By
Ray Blehar
Today's Op-Ed by Jennifer Storm, titled "Don't Forget Everything Tom Corbett Did Right In the Sandusky Case" provides a delusional view of the investigation that was NOT directed by now Governor Tom Corbett.
As Geoffrey Moulton's report clearly revealed, Corbett didn't politicize the investigation for the mere fact that he didn't direct anyone to do anything. Given that finding, Storm's article praising what Corbett did right is simply her fantasy about what happened.
Storm was appointed by Governor Corbett to be the Pennsylvania State Victim's Advocate. She previously served as victim's advocate for Dauphin County and is on a number of state boards and commissions, including the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (which was once Corbett's stomping ground as chairman in the late 1990s).
Of course, the Patriot News didn't reveal any of that information.
Readers of the blog may remember my letter chastising Storm and other self-proclaimed victim's advocates for pretending to know how Sandusky's victims felt about the Paterno Report and for their failures to speak out about the breakdowns in Pennsylvania's child protection system.
And she continues to shill for Pennsylvania's broken system today.
PA No Longer An Outlier?
Today, Storm wrote this falsehood about Pennsylvania's child protection system.
"Three years ago, Gov. Corbett commissioned a task force to review state laws on child abuse. Experts including child welfare workers, rape crisis advocates, pediatricians and law enforcement released a report in November 2012.
Most of its recommendations were drafted into laws and, thanks to their adoption, Pennsylvania is no longer a statistical outlier when it comes to protecting its children."
Apparently, being DEAD LAST in child abuse reports at 8 per 1,000 children and in child abuse findings at 1.3 per 1,000 children is good news to Storm.
This is indeed a statistical outlier -- and it's the rock bottom.
Like the sun rising in the east, you can count on Corbett's handlers to trot out Jennifer Storm whenever the prepackaged narrative of the Sandusky scandal is challenged. She was trotted out at the outset of the Sandusky mess to opine about the then unsubstantiated allegations of PSU's failure to report Sandusky and to call for tougher penalties on reporting.
Like the sun rising in the east, you can count on Corbett's handlers to trot out Jennifer Storm whenever the prepackaged narrative of the Sandusky scandal is challenged. She was trotted out at the outset of the Sandusky mess to opine about the then unsubstantiated allegations of PSU's failure to report Sandusky and to call for tougher penalties on reporting.
In keeping up her role as a defender of the status quo, Storm crafted this fabrication:
"The Moulton Report didn't help with its rearview mirror scrutiny of the career prosecutors and investigators who built the Sandusky case -- a case then-Attorney General Tom Corbett did not hesitate to take on."
Moulton's report showed the exact opposite of Storm's fantasy. It took a full year, from March 2009 until March 2010, for the office to recommend charging Sandusky because basic investigative steps were not taken, including searching Sandusky's home.
And again, Corbett wasn't directing anyone to do anything.
What did Corbett do right? Absolutely nothing.
Not Rushing Along??
Storm really had no idea what can of worms she opened with this statement:
"If Corbett's prosecutors had rushed headlong and arrested Sandusky on the word of one, reluctant witness, Sandusky would be walking free today. We can only tremble to think of what else he might be doing.
Because of careful police work and careful case-building, eight brave young men took the witness stand and helped in the most successful prosecution and conviction of a celebrity serial sexual predator this country has ever seen."
Once again, the Patriot News editorial board failed to check its own archive for the truth about how investigators didn't want to rush into building the case. The Patriot News deleted much of Sara Ganim's January 8, 2012 column about the foot-dragging by investigators in the FREE public version of the story, , but you could read the full article by paying or searching web archives for it.
The mother of Victim 6 reported that the AG didn't want to pursue her son's case, which led to finding four of Sandusky's victims. Without that mother, the case wouldn't have been built...and the AG was going to take a pass on it.
The mother of Victim 6 reported that the AG didn't want to pursue her son's case, which led to finding four of Sandusky's victims. Without that mother, the case wouldn't have been built...and the AG was going to take a pass on it.
Given what we've seen from Jennifer Storm, she will probably write another Op-Ed and accuse the mother of lying.
Victim's Advocate Slams Victims
The coup de grace in Storm's article was that she essentially called two victims liars in order to protect her boss, Tom Corbett.
Kane's wild spin of the report's findings, including her now-retracted assertion that Sandusky continued to molest boys during the investigation, sent the unnerving message that speed, rather than care, should the new standard.
Apparently, she didn't bother reading the trial transcript in which Victim 9 was definitive that his abuse ended after July 29, 2009 when he was sixteen. In addition, Storm is lining up behind the prosecutors who said the second victim was not credible enough to be prosecuted.
When does a victim's advocate question a victim's story?
When her concern isn't protecting children -- it's protecting her boss.
