Brad Bumsted's book,
Keystone Corruption, provides a smokescreen that ignores the real corruption in
Pennsylvania.
By
Ray Blehar
Keystone Corruption is supposed to be a book about the history of corruption in Pennsylvania with particular emphasis on recent political figures who were prosecuted for alleged corruption related to election campaigns. However, the book is nothing more than a smokescreen that attempts to convince the readers that Tom Corbett and his associates were pursuing prosecutions in the name of fighting corruption.
The truth is that Keystone Corruption is a smokescreen that attempts to cover up Corbett's and the PA GOP's use of the criminal justice system to take out political (and personal) opponents.
As I've stated many times, Sandusky would be a free man today had it not been for Corbett using that investigation to take out his rival, former PSU President Graham Spanier.
It also came as no surprise to me that Bumsted was unwilling to entertain any of the Computergate or Bonusgate defendants' arguments that their rights were being trampled by these politically motivated prosecutions.
The prosecutors' modus operandi, as I noted here, was to threaten the associates of the targets with criminal charges to turn them into state witnesses or to bluff the target into confessing to lesser crimes. That is one point that Bumsted understood to some degree...
From page 111: "People involved in the case became witnesses for them -- or defendants."
Bumsted's book is a smokescreen that ignores PA's real corruption. |
PSU Officials Were Part
of PA Corruption?
In setting the stage for
his smokescreen, Bumsted ignominiously started out by quoting from Freeh Report
and made the assumption that Penn State University (PSU) officials were
guilty of "head turning" in the Sandusky
matter.
He next compared the alleged "head turning" at PSU to how the government of the Keystone state has been accepting of political corruption for over a century until -- in Bumsted's opinion -- One Term Tom and friends cleaned it up.
The problem with his thesis was quickly exposed by a media colleague and a former PA AG, who told Bumsted that he wasn't covering the real corruption issues in Pennsylvania.
Corruption Smokescreen
Bumsted described a
discussion he had with a long-time friend and reporter who covered political
corruption in Colombia, South America.
Corruption there meant politicians taking bribes, cops on the payroll of drug cartels, and murders of political opponents. As Bumsted took to describing the corruption investigations of Vincent Fumo, Bonusgate and Computergate, his friend replied...
"So that's it?" Corruption in Columbia "makes Fumo look like Mr. Rogers."
Later in the book, former acting PA Attorney General (AG) Walter Cohen's views on Bumsted's "corruption" cases were very much the same.
In Cohen's opinion, the misuse of government funds, time, or equipment, such as in the Bonusgate and Computergate investigations, are rather insignificant compared to bribery, quid pro quo, and other arrangements that are quite commonplace in Pennsylvania.
In 2014 the Keystone state was voted the fifth most corrupt state in the Union based on an analysis of violations of Federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008.
None of the cases included in Keystone Corruption were part of the ratings.
Even though Bumsted
understood that, he took the opportunity to trumpet them -- plus the
impending case of AG Kathleen Kane -- as
part of the reason why PA was voted fifth.
At that point, it became clear that the only thing that was true about Keystone Corruption was that it was written by a "Pennsylvania insider" who really was covering up the PA government's role in corruption.
The evidence of Bumsted's cover-up is evident.
Truthful Tom Corbett?
In one of the most
breathtaking cases of ignoring the possibility of a politically motivated
prosecutions, Bumsted stated that even though John Perzel was setting up for a
gubernatorial run in 2010, Corbett's prosecution of him in Bonusgate had no
political overtones.
Why didn't Bumsted believe there was political motivation?
Because Corbett told him that he didn't decide to run until after he was elected as AG in 2008 -- and that the Computergate investigation allegedly began in 2007. However, if that was the case, then why would then AG Corbett allow the House GOP to replace its Computers and servers that year?
In another very telling
passage in the book finds Bumsted referring to the Sandusky trial as the
"Penn State cover-up trial." As noted in previous blogs, Corbett
told him that a grand jury was used in the Sandusky case because
it was a cover-up investigation. However, the Moulton Report exposed the
fact that there was little to no activity going on in ten of the first
twenty months of that investigation.
Holes in Corbett's investigations exposed his deceptions |
Was Bumsted told by Corbett that prosecutors
Frank Fina and Joseph McGettigan were using the Sandusky trial to reinforce the
story of a Penn State cover-up?
The Penn State case,
like Bonusgate and the case of AG Kathleen Kane, would be tried and
convicted in the court of public opinion -- regardless of whether or
not the cases ever got to trial.
It really isn't hard for most honest and reasonably intelligent observers to see the relationship between PA politics, the alleged corruption prosecutions, and leaks of grand jury information to the media.
