Thursday, May 14, 2009

Pennsylvania Leads the Country in Corrupt Politician Sweepstakes

Our new Pennsylvania auto license plate model should be:

"What do you mean it's illegal?"

Because really, our state leaders seem not to know the difference between public service and self-service at the state's treasury.



Let there be no doubt that Pennsylvania leads the country in the habit of corrupt political offices. Corruption in politics is so entrenched in Pennsylvania that perpetrators, even when caught and indicted, are surprised that their corrupt activities are considered illegal. Of course, no one ever really gets indicted--except for priests like Father De Sica and people with Italian names.

For decades, corrupt officials in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania have been selling offices and jobs at a rate exceeding that of the old Tammany Hall. Two judges have been convicted of getting kickbacks from custodians and builders of juvenile facilities.

For decades, teachers who wanted jobs had to pay up in advance.

Governor Ed Rendell won $2000 at one of his favorite slots casinos and didn’t report it as required of a public official. As with all official failures of character and judgment, the Governor’s mouthpiece chalked it up as a “clerical oversight.”

The cover up of a spate of sexual harassment and predatory sexual activity by a prominent East Stroudsburg University official continues to fester in a lawsuit against the university. The man-boy sex scandal has besmirched a university which has stood for decades as a model of integrity and social responsibility.

Representative Murtha, a doddering old fool is there ever was one, continues to pass along federal millions of dollars to his relatives and to his favorite airport—Murtha Airport. It’s so busy at Murtha Airport, with its 6 flights a day, that a bevy of turtles recently crossed the airport runways without a single casualty.

That’s Pennsylvania, folks—a blue-state feeding trough for government vultures.

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