Sunday, June 26

Feckless Exhibit 1: Ira Lubert

This is the introduction to a multi-part opinion/analysis series that will highlight some interesting information about current and former members of the Penn State University Board of Trustees.  First up, Ira Lubert.

by BHF23


Introduction

A recent post on the Rivals BWI McAndrew Board described Penn State’s leaders as “feckless.” I had to look it up. First thing I found was “lacking in feck.” For real…which

I thought sounded pretty cool, actually. Don’t know if I ever had any “feck” myself, for that matter. But I digress…

From merriam-webster.com. feckless (adj.): 1. weak, ineffective; 2. worthless, irresponsible.

While there have been many adjectives used to describe the trustees responsible for the damage that resulted in the aftermath of the Sandusky scandal, I decided to see if some of them met the definition.








Exhibit 1:  Ira Lubert

Let’s take a quick inventory on Trustee Ira Lubert...

Was on the BOT at the time of the 1998 incident.

Contributed $50,000 or more to The Second Mile (TSM) for year ending August 31, 2001.

Served on TSM’s Southeastern Board of Directors from 2005-2008, leaving as part of a mass exodus from TSM’s Board about the time the Aaron Fisher investigation began.

Allowed TSM to use his Green Hills facility in Reading for TSM Summer Challenges (camps) until 2008.

Was in charge of the Sandusky scandal related settlements.  A subcommittee was formed 10/28/12, including Lubert, Frazier, Eckel, and others.  Recent court filings revealed that the claims were not considered valid or invalid.  In other words, money paid out without vetting the claims.

Feckless (irresponsible)?  Yes.

The icing on the cake of the settlement fiasco was that claimants were prohibited from suing Lubert's former charity -- TSM.  
 
It is highly probable that with TSM nearing bankruptcy from the scandal that lawsuits may have been filed against its directors or former directors.   Perhaps Lubert was looking out for himself by putting that provision in the settlements -- especially in light of what apparently was going down when TSM used Green Hills. 


TSM at Lubert's Green Hills Camp



 After the Sandusky scandal broke a few media outlets wrote articles about the TSM camp at Greenhills. 


“Rob Lehr, a former camp operator, is speaking out about what he saw and heard.  He rented the camp to the group for a four-week period annually.  The camp has now been sold and Second Mile no longer uses the facility.  Lehr is the former director of a camp in the deep woods of Berks County, where children from the Second Mile would come each summer for several years.”   (foxphilly.com, 11/14/11)

“Lehr said the group crossed dressed one year, and another year had the kids cross dressing:  “Camp counselors cross dressing for one of the evening events with children.  The following year now they [had] some of the boys cross dressing,” he says.  Lehr also said shower curtains would be taken down when Second Mile was at the camp.  He said he never saw anything illegal, but did see things that were immoral and questionable.  (crossingbroad.com11/16/11)

”Lehr has not been interviewed by state investigators on the Sandusky case, but he says if asked he would cooperate.”    ( foxphilly.com, 11/14/11 and here)

Never interviewed.  
Imagine that!  

Also, the video of Lehr's interview was nowhere to be found on the internet.   

Imagine that!

Getting to the Bottom of It

When I read the Freeh Report, I smelled a rat and posted on a Penn State message board to see if anyone wanted to help get to the bottom of it. I live in Georgia. Work for a bank. No connections. Knew precisely jack squat. Almost immediately, I was told that the real story was at TSM. 

I’m no investigator. I’m lucky to remember to put my socks on before my shoes in the morning. Five days it took. Working on it maybe two or three hours a day to start making the connections. 

And no one on the BOT nor Louis Freeh apparently heard anything untoward going on at TSM.

Imagine that?

Tom Corbett…with two stints as OAG (starting in 1995, by the way), responsible for oversight of TSM, buddies with Bob Poole and Bruce Heim…never heard anything. 

Imagine that?

Louie Freeh…having investigated organized crime in the immediate vicinity of Pennsylvania, buddies with Ric Struthers…never heard anything. 

Maybe it’s true; maybe it’s not. 