That's why as I was reading the book, I found myself continuously asking the question:
"Does Bumsted really believe people are stupid enough
to buy this garbage?"
At the conclusion of the book, the answer was no -- and that answer is based on evidence that surfaced not long after the book was written.
Bumsted's Heroes Become Zeroes
In Keystone Corruption, Bumsted heaps considerable
praise on prosecutors Frank Fina and Patrick Blessington as no nonsense,
corruption fighters.
That praise now belongs
on the ash heap of history.
Evidence generated by
current AG Kathleen Kane revealed that Fina and Blessington were engaged in
unethical behavior on the job, while Corbett and Noonan were found to
be "not
minding the store" as the Sandusky investigation lagged.
In
addition, evidence from the Sandusky and Monsignor Lynn cases also add more to
the story of how these individuals abused the criminal justice system.
Frank Fina
From page 111: "...is one of the
quickest lawyers on his feet I've ever seen."
Fast footed Frank was
admonished by the PA Superior Court for deceiving Judge Feudale about the scope
of his questioning of former PSU General Counsel Cynthia Baldwin during the
Sandusky grand jury investigation.
Charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy were thrown out against PSU officials due to Fina's inquiries that violated their attorney-client privilege.
In a footnote in the
court ruling, Fina's conduct was referred to as "highly improper" and
that he had "paid lip service" to attorney-client privilege issues.
It is yet to be seen if
Fina's false charges of endangerment against PSU officials will also be thrown
out.
In addition, fast footed
Frank (and Joe McGettigan) switched the crime scene of the Victim 8 (i.e.,
janitor) incident in order to get around the fact that an obstruction in the
Assistant Coach's Locker Room would have prevented anyone for observing Sandusky in a lewd act.
Sandusky's attorneys
have raised that issue on appeal.
Fina also deceived
Sandusky trial judge, John Cleland, by stating two janitors would testify as
hearsay witnesses in the case -- but only one ever testified.
Fast footed? You
betcha.
Ethical? No so
much.
Fina was demoted by the Philly DA's office for his role in porn gate.
Patrick Blessington
From page 109: "...has
devoted his life to taking down bad guys...It's what he does and who he is.
Those who have worked with him say he does virtually nothing else."
Apparently,
"virtually nothing else" meant he still had time to swap
pornographic, racist, and otherwise offensive emails with his coworkers.
Blessington was first sent to sensitivity training, then eventually demoted by the Philly DA's office over his role in porn gate.
His courtroom prowess
was also not as great as Bumsted made it out to be.
As the lead prosecutor
in the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Diocese abuse case, he falsely charged, then
got a jury to convict Monsignor Lynn with endangering the welfare of a child.
A three judge panel unanimously overturned the conviction, stating that
the law didn't apply to Lynn.
Even though Philly DA
Seth Williams vows to retry the case, it is doubtful he could get a conviction
because most of the evidence used to convict Lynn in the first trial is
inadmissible and because the trial's star witness has credibility issues.
Blessington's case
against Lynn was just as bad, if not worse, than the bogus case Fina
brought against PSU officials.
Head Turning
At the outset of the
book, Bumsted accused PSU officials on head turning.
Ironically, at the end
of the book, it is Bumsted who is doing the head turning.
Keystone Corruption was published in September 2013 and much
of the evidence of prosecutorial misconduct related to the
Sandusky case was already a matter of public record (as noted above and
reported here and here).
Apparently, Bumsted
wasn't paying attention because on page 197 he wrote:
"As of this
writing, there is no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct."
The author also raised
no argument or attempt to refute Tom Corbett's assertion that his approval of a
$3 million grant to The Second Mile in July 2011 was to ensure the charity
wasn't alerted to the investigation and having it possibly compromised.
Obviously, when the Harrisburg Patriot
News broke the story of the Sandusky grand jury investigation in March
2011 -- and ran related stories including statements from TSM, there was no
legitimacy to Corbett's rationale of worrying about the charity compromising the
case. (Raykovitz testified to the grand jury in April 2011).
Bumsted knew Corbett's answer didn't hold water and he proved that in this January 2012 op-ed.
He accused PSU leaders of
having their heads in the sand and feigning ignorance about Sandusky because they had to know of
Ganim's article.
Well, if PSU knew from reading it in the papers, then the charity would have known as well.
Ironically, the thrust of the op-ed was that PSU was attempting to protect its brand by controlling the message.
