Why Didn't Tom Corbett Stop Jerry Sandusky?

Vicki Youngelman July 18, 2012 at 09:16 pm

The question in politics is always "why." Why would Governor Corbett sacrifice his entire political career on this very serious issue? What would his reward be to cover up? Governor Corbett is an extremely intelligent man and knows how to say no. Let's hope the facts show he was not involved in any cover up. I hope so for his sake and far more for the State of Pennsylvania. We can not condemn until we know the truth. The truth somtimes get distorted but you can not fool a well informed voter in the end.

Karen Wagner July 18, 2012 at 09:25 pm

Yes I wholeheartedly agree Tom Corbett needs to be IMPEACHED for deraliction of duty as the Attorney General by not protecting those children and being on the board of trustees for Penn State is just like proof in the pudding!

Sugaree July 19, 2012 at 03:23 am

"but you can not fool a well informed voter in the end."
Herein lies the problem; people have short attention spans, and will forget all about this by the time he is up for reelection. Nobody pays any attention to state politics, which is a darn shame, b/c the characters in Harrisburg make the Washington DC crowd look honest by comparision. Corbett will get a second term, because as someone else said, PA has a long history of two terms for Governors, despite all the things he has done which hasn't exactly made him popular. People seem to develop amnesia come voting day and just vote for whichever party they like more. Sad isn't it?

Pat Shane July 19, 2012 at 02:14 pm

As Attorney General, Tom Corbett received over $647,000 in campaign contributions from members of the Second Mile Foundation, while only assigning one investigator to the case.
Meanwhile, at the same time, he assigned 14 investigators to Bill Deweese, who spent more than 5 years trying to get him. It is difficult to believe these campaign contributions did not improperly influence his decision to not file charges against Jerry Sandusky. The state police trooper who initially handled the Clinton County case against Jerry Sandusky believed there was enough evidence from a teenage boy -- now known as Victim One-- to charge Sandusky with indecent assault. See video below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji7UQhr3z3M

Bob Guzzardi July 19, 2012 at 02:37 pm

Thanks Pat Shane Good information for those who want to put their heads in the sand. Outside SE Pennsylvania, there is a lot more attention to State politics. Democrat Kathleen Kane is a viable challenger and will, more likely than not, investigate the investigation.

Pat Musselman July 19, 2012 at 05:57 pm

I agree. It is the job of an Attorney General to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth. Corbett failed his job!

SMYRNA-X July 19, 2012 at 07:48 pm

If corbett were a dem we would not be having this conversation. With a scandle like this he could be nominated and elected by any dem constituency anywhere.

optimist July 19, 2012 at 10:23 pm

Was wondering when you teabaggers were going to defend your boy. Took you a little longer than usual.

John Q. Public July 20, 2012 at 12:07 am

There's an active investigation on this very issue going on right now. Perhaps SmyrnaX wants to wait for the results before passing judgement. Reports today are Penn State ignored the state investigator's multiple subpoenas, and did not turn over the emails when requested, and even denied their very existence. If the DA's office failed, or were lied to by Penn State, we will know soon enough. Put the agendas away for a few days, and comment when the facts are known.

Pat Musselman July 20, 2012 at 12:14 am

Guess you really don't know any Democrats!

Liberty 1 July 20, 2012 at 12:43 am

John Q - Are you lonely out there? A reasoned voice crying in the wilderness!There is hope.

Bugs Bunny July 20, 2012 at 12:54 am

Pat Musselman, your as silly as my friends Daffy and Tweety.

Mike Hunt July 20, 2012 at 06:53 pm

So who do you think had the Centre Co. DA killed! Yes he is missing and nobody thinks there's a problem? Let's see who stands to be damaged the most here from the DAs information?? Who has the resources to do this? I'll bet our gov knows... He was on bed with Jerry! Let's not forget that Jerry was doing fundraisers for Uncle Tom. If you think that is going to produce a fair investigation your in a fantasy world or republican. Also who received 900,000 from the shale oil industry? Yep Uncle Tom. Who rushed to state college when this broke to direct the liars club? OPen your eyes and stop playing party politics. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck .... Must be a duck.

careless fills July 20, 2012 at 08:38 pm

Corbett got the case right. If he pressed the case too soon with only one victim, it would have failed given Sandusky's stature in the community. Corbett's office methodically developed other leads that the county prosecutor didn't find. See : http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-19/news/32731243_1_jerry-sandusky-case-ben-andreozzi-serial-child-predator

Pat Shane July 20, 2012 at 10:31 pm

so they couldn't restrict his access on campus, or access to children? They had to allow him to continue to molest young boys to 'methodically develop' other leads??
Sorry, but I think the Second Mile contributions had a little more to do with this rather than a strategic method.

careless fills July 21, 2012 at 01:28 am

PSU could have easily restricted Sandusky from the locker room and other campus facilities after he left their employ. Those who say that he was entitled to access as a contractual matter are dead wrong. If PSU banned Sandusky, his only recourse would be to go to court, and he wouldn't have, knowing the risks to himself.
No one knows what Gricar's reasoning was in not prosecuting Sandusky in 1998. Perhaps that will come out in the future investigations. At that point it was a local county matter, and the state Attorney General, whoever it was at the time would not have been involved. Corbett office picked up the ball after the case entered the state child abuse system when a mother reported a case in 2009 nad proceded witht he grand jury and other investigations which were methodically in effective completed. The fault for any delays starts with PSU in 1998 and 1999 with the original county level case, and with PSU in the 2000 case with the janitor witness and the 2002 with the Mc Queary observations, and one could only expect that some PSU had suspicions before 1998.