But there’s no way the state OAG didn’t hear it. 

And there is no possible way that any honest investigation into this mess doesn’t lead pretty quickly to the front door of TSM.

And that brings us back to former TSM board member, Ira Lubert.

·   Lubert was the top gaming industry contributor ($456,000) to political candidates from 2001-2008.  Ed Rendell, who as governor appointed Lubert to the BOT in 2007, was the top receiver (over $1 million) over that same time span (postgazette.com, 6/24/09).  

The Sandusky investigation started when Rendell was governor. 

In the spring of 2009 -- as the case moved from Centre County to the OAG's office, the PSU BOT began making moves to hire its first in-house counsel.  It's not a reach to believe that Lubert was tipped by Rendell and was  among the first people at PSU to know about the investigation -- and likely pulled the strings for the hiring of "feckless" Cynthia Baldwin.

Going back to my investigation.  

Within exactly five days of starting it, I “learned” (to use John Morganelli’s word) that Sandusky situation was part of a wider pedophile ring and that Louis Freeh was hired to cover that up. 

Who is the one PSU BOT member who was/is most likely to have that kind of knowledge (or heard those rumors) about TSM?  

Ira Lubert.

Lubert was on the "move forward" bandwagon --  advocating for it so the OAG investigation would start and stop with the PSU football program and Paterno.  The BOT tried to sell "moving foward" to the PSU community by claiming to save football from the wrath of the Big Bad NCAA.

Most PSU alums didn't buy it and demanded to know more about how TSM escaped the scandal without criminal charges.

And what was the harm in calling for more investigation?  In most people's minds, it could actually clear PSU and put responsibility for Sandusky where it belonged.

After a thorough review, if nothing was found, burn all those innocuous TSM documents and have a weenie roast. 

Knock yourselves out. 

But if you’re wrong…or worse yet, were found to be intentionally covering up that there's even one more “Sandusky” connected to the rat’s nest that is TSM (and I’d bet my last nickel there are plenty), it will be reasonable to conclude that the OG BOT:

-- trashed our university,
-- printed endless stacks of cash for anyone who could spell “PSU,”
-- and labeled every one of us as football crazed, JoePa loving pedophile enablers...


.. all to cover-up that they’re directly involved or somehow beholden to the people who are.  

Thursday, June 23

Andrew Shubin: Not Credible

Andrew Shubin's credibility suffered a serious blow in 2012 when his allegations about an alleged victim were determined to be of his own creation (i.e., lies).   His latest legal filing, as short as it is, has a stunning similarity to his earlier attempt to deceive investigators.

By
Ray Blehar


Shubin: Dismissed as not credible in April 2012.
Evidence from the Sandusky investigation reveals State College lawyer Andrew Shubin, who represented numerous individuals who received settlements from Penn State, was found to be less than credible by government officials.


In February 10, 2012, Shubin had a heated discussion with Office of Attorney General (OAG) Agent Anthony Sassano, demanding that his client (who alleged to be Victim 2) be interviewed as part of the Sandusky investigation.  During the discussion, Shubin claimed that there had been "both oral and anal sex" between his client and Sandusky.

Shubin's client was interviewed by Postal Inspection Service Agent, M. J. Coricelli on February 28th, March 8th, and March 16th, 2012.  At no time during these interviews did his client corroborate Shubin's allegations.  In fact, at the March 16th interview, his client stated that he had never discussed the specific details to anyone -- not even Shubin  (Commonwealth v. Sandusky, PCRA Appendix, page 00447).  







Shubin arranged for a April 4, 2012 meeting with Coricelli and Sassano to interview his client again.  

When they arrived for the meeting, Shubin's client was absent.   Coricelli was told that the client was too upset to be interviewed because of a recent death of a friend.   Then Shubin attempted to provide Coricelli with three typed pages purported to be the allegations of his client.  

