Support NeoGAF

[IronRinn]

At least democrats now have a 5-2 majority in the state supreme court. We won't have to worry about adding gerrymandering to that list come 2020.

Silver linings I guess.

Edit: As others have pointed out, this isn't even a silver lining. I return to my original position: This state is a mess!

there needs to be a netflix documentary on this shit

I'm sure Frontline is working on 2 hours on this at least as we speak.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I mean, off-color jokes and porn in official emails is stupid and all, and I can see people not wanting to have those people in office, but the article quoted doesn't actually do much to suggest that these other officials are doing anything actually criminal, aside from the one-line mention of judicial misconduct, I guess by not recusing. This is equivalent to a criminal yelling that the bailiff said some naughty things about someone else's wife as they're carting him away.

Meanwhile, Kane has yet to release all the emails and the names of the participants, as she promised to do, and is fighting a courtroom attempt by The Philadelphia Inquirer to force her to make all the material public.

This line is hilarious, though. "I'm going to air all the dirty laundry! Well, not all the dirty laundry! You can't force me to air it all!"

Makes me think there's a lot of selective leaking going on, not all that surprising.

 

[Trojita]

Can you explain more about her? It seems to me her crime was releasing some private investigation info, which I don't find big of a deal.

She's the type of person that campaigns on corruption, and then is corrupt as fuck themselves.

A grand jury has been investigating the leaking of two memos which allegedly came from Kane's office: one from a 2009 grand jury investigation, and an internal memo leaked to the Philadelphia Daily News in 2014 that outlined details of the 2009 investigation.

On January 21, 2015, it was made public that the grand jury recommended criminal charges related to these leaks against Kane for "perjury, false swearing, official oppression and obstruction of law.".

The leaks came at a time when Kathleen Kane was under intense criticism for failure to effectively prosecute Democrats, both in a bribery sting investigation in Philadelphia, and a pay-to-play scandal involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

On August 6, 2015, Kane was charged by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman with one count of perjury, one count of false swearing, three counts of obstructing administration of law, and four counts of official oppression in connection with the grand jury leaks. Kane has denied the charges, and announced that she will not resign. The same day the charges were announced, Governor Tom Wolf publicly called on Kane to resign.

On August 24, 2015 she was ordered to trial on charges she leaked secret grand jury information to the press, lied under oath about it and ordered aides to illegally snoop through computer files to keep tabs on an investigation into it. Prosecutors called two witnesses - a top Kane aide and the lead investigator in the case against her - whose testimony paralleled a 42-page probable cause affidavit filed against her earlier this month. Kane is accused of leaking a confidential grand jury memo and transcript to a Philadelphia Daily News reporter to embarrass rival prosecutors involved in the case. She then lied about her actions to a grand jury investigating the leak, prosecutors said. Kane, 49, could face up to seven years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, perjury. No trial date has been scheduled. Her next court appearance is Oct. 14, 2015.

On September 21, 2015, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously suspended Kane's license to practice law. Although the Constitution of Pennsylvania requires the attorney general to be a licensed attorney, the court said in its order that it was not removing Kane from office. The suspension came as a result of criminal charges related to the grand jury leaks.

On October 1, 2015, prosecutors filed an additional perjury charge against Kane. This second charge relates to the alleged violation of a secrecy oath that Kane signed in January 2013, also relating to grand jury leaks

She still has to be proven guilty, but it doesn't look good.

She has done some good stuff, which is why I edited out "Grade A" scumbag. She didn't defend the gay-marriage ban. She investigated the handling of the Sandusky case by State Prosecuters (though this was also a campaign promise that helped her get elected), rejected as unconstitutional a contract that Corbett had sought to privatize management of the state lottery system, and for closing a gun-purchase loophole.

It's likely we aren't talking about e-mails she received, but ones she had pulled by the IT Staff to use as effective blackmail. She's going rogue now.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

At least democrats now have a 5-2 majority in the state supreme court. We won't have to worry about adding gerrymandering to that list come 2020.

