s Residence (2035 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102).

Please RSVP to Bryan Troop (717-787-5825 or brtroop@pa.gov) no later than Sunday, January 20, 2013.  Please RSVP with your name, address, and phone number (preferably day of event contact number).  For security reasons, all attendees will need to have a photo ID.

We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.

Best,

Luke

Luke Bernstein

Deputy Chief of Staff

Office of Governor Tom Corbett

Tom Corbett: Master of Deflection

Whenever Corbett is feeling the heat about the state's investigation of Sandusky -- and Kathleen Kane is launching it -- you can be he'll find a way to deflect the media's attention to another subject.

This is well documented.

August 2012:  Corbett, feeling the heat from child advocacy groups and others to investigate the slow roll of the Sandusky investigation, enlists his media cohorts to write a story about how Clinton County CYS failed to put a safety plan in place at the outset of the investigation.

November 2012:  In a desperate attempt to swing favor in AG candidate David Freed, the son-in-law of LeRoy Zimmerman, who would take a softer approach on the "investigation of the investigation,"  Corbett has AG Linda Kelly file the "Conspiracy of Nonsense" charges against Curley, Schultz, and Spanier to much media hype and fanfare.

January 2013:  With Kathleen Kane's swearing in and the impending "investigation of the investigation" on the horizon, Corbett announces the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the NCAA, using a smattering of former players and PSU students in the photo op.  The press conference is held at the Nittany Lion Inn even though PSU is not endorsing the lawsuit.

The Football Players Fall For the Ruse?

 No doubt, everyone that has a functioning brain (that excludes most in the media) knows the NCAA overstepped its bounds when sanctioning Penn State.  Penn State alumni, supporters, and especially the former football players want the sanctions removed.  As noted above, when Corbett announced the lawsuit, former PSU football players, including former All-American Kenny Jackson, were in the room standing behind the governor.  But Corbett wasn't done using them as props and enlisted the help of the Letterman's Club to round up more bodies for the next photo op.

From: <Redacted>
Date: January 16, 2013, 4:03:39 PM EST
To: <Redacted>
Cc: <Redacted>
Subject: Meeting with Governor Corbett

Dear Former PSU Football Player,

You may have received an email from Governor Corbett extending a invitation to the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg at 6:30 PM on 22 January for a private meeting.  If you have not, a copy is provided below.  The Governor would like an opportunity to explain in a private setting the details involving the lawsuit against the NCAA.

It is important to note that this affair is for all former Penn State Football players and it does not involve the Penn State Football Letterman's Club nor will the Club make any official statements regarding this lawsuit in any capacity.  The email list that was used was incomplete so please forward the email from the Governor and this email to your network of former players as they are invited as well. We would like as many guys to receive the invite as possible, so please forward this on.  If you are planning to attend, please do so by responding to individual on the email below from the Governor.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you Tuesday.

<3 Players - Redacted>

It is important to note that "former players" are invited and not letttermen because the Letterman's Club is affiliated with PSU.  So, can we expect a statement from "former players" offering their support of the NCAA lawsuit? Or will they see through Corbett and tell him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

We'll see.

The Real Reason for the Lawsuit

Corbett plans to use the NCAA lawsuit as a "club" against Kane   You can bet Corbett will blast her for the investigation of the "successful prosecution of Sandusky" instead of focusing her offices resources on more important matters -- meaning do anything other than investigating something that could roll back on him.  Corbett knows his slow-roll investigation put children in danger and he knows DPW and CYS blew it back in 1998 when they could have rolled up Sandusky.

Abe Lincoln said it best.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."