Talk About Clean Sweep
You know the moment.
It's when you discover something so surprising and so horrid, the only reaction you can muster is to say "Oh, my God!"
They had an "Oh, my God" moment in Harrisburg this week.
Legislators picked up the Inquirer on Tuesday to discover Mario Cattabiani's story that John O'Connell, a popular lobbyist and former aide to Gov. Tom Ridge and House Speaker John Perzel:
A) Had a bad gambling habit.
B) To feed it, stole at least $160,000 from a political action committee he controlled.
C) Turned himself in to the IRS in August, 2004.
D) He ended up in the hands of federal prosecutors and the FBI.
E) He has been cooperating with the feds into an investigation into corruption.
You see part "E"?
That's where, if you are a Pennsylvania legislator, you say: "Oh, my God!"
You cull your memory for any conversations you ever had with John O'Connell. Then, you read this graph:
In a disclosure that is bound to cause a stir in the Capitol, the plea agreement says O'Connell agreed in January to act in an "undercover capacity" and allow federal authorities to monitor and record conversations he had with people "believed to be engaged in criminal conduct."
You say: "Oh, my God" again.
Within the next two weeks, O'Connell is expected to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud – a mere bagatelle, considering how much he stole. He is now officially a government canary.
I wonder who's going to win the race to call O'Connell the Jack Abramoff of Harrisburg?
I think I just did.
It's when you discover something so surprising and so horrid, the only reaction you can muster is to say "Oh, my God!"
They had an "Oh, my God" moment in Harrisburg this week.
Legislators picked up the Inquirer on Tuesday to discover Mario Cattabiani's story that John O'Connell, a popular lobbyist and former aide to Gov. Tom Ridge and House Speaker John Perzel:
A) Had a bad gambling habit.
B) To feed it, stole at least $160,000 from a political action committee he controlled.
C) Turned himself in to the IRS in August, 2004.
D) He ended up in the hands of federal prosecutors and the FBI.
E) He has been cooperating with the feds into an investigation into corruption.
You see part "E"?
That's where, if you are a Pennsylvania legislator, you say: "Oh, my God!"
You cull your memory for any conversations you ever had with John O'Connell. Then, you read this graph:
In a disclosure that is bound to cause a stir in the Capitol, the plea agreement says O'Connell agreed in January to act in an "undercover capacity" and allow federal authorities to monitor and record conversations he had with people "believed to be engaged in criminal conduct."
You say: "Oh, my God" again.
Within the next two weeks, O'Connell is expected to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud – a mere bagatelle, considering how much he stole. He is now officially a government canary.
I wonder who's going to win the race to call O'Connell the Jack Abramoff of Harrisburg?
I think I just did.
posted by Tom Ferrick Jr. at 8:02 AM
14 Comments:
Tom,
I hate the AP for that very reason. I wondered why he only got hit with mail faud - same as former AG Ernie Preate - when he actually stole money. The AP story doesn't say they flipped him and sent him back to H'burg. Check out my Daily Rant today about Perzel's lobbyist 'reform' effort.
Wow! I'll bet Perzel is hip deep in it. Maybe Rick Mariano will have some company in the slammer.
Here's the relevent passage from the original story:
" In a deal with prosecutors, O'Connell agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which could mean two years or more in jail.
"I had a huge gambling problem that I no longer have," said O'Connell, a former consultant and aide to former Gov. Tom Ridge and State Rep. John Perzel (R., Phila.), who is now House Speaker. "I made a mistake, and I'll deal with it."
In a disclosure that is bound to cause a stir in the Capitol, the plea agreement says O'Connell agreed in January to act in an "undercover capacity" and allow federal authorities to monitor and record conversations he had with people "believed to be engaged in criminal conduct." "
We know that the feds have been quite interested in "pay to play"
prosecutions. It's not at all unlikely that with O'Connell being a lobbyist and close to Perzel, that
the feds used the theft charge to
go fishing by having O'Connell wear
a wire. Is Perzel a gambler? I don't
know. But could Perzel have been involved with a O'Connell in a different enterprise? Only the tapes
and time will tell.
I'm not comparing this to Watergate, but sometimes, esp in politics, seemingly minor things lead to major
investigations.
One other thing, I'm always wonder where the real truth is when someone works very hard, as you are doing ajm, to spin a story.
Doesn't anyone remember that O'Connell is a Bob Asher protoge from Montgomery County? Criminals stick together. The guy shaking in his boots is Asher.
I advanced this story a bit yesterday by looking at who O'Connell lobbied for. Specifically, he was the flesh presser for PHEAA and Penn National Gaming.
He spent nearly $90,000 of the $1 million Penn Nantional paid for lobbying in the state Senate alone last year.
That led to another important discovery: Pennsylvania's slot machine law prohibited potential parlor licensees and machine manufacturers from making campaign contributions after it was passed in 2004, but it did not bar or even limit how much they could spend on lobbying.
Read more about it in my Daily Rant.
- Dave Ralis
ajm, nowhere did I say O'Connell was a bad person. Hopefully he has and will continue to overcome his gambling addiction.
As Dave Ralis points out, O'Connell was very well-connected with lots of cash at his disposal for distribution. Given the feds interest in "pay to play" and the revelations coming out of the Abramoff investigation, why wouldn't the feds at least use O'Connell to find out what they could find out?
We'll see what happens, but I do not believe this a "no big deal" story.
this is going to be a big deal thing. O'Connell is going to have some dirt on a lot of people and probably some recordings for that matter. The guy did business with a lot of people in Harrisburg and carried a big purse along with him.
AJ - everyone in Harrisburg knows how close you and John are. so you tell us, was he wearing a wire or was he not?
Well, ajm, as I understand it, O'Connell only embezzled from his own firm, which evidently was collecting plenty of money. It's unlikely he could have embezzled for long from any client who expected him to "deliver".
So, O'Connell still had plenty of money to distribute around and your
argument doesn't really hold water.
AJ - from your hostility i take it he was wearing a wire.
From the original story:
"On Monday, federal prosecutors charged O'Connell with mail fraud for siphoning money from Pennsylvania Law Watch, a group he had formed to lobby for tort reform in Pennsylvania."
IMO, your comment it wasn't O'Connell's own firm is a distinction without a difference.
AJ - since your brother is the DA there, why don't you explain to us why he is not involved with this case against your friend?
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