It's preposterous of you to assume the democrats aren't just as bad about gerrymandering as Republicans are in this state. It's an epidemic. Go take a gander at Philadelphia City Council Districts.

 

[esms]

She's a scumbag. Pure and simple.

We're talking about a person who refused to prosecute people in her own party who were caught taking bribes in a corruption sting. Her excuse? The cases couldn't be won. The Philadelphia DA then prosecuted and has already gotten plea agreements out of several of them. I don't care about her releasing the emails and stuff showing the disgusting things being said in the office. I care about it being an aimed hatchet job against the people who ran the sting that caught the corrupt politicians she failed to prosecute. I also care about her illegally releasing grand jury testimony in a blatant disregard for the law.

The vote I cast for her is the biggest voting regret I have ever had in the entirety of my life.

This has been a big story in Philly and in PA. They basically are forcing her out of the Attorney General position because the new Governor Tom Wolf isn't really down with how she handles things.

This is stemming off a 2009 investigation that got brought back up when details got leaked to the Daily News in 2014 by her. She got charged in January. There was also a scandal when she fired an aide for testifying against her.

This is bad. PA isn't great for corruption (They literally closed Philadelphia Traffic Court and charged all the judges due to how blatantly corrupt it was), but if she goes scorched earth, a whole lot of people are done. They fucked up.

It really is par for the course for this state, though.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Penn State really is untouchable up there.

 

[blast processed]

 

[Trojita]

Penn State really is untouchable up there.

She won the election by saying she would investigate the poor handling of the Sandusky case, so it's kind of the opposite.

 

[God Dayumm]

She's the type of person that campaigns on corruption, and then is corrupt as fuck themselves.



She still has to be proven guilty, but it doesn't look good.

She has done some good stuff, which is why I edited out "Grade A" scumbag. She didn't defend the gay-marriage ban. She investigated the handling of the Sandusky case by State Prosecuters (though this was also a campaign promise that helped her get elected), rejected as unconstitutional a contract that Corbett had sought to privatize management of the state lottery system, and for closing a gun-purchase loophole.

It's likely we aren't talking about e-mails she received, but ones she had pulled by the IT Staff to use as effective blackmail. She's going rogue now.

Thanks, in that case I'm not taking sides here, let it burn

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

It's preposterous of you to assume the democrats aren't just as bad about gerrymandering as Republicans are in this state. It's an epidemic. Go take a gander at Philadelphia City Council Districts.

To be honest I don't care if there is gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.

Well alright then, in hindsight with this new evidence my initial comment was pretty uneducated and wrong.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

She won the election by saying she would investigate the poor handling of the Sandusky case, so it's kind of the opposite.

And she's being torn down by those with power to stop it.

 

[BronsonLee]

To be honest I don't care if there is gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.

You...probably should?

And she's being torn down by those with power to stop it.

Nah, she's being torn down by Tom Wolf, who wants a fresh start in general.

Anecdote: Tom Wolf is the first person to unseat an incumbent governor in the modern political era.

 

[Blood Diamonds]

this is some How To Get Away With Murder shit lol

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Seems fair.



Fuck no. Public officials should not have any privacy specifically when their actions were conducted through government channels.

Yeah exactly. Privacy doesn't exist if government resources are being used.

 

[esms]

To be honest I don't care if there is gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.

You should be ashamed of this post.

 

[Trojita]

And she's being torn down by those with power to stop it.

True, though she is going after Corbett's (republican) previous administration for the blame. So that riles up the republicans of course. The investigation came out that no wrong doing was had.

Who knows what the truth is though. Someone fucked up. Who knows if the investigation found no wrong doing because they were corrupt as well.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

To be honest I don't care if there is gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.

You definitely should. Philadelphia Democrats are a nightmare of corruption. Maybe you should google this Chaka Fattah chap. The old political regime in the state all needs a cleaning, not just one party or the other.

