Has Attorney General Tom Corbett been motivated to go after corruption in the State Legislature because of his own political ambition? Sure.Does that mean it was difficult for him to find a bunch of Democrats and Republicans who are very likely guilty of stuff? Nah, I truly doubt it.
Do I care how, in phenomenological terms, they came to be prosecuted? Not really. Am I excited to see them all get prosecuted? Heck yeah!
Why? I want my elected officials scared witless of committing even the slightest, most borderline inappropriate acts. I want good little boy scouts and girl scouts.
We choose to elect our Attorneys General presumably because we want to see them do our bidding -- and this is our bidding. Besides which, there are such things and grand juries, judges and trials, you know. A prosecutor can't personally wave a magic wand and assign guilt to the guiltless, no matter what the accused would often have us believe. The worst he or she can do by themselves is put an innocent person through some heartache and temporary humiliation -- and that regrettable eventuality is a small price to pay for engendering an atmosphere that is appropriately hostile to corruption.
Now that he's gotten the indictments out of his system, is it time for Tom Corbett to step down prior to the fat part of his Gubernatorial bid? Yes, it seems about that time.
No mention of butlers yet, but here's to hoping.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.postgazette.com/pg/09316/1013115-100.stm
ReplyDeleteTotally unrelated, but much more enjoyable. I hope to see a youtube of this fiasco soon.
So, to be clear, you are saying that because Mr. Corbett has higher ambitions, and because his pursuit of this ambition happens to coincide with ongoing high-profile criminal investigations, he should recuse himself from performing his duties as State Attorney General? Would you ask the same of Mr. Onorato? Would you make the same request if the AG were a democrat? A progressive?
ReplyDeleteI think there comes a point when you can't do justice to both missions at the same time. I'd ask the same of a Democrat, and I'd like to think I'd ask the same of an officeholder I was a big fan of.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what your getting at, though. Maybe he can go on a Leave of Absence until his campaign is over, or recuse himself from the prosecutorial aspects of his job?
When will we see Bill DeWeese being charged?
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