Coricelli examined the document and surmised that it was written by Shubin.  After consultation with Sassano, the decision was made that there would be no future investigation regarding Shubin's client.  (Commonwealth v. Sandusky, PCRA Appendix, page 00448)

Recent filing
Shubin's recent filing for a protective order regarding John Doe 71  -- the individual featured in the preposterous story of a 1971 victim written by Sara Ganim -- stating his client can't be interviewed due to health and safety concerns.    Shubin alleged his client has "significant emergent cardiac issues." 

Translation: not diagnosed; no supporting medical records.


This is indeed an amusing argument, considering that his client told his story to a policeman in 2011 (who found it too crazy to be believed), then told the (bogus) story of his alleged victimization to Sara Ganim at CNN sometime in 2015, obviously re-told the story to Shubin at some point, then re-told it again while giving his deposition for the Penn State settlement.   

That's at least four re-tellings since 2011 -- but one more may just cause his client to go into cardiac arrest.

The reality here is both Shubin and his client would go into cardiac arrest if they actually had to face some real questions about the preposterous story that was conjured up about a 1971 abuse incident.

That surely didn't happen when they told it to Penn State's settlement attorneys.




Note: Other instances of dishonesty by settlement attorneys will be highlighted in an upcoming blogpost.

Wednesday, June 22

Upon Further Review: Video and Slide Presentations





Slide presentations from the June 11th, Upon Further Review event have been posted by Eileen Morgan at March4Truth

Eileen Morgan's Presentation  (Birth of a False Narrative)

Ray Blehar's Presentation  (PSU v. PMA Settlement Case)


News coverage from KDKA


PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Former Steelers running back Franco Harris continues his support of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, and that was evident this weekend.
Harris led a group that is questioning how information from the grand jury ever got to the media. At a gathering, they played dozens of clips showing media reports of the Jerry Sandusky and Penn State sex scandal.
Eileen Morgan, a PSU graduate, believes the media got the story wrong.
“Starting with the birth of a false narrative, and then how the Penn State board of trustees maintained that false narrative, and then when the Penn State alumni and the community came together and started to fight for the truth and expose the lies,” she said.
The group focuses on what it called “misinformation” coming from a grand jury presentment that by law is inadmissible in court.
A Harrisburg attorney and PSU alum focused on the testimony of Mike McQueary that he says the grand jury never *actually* heard.
“It talks specifically about how credible they found Mike McQueary, that McQueary testified credibly, but the people who signed their names to it so to speak, had never heard him. They were given his written testimony,” said attorney Rob Tribeck.
“This is big,” Franco Harris said. “Mike McQueary never saw the sexual act. So where did they get their information? Who was feeding the press their information?”
Harris is still upset the reputation of his coach was destroyed by the story.
“We know Joe. We know the character of Joe, and we know the story. We know what Joe stands for. We know that Joe would never turn his back on a child,” he said.

Thursday, June 9

Franco Harris's Lion's Paw Speech

H/T Anthony Lubrano
JUNE 4, 2016
FRANCO HARRIS’S
LIONS PAW MEDAL
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH 

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” Albert Einstein

Welcome everyone…friends…my family…my Penn State family…thank you for being here today.

To the Lion’s Paw…thank you for letting your awardee have a few minutes of free expression…after the last 5 years this is like a breath of fresh air! We have been experiencing quite a time in Penn State history and all of us should learn and grow from it.
When we Penn Staters look back over the last 5 years, the question that loomed over us is “Where are we headed?”

Along the way there were a lot of twists and turns, all with challenges.

But right now at Penn State we are at a crossroad, facing one last big challenge. What direction we take depends on the working relationship between the alumni and the current board of trustees; where we go from here is an inhouse problem…a Penn State problem.

No longer is our biggest challenge about the Freeh Report; everyone knows that was a sham from the start and the basis for nothing.

No longer is our biggest challenge with the NCAA. Everyone knows they broke their own protocols and procedures and had no grounds to penalize Penn State so viciously.

We know they were wrong and they know they were wrong.

No longer do we care about what the media puts out. They have lost their credibility in our eyes. They print allegations and then fan the flames, all without proof or validation and they have no accountability.