However, anyone who was paying attention knew that the PR disaster that hit Happy Valley in 2011 and 2012 came directly as a
result of PSU not controlling the message -- and leaving it to PA's corrupt
media and Corbett's AG office to write the script of the cover-up.
There was definitely a
cover-up in the Sandusky case and it continues as I write this.
Bumsted and the PA media are perpetuating it and covering up the real corruption in the Keystone State.
Who is Brad Bumstead? A Corbett apologist?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in High School (Cedar Cliff...Go Colts!), my mother was secretary to Sen. George Wade, who was a GOP honcho, I was told. PA was the epitome of political patronage. Everyone knew what the rules were and how to play the game. I spent a lot of time at the Capitol and had a lot of interesting conversations. As it was explained to me, the proper mode of behavior was to take your piece of pie and enjoy it. Do not try to steal pie from anyone, do not rock the boat.
Everything seemed normal until this Corbett dude came along with his hatchet man Frank Fina. New rules! You dance to Corbett's tune or you hang.
I feel nothing but enmity for Fina and the Corbett cabal. I want to see them rot in jail for what they have done for my beloved state of Pennsylvania.
Bumsted is a political reporter so even his claim that he was an "insider" in the title is misleading.
ReplyDeleteI guess all he means is that he lived inside PA, not that he was a PA politician.
What is his motive for spin doctoring Corbett's malfeasance and parroting the fraudulent statements of the Corbett run OAG? There certainly was enough literature available when he wrote the book to offer credible counterpoint to his narrative. Laziness doesn't explain this one. Total lack of analytic skills?? Maybe. I've always thought that sports writers and political pundits had their jobs for one reason...they aren't bright enough to have a job which requires skill.
DeleteGregory Vernon - Maybe Bumsted had to parrot the party line, or it would hurt hs job as a political reporter. Political reporters often foster good relationships with certain politicians to get better access.
DeleteGood job with this Ray, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI've got to say that when a state has sunk to the depths that PA has, there's only one way to go now, and that is up. The political corruption has been so deeply entangled with organized crime in this state for so long, even the citizens have unwittingly accepted it as normal. Everyone in PA is afraid. Because on some level we know something is wrong and the result is we are subdued with fear. Look at the new Attorney General, she's been stifled with the threat of some manufactured legal conundrum. She can't speak. Who or what has this kind of power over the Attorney General? Pennsylvania has entire newspaper outlets and their fake journalists working for the political criminals. They confuse, distract, and misdirect us everyday with outright lies and propaganda. Like I've said many times before, the only way to bust this open and expose the fake journalists like Brad Bumsted, Sara Ganim, and John Micek, as being part of the organized political crime, is to bring a RICO statute investigation against them. They are part of the racket and must be punished for enabling and covering up the crimes of our "leaders".
Watching Risa Vetri Ferman on television announcing false charges against her superior, Kathleen Kane, is like watching a cartoon! It makes no sense at all. And Kane goes along with it out of fear. She is stymied, and can't even explain to us who or what is doing this to her. If I were Kane, I'd call Ferman's bluff and let them jail me. Let the fake DAs and Kangaroo courts follow through to the illogical conclusion. What better way to bring attention to her plight? Because Kane's plight is our plight if we are Pennsylvanians. And we are a bunch of repressed cowards if we let this organized network of criminals go unnoticed and unpunished. All of them have "disappeared". Where is Tom Corbett? Where is Louis Freeh? Where is Ken Frazier? Where is Cynthia Baldwin? Where is Linda Kelly? Where is Pearly Peetz? Where is Frank Noonan? And even Frank Fina is gone now. But especially, where is Vetri Ferman? Not a peep from her--she's a judge now--whisked away from the controversy of falsely charging her superior on public television. They all hide while their corrupt newspapers speak the lies for them.
Ray, you should compile all your writings onto a book!
ReplyDeleteRay, any idea how much Bumsted is getting paid for his propaganda?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how much he's getting paid, but I'm sure he's being well compensated for throwing up smokescreens.
DeleteApparently, he just put out another book about Keystone Corruption -- bonusing off the travails of Kathleen Kane.
Anything to deter the public's attention away from the corrupt PA judicial system.
He may not get that much from book sales. Authors traditionally don't get much per book.
DeleteNeither seems like a best seller. His latest book is ranked 47,533 at Amazon. The one Ray reviewed is ranked 194,821.
The first Keystone Corruption book was by Camino Books, Inc., which publishes 6 to 10 books per year. The followup was by Sunbury Press, Inc., which publishes about 70 books per year. If the first book was a sales success, why didn't Camino publish the followup?
The Sunbury Press website has a list of 32 current best sellers but Bumsted's book is not among them.