 

[BronsonLee]

Oh my god, if we bring up Chakah Fattah and John Street we'll never leave

And if we bring up MILTON Street, we're all gonna die

 

[Volimar]

Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Nothing better than terrible people wrecking other terrible people.

Yep. I'm not cheering her on, but what the hell.

 

[sirap]

She's going to get iced.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Oh my god, if we bring up Chakah Fattah and John Street we'll never leave

And if we bring up MILTON Street, we're all gonna die

At least we don't have to deal with any Street family members in office. Chaka Fattah is still in there.

 

[Dot Matrix]

Last week, Kane's hometown newspaper, the Times-Tribune of Scranton, ran a Halloween-theme cartoon of her as a witch saying: "I'll get you my pretties ... and your filthy emails too."

Genius..

And people wonder why newspapers are a dying medium.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

You...probably should?



Nah, she's being torn down by Tom Wolf, who wants a fresh start in general.

Anecdote: Tom Wolf is the first person to unseat an incumbent governor in the modern political era.

You should be ashamed of this post.

You definitely should. Philadelphia Democrats are a nightmare of corruption. Maybe you should google this Chaka Fattah chap. The old political regime in the state all needs a cleaning, not just one party or the other.

I was mainly thinking of Federal elections, not state or local.

Well alright then, in hindsight with this new evidence my initial comment was pretty uneducated and wrong.

 

[Laevateinn]

To be honest I don't care if there is gerrymandering in favor of the Democrats.

This is how you get a bunch of Democrats who don't give a fuck about anything. More Democrats is nice but I'd rather have better Democrats. Ideally, there would be no gerrymandering so that both parties actually have to do something for their constituents.

 

[BronsonLee]

I was mainly thinking of Federal elections, not state or local.

That's even worse!

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

This is how you get a bunch of Democrats who don't give a fuck about anything. More Democrats is nice but I'd rather have better Democrats. Ideally, there would be no gerrymandering so that both parties actually have to do something for their constituents.

But that's never going to happen. So lesser of two evils.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

I was mainly thinking of Federal elections, not state or local.

Fattah is a US Rep. Not local. He is largely in there because of Gerrymandering. He's been indicted on corruption charges multiple times and still gets voted into office because of it.

But that's never going to happen. So lesser of two evils.

Oh, so I guess you were of the opinion that Mayor John "FBI Investigated my office" Street was better for Philadelphia than Sam Katz would have been, because Sam Katz ran as a Republican and not a Democrat. The Democratic party is as bad as, if not worse than Republicans in southeast PA.

 

[esms]

I was mainly thinking of Federal elections, not state or local.

I'm speechless.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Fattah is a US Rep. Not local. He is largely in there because of Gerrymandering. He's been indicted on corruption charges multiple times and still gets voted into office because of it.



Oh, so I guess you were of the opinion that Mayor John "FBI Investigated my office" Street was better for Philadelphia than Sam Katz would have been, because Sam Katz ran as a Republican and not a Democrat.

Never heard of any of these people before this thread.

 

[notworksafe]

Never heard of any of these people before this thread.

so you're just talking out of your ass. but hey, gerrymandering is good if MY TEAM does it!

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Never heard of any of these people before this thread.

The takeaway should generally be that Gerrymandering is good for no one. It keeps corrupt politicians in office because they don't actually have to be honest or enact policy that helps people because they can manipulate racial, religious, or political affiliation demographics to stay in office, rather than be upright productive members of government, and the problem is just as bad on both sides of the aisle pretty much everywhere.

Chaka Fattah is in office because 60% of the people in his district are poor black people who won't vote for a white candidate because of long standing racial tensions. Take a look at his district, and it's actually gerrymandered to exclude just about every major white neighborhood in the city. They realize it's easy to manipulate that voting block. Then he can go and pay out $6 million in federal funding to his allies and not have to worry about losing an election. $6million that could have been used to try to help his constituents get out of poverty or increase the quality of their lives. The dude is currently indicted on federal racketeering charges and has not even had a minor dip in approval ratings. That's the power of gerrymandering.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

The takeaway should generally be that Gerrymandering is good for no one. It keeps corrupt politicians in office because they don't actually have to be honest or enact policy that helps people because they can manipulate racial, religious, or political affiliation demographics to stay in office, rather than be upright productive members of government, and the problem is just as bad on both sides of the aisle pretty much everywhere.

