Pennsylvania: Lt. Governor Candidate Issues Statement Calling on Corbett to Resign from Attorney General Position
SAIDEL TAKES STAND ON CORBETT’S FAILURE TO PROSECUTE REPUBLICAN SENATOR JANE ORIE AND JANINE ORIE
Lt. Governor Candidate Issues Statement Calling on Corbett to Resign from Attorney General Position
Statement from Jonathan A. Saidel, Democratic Candidate for Lt. Governor
If Attorney General Tom Corbett was on trial for politicizing the office that the people of Pennsylvania entrusted him to hold, he would be looking a guilty verdict square in the eye. The latest partisan outrage perpetrated by Mr. Corbett manifested in the indictment of Republican State Senator Jane Orie and her sister, Janine Orie, an indictment that would never have happened if Mr. Corbett had his way. While I believe that Senator Orie and Janine Orie are innocent until proven guilty, it was Tom Corbett’s job to pursue the truth in the matter regardless of the political affiliation of the accused.
I speak for all Democrats when I say that political corruption must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law regardless of party affiliation. Attorney General Corbett had the opportunity to boldly show his non-partisan credentials by taking up the case against Senator Orie, a high profile Republican leader from his home county. Instead, he did nothing to give us faith in his impartiality. The statue of Lady Justice in Tom Corbett’s office is only blind in one eye.
When the Attorney General was contacted with clearly credible accusations alleging Senator Orie was engaging in the same kind of political corruption for which he has been vigorously prosecuting Democratic State Legislators, he took a pass leaving it to the Allegheny County District Attorney and an Allegheny County Grand Jury to seek justice. Jane Orie and her sister now face serious charges, charges that Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett wanted nothing to do with.
It is time for Tom Corbett to resign from the office of Attorney General. It is clear that he cannot keep partisan political considerations from influencing the serious work the Attorney General has to do for the people of our Commonwealth.
Just two weeks ago we saw further evidence of Tom Corbett’s shameless partisanship when he became the only Attorney General north of the Mason Dixon line to join a frivolous law suit seeking to overturn healthcare reform passed by congress on constitutional and states’ rights grounds. Every serious constitutional scholar in America said the suit was merely a shallow partisan stunt without merit or any opportunity of success.
These highly partisan political decisions on the part of the Attorney General bring in to question the political motives of every action the Tom Corbett takes. It is time for him to resign the Attorney General’s office so the people of Pennsylvania can once again have confidence in the office charged with enforcing our laws in a fair and non-partisan manner.