Bobby King July 21, 2012 at 03:47 pm

I have to give Corbett a pass on this one. As the AG he definitely knew of the investigation. Being privy to an investigation, one has to keep it in secret. If he would have taken action before the grand jury was completed, he would have jeopardized the entire case. Imagine if this would have occurred with the result of Sandusky walking free. He was in a tight spot considering his position.

Bob Guzzardi July 21, 2012 at 03:58 pm

State Police investigators. As soon as he knew about McQueary, he had to know and what wonders if he thought this was a problem to be handled or whether he was disgusted and infuriated enough to give this a priority. http://casablancapa.blogspot.com/2012/06/we-had-shortage-of-investigators.html

Scott Alderfer July 23, 2012 at 09:15 pm

Further proof of Corbett's culpability is that he allowed Sandusky's arrest to be delayed until Paterno had passed Eddie Robinson in all-time wins. I'm sure that there was enough evidence to arrest Sandusky before the 2011 football season started. But Corbett, the former Attorney General who had intimate knowledge of the investigation for several years AND who, as governor, is a member of the PSU Board of Trustees, waited until Paterno had his record-breaking win to have Sandusky arrested and taken off the streets.

Scott Alderfer July 23, 2012 at 09:23 pm

No, Smyrna-X (by the way, did your mother actually name you that?). If Corbett was a Democrat, the GOP-controlled PA Senate and General Assembly would have already started impeachment proceedings. Corbett is going to continue looking out for his cronies until voters from both parties vote him out when he runs for re-election. And don't think that Corbett's involvement will get fully investigated by the next Attorney General if Corbett's boy Freed is elected.

Bob Guzzardi July 23, 2012 at 09:59 pm

If Tom Corbett's hand picked candidate, Dave Freed, is elected the next AG, we will never find out what happened. There are a lot of unanswered questions.

careless fills July 24, 2012 at 12:26 am

Heather, check your facts. Sandusky was off the Penn State payroll long bebore Corbett became AG in 2005.

careless fills July 24, 2012 at 01:45 am

Heather, unfotunately, the opinion piece/open letter that you cite starts off with an very gross inaccuracy that causes it to lose all credibility.
"1) Based on a decade’s worth of evidence of Sandusky’s predatory activities, why did it take the Attorney General’s Office three years to arrest him?" First, the 1998 case that the late Clinton county DA Gricar rejected in 1999 never reached the state AG's office. Besides, Corbett wasn't AG until 2005. (although he was briefly acting AG in 1997 completing an unexpired term, before any of this came to light). Second, the case wasn't raised again until a victim's parent complained about the 2009 incident. Corbett's office shortly started the grand jury investigation that led to the Sandusky's untimate conviction. Corbett needed to be careful to fully and methodically develop the case. If he prosecuted with just one victim, he could have lost it all - and to wit Sandusky was found not guilty with regards to the McCreary shower observation. Finally, the public knew about something was up even early in 2011. I did, and I was not surprised when Sandusky was indicted, but I was shocked by the extent of his involvement and the administration's (and Paterno's) coverup. See: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-sandusky-charges-040111,0,4161139.story from APRIL 1, 2011, over 7 months before the indicitments. Lets keep the blame where it belongs: first and foremost Sandusky, and then PSU.

louis kootsares July 24, 2012 at 12:32 pm

being a republican i still have my own opinion of our governor... he sucks 1 term if he does not get thrown out of office

Teresa Flint-Barber October 28, 2012 at 06:21 pm

I agree, the whole story is not yet known. Sandusky is the tip of the ice burg here. Yes, he was the one who could take the fall, even in his "mighty position". Sandusky is the lowest man on this totem pole. I believe that we have not heard the end of Pennsylvania's children being victims of pedophilia within institutions while perpetrators are protected by systems and people in positions of power. Human trafficking comes to mind.

careless fills November 11, 2012 at 10:47 pm

Corbett did stop Sandusky. His method was a thorough and complete investigation, which led to Sandusky's conviction.
On the other hand, the way that the Bernie FIne case was handled was an abomination, since he was tried and convicted in the press before the real investigations started and he was cleared by several different entities. His stellar reputation is forever ruined by this improper rush to judgement. See: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--bernie-fine-s-day-of-vindication-should-serve-as-lesson-in-caution-for-public--media-09021709.html The state AG's office was stellar in its performance, both with Corbett at its helm and later with Corbett more or less out of the picture as governor.

Jay Bell November 12, 2012 at 02:52 am

Corbett is too busy worrying about corporate money, rather than the welfare of people; for example, he thinks "fracking" on college campuses is okay which shows he has no regard for public education or the sanctity of education for all. www.firebrandcentral.com

James Walter November 12, 2012 at 03:39 am

Here's one that Corbett tried to pull.... Not saying the district, but after budget was all said and done just not singed yet, he waited till all the union big wigs left town to go to a convention of sorts and decided at the last minute to write in a new law that with a 5-4 vote from the school board, any school within the district could be turned into a charter school. Effectively making all teacher contracts null and void. Luckily one union head stayed back just to make sure everything would get signed and caught this. Not even the higher ups knew he was doing this. He is a very sneaky man and should be immediately removed if this is how he conducts business. He has millions tucked away for a rainy day fund, but do any of us know how he's using it?

James Walter November 12, 2012 at 03:41 am

He stopped it, but how many years later after the fact? If he knew about it when the actions were taking place, how come it took this many years to get Sandusky thrown in jail?

Patrick Shane November 12, 2012 at 01:28 pm

You're just plain wrong. Thorough and complete investigation? Corbett received over $647,000 in campaign contributions from members of the Second Mile Foundation, while only assigning one investigator to the case.
How is that thorough and complete? It's not even ethical!