Well alright then, in hindsight with this new evidence my initial comment was pretty uneducated and wrong.

 

[Red Mage]

To the people cheering her on, she's a scumbag. The best case scenario is she sends other scumbags down with her.

I'm not exactly cheering her on, but hey, if she takes fellow scumbags down with her, I consider that a bonus.

 

[AuthenticM]

amazing

 

[FartOfWar]

I'm speechless.

Its sg 17. You should expect it by now.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Its sg 17. You should expect it by now.

I don't even know who the fuck you are.

 

[andythinkpad]

This should have been the main plot of season 5 of The Wire.

I salute you, attorney general of PA.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Do IT!

 

[ArjanN]

"Kathleen Kane" is a pretty good Batman villain name. Her henchmen could dress like and/or fight with candy canes or something.

 

[ahoyhoy]

This should have been the main plot of season 5 of The Wire.

I salute you, attorney general of PA.

Spoiler

It's sort of what happened to Clay Davis. In the face of indictment on corruption charges he was threatening to take down a lot of politicians with him if they couldn't get the charges dropped.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

The takeaway should generally be that Gerrymandering is good for no one. It keeps corrupt politicians in office because they don't actually have to be honest or enact policy that helps people because they can manipulate racial, religious, or political affiliation demographics to stay in office, rather than be upright productive members of government, and the problem is just as bad on both sides of the aisle pretty much everywhere.

Chaka Fattah is in office because 60% of the people in his district are poor black people who won't vote for a white candidate because of long standing racial tensions. Take a look at his district, and it's actually gerrymandered to exclude just about every major white neighborhood in the city. They realize it's easy to manipulate that voting block. Then he can go and pay out $6 million in federal funding to his allies and not have to worry about losing an election. $6million that could have been used to try to help his constituents get out of poverty or increase the quality of their lives. The dude is currently indicted on federal racketeering charges and has not even had a minor dip in approval ratings. That's the power of gerrymandering.

Thank you for explaining why I was wrong instead of being a dick about it.

 

[BronsonLee]

"Kathleen Kane" is a pretty good Batman villain name. Her henchmen could dress like and/or fight with candy canes or something.

That...might conflict with Katherine Kane in Batman

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Its sg 17. You should expect it by now.

I don't even know who the fuck you are.

I don't know why this was so funny to me..

 

[Akuun]

Is this one of those situations where two wrongs make a right?

They're all scum, but airing it all out in public to bring down everyone is probably doing a lot of good in cleaning house.

 

[arevin01]

Anytime you wanna take down a high ranking official, you risk getting thrown in the fire as well. Consider the consequence before you do so.

 

[hipbabboom]

Some may try to say that is an isolated incident but I've dabbled enough with people with access to does with power to feel confident in saying this sort of behavior by bureaucrats is standard fare.

 

[FartOfWar]

I don't even know who the fuck you are.

Im fart of war. You should expect it by now.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Is this one of those situations where two wrongs make a right?

They're all scum, but airing it all out in public to bring down everyone is probably doing a lot of good in cleaning house.

Maybe I'm not reading this right, but isn't she being accused of (and being disbarred for) being a whistle-blower?

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Maybe I'm not reading this right, but isn't she being accused of (and being disbarred for) being a whistle-blower?

No, she's being accused of and disbarred for leaking grand jury testimony and perjury, not for the initial email leaks.

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

Seems fair.



Fuck no. Public officials should not have any privacy specifically when their actions were conducted through government channels.

Seriously. It's right there in the fucking name: public.