On Nov 9, 2011 we saw the results of unchecked power here at Penn State. Beware of power that has no boundaries. Before that night, I did not know that the BOT could fire the President in the blink of an eye. When I heard that President Spanier was supporting Penn State and our Penn State people, I was confident that someone had a command of the situation. Then BOOM! John Surma led the firing of Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno. This made me realize that there were no checks and balances in place…this was unchecked power at its worst.

There were no checks and balances and Penn State lost….and we’ve been losing ever since. And let me point out that not one of those people on the board that night have been held accountable. I take that back, WE, the alumni, held our alumni elected trustees accountable and we replaced every one of them with people who DO represent us.

That night the members of the board thought they could control and contain the damage they were doing, but they could not. And the damage continues to roll across our campus and will continue to roll if we don’t set up some checks and balances.

When you have a small group of people with money and connections and they know how to leverage power, they become detached and arrogant…they are above it all. So now we add arrogance and self-interest to the unchecked power and we have a dangerous situation.

How did we get here???

Where do we go from here? Right now we are divided and we need to start the healing. Where do we start? We start with a formal apology from those board members to Sue Paterno. Now. It’s already long overdue.

Let me tell you a story…

I see a lion’s paw scratching at the ground outside Beaver Stadium and it’s trying to find it’s home…trying to find where it belongs. The lion knows it belongs here but he’s confused…something here isn’t right… something has changed.

The lion knew that our BOT made the decision to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and lawyer’s fees and the Lion knew that our BOT agreed to the sanctions and the vacated games.

But the Lion didn’t know that the BOT also took down Joe’s statue and the player’s wall. That’s why the Lion didn’t recognize his home…they had erased the Lion’s history and his home was empty.

They erased the Lion's history and tried to fill it with lies, lies and more lies. I ask you today, are we a lie? Is our Penn State history a lie? Is Success With Honor a lie?

Success With Honor…

A game changing vision never before undertaken.

It was not just about football or being famous it was about education, contributing to the world and making something of yourself.

It was about having the greatest graduation rates for your athletes and being one of the best in Academic All Americans.

This was unbelievable.

And to top it all off…409! The greatest number of football games won in NCAA history.

So, you better believe that we will fight for our history and we will not let anyone rewrite it for us.

No, this is not right. We know who we are. WE ARE LIONS.

We will erase the lies,

We will claim our home,

We will rebuild our wall because this is our home.

We hope the Paterno family will allow us to put Joe’s statue back in it’s rightful place because this is his home.

People are trying to destroy Success With Honor and everything we stand for, but we will fight for our history. Will you fight with me?

To the members of the BOT:
Yes, right now you have unchecked power—but we know what we must do and we know who must do it. We, the Penn State Alumni, will do it.

We see the goal line and we won’t stop until we cross it.

We have no deadline…and we are coming.


Sunday, June 5

June 11th, Upon Further Review: Video Preview



Please join us on June 11, 2016 at 10:30am for
UPON FURTHER REVIEW

HOSTED BY FRANCO HARRIS  

Location:  The Heinz History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA

John Surma fired Joe Paterno and set the stage for the firestorm that followed.  It fed a media frenzy full of accusations and misinformation; it destroyed lives, a great university and a storied football program.

How do we balance the pace of social media, radio, newspapers and magazines that convince people to believe accusations so quickly and easily without offering any supporting proof or validation?  While it might sound impossible in today’s world, we must find a way to protect due process from unfair and misleading information that pronounces you guilty based solely on allegations; what happened to innocent until proven guilty?  What happened to due process at Duke, UNC and Penn State?

Upon Further Review has taken on the challenge to search for the truth among the misinformation and bogus investigations handed out by the media and to provide a clearer picture of the situation.

Regarding the original information that torched Penn State, much of it has been disproved and a lot of new information has been uncovered.  The information presented at UFR is the result of hard work and serious investigation, always keeping an open mind to finding the Truth. 
We plan to discuss the complex issues of UNC, Duke and Penn State in an easy to understand format.  We do not take these matters lightly as we examine the details and follow the damage to get to the Truth.




“This program is sponsored by Franco Harris and does not necessarily represent the views of the Heinz History Center.”