Posted on 05/20/2010 12:39:53 PM PDT by pillut48
Harrisburg, Pa. - The state attorney general's office has issued a subpoena threatening officials of the social networking service Twitter with arrest unless they reveal the names of two bloggers who have been critical of Attorney General Tom Corbett and his public corruption investigation.
The subpoena orders Twitter's custodian of records to provide "any and all subscriber information" pertaining to the accounts "bfbarbie" and "CasablancaPA," including name, address, contact information, creation date, and Internet protocol address.
The accounts have criticized Corbett's use of grand juries, suggesting he used the investigations for political gain and to go after political opponents.
The Twitter representative was supposed to appear before the statewide investigating grand jury on May 14 to "give evidence regarding alleged violations of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." The court document does not specify what crime is being investigated.
The subpoena, issued May 6, further states that failure to attend may result in an arrest warrant for contempt of court. It is not clear whether Twitter has turned over the information.
Vic Walczak of the American Civil Liberties Union told Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV that the court action "raises grave concerns about abuse of the grand jury process to retaliate against political critics and opponents." He said Americans "have a right to criticize government officials and to do so anonymously."
Corbett, who won the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday night, told the television station that he doesn't have any problem with people criticizing him on Twitter. He refused to discuss the nature of the subpoena, however, stating that the investigation prevents him from discussing the matter.
If you live in PA don't throw away your Sam Rohrer signs, he could be the default candidate in November.
I know the Machine would never allow that but I can dream....
Bottom line is that I have real doubts that Corbett is going after political speech here. He's never struck me as being that thin-skinned.
Hope your right, but Jim is absolutely correct, he needs to jump on this and get the story straight and into the public view or he’s dead meat.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pennsylvania attorney general issued a subpoena to Twitter earlier this month seeking the identities of two account holders who have repeatedly posted negative comments about Tom Corbett and his Bonusgate investigation.
[snip]
Ferrari would not comment on who runs the CasablancaPA blog or if they have any relationship to any of the Bonusgate defendants.
However, in a sentencing memorandum filed against former legislative aide Brett Cott in Dauphin County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Senior Deputy Attorney Generals Frank Fina and Patrick Blessington attributed the blog to Mr. Cott.
"Defendant has extensively and anonymously utilized a blog titled 'CasablancaPA: Exposing the hypocrisy of Tom Corbett' to defect blame and deny responsibility for his criminal conduct and to attack and malign the investigative and prosecutorial process, which resulted in his conviction," they wrote.
In an e-mail, Mr. Cott declined to comment.
"Tom Corbett is completely and without a doubt using the grand jury process in a way that is completely and without question, inappropriate," said Bryan S. Walk, Mr. Cott's attorney. "There is nothing to uncover that could be remotely connected to any criminal investigation. The timing of the subpoena smacks of attempts to intimidate him and enhance his sentence."
He would not comment on whether his client is associated with CasablancaPA.
A jury last month found Mr. Cott guilty of theft of service, conflict of interest and conspiracy to commit conflict of interest.
The prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 18 to 44 months -- much higher than the standard -- for Mr. Cott who was found guilty of three felonies in the Bonusgate corruption scandal. They cited a history of "dishonorable and deceptive behavior," and called Mr. Cott "a remorseless, defiant repeat offender who is apparently incapable of contrition."
He will be the first of three co-defendants to be sentenced in the case, which centers around the use of $1.8 million in public funds to provide bonuses to state employees who worked on campaigns.
Here’s the Twitter accts in question: http://twitter.com/bfbarbie
http://twitter.com/casablancapa
That’s called “doing his job”.
He doesn’t get to put his boot on my neck because his employees were professional.
They are not investigating a crime, they are using the state to enforce a personal vendetta.
With Obama and Elena Kagan running around, we should all know that free political speech will not be free much longer.
So that makes it ok for him to trample on our Consitutional rights?
I would wait on this - the timing of this in the press reeks, given Corbett just won the GOP nomination for Gov a couple of days ago, and a local Daily News blogger known to be a Dem talking points shill is all over it as well. This is tied up in Bonusgate, an investigation into official corruption in Harrisburg - so let’s give this a few days to see what goes down. If there is no ‘there’ there, then yes, let’s rip ‘im. But the bloggers in question are not being forthcoming either.
This should be a little clearer if you read between the lines:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jl5hlHw3foVWVBKAXL5SV984z9AwD9FQPMKO2
After reading that blog Corbett doesn’t look too good.
If he truly is abusing power, then he deserves to get a spanking. But let's wait to get the entire story first.
Bad move.
We also don’t know if the bloggers actually revealed grand jury testimony, there could be underlying potential criminal activity with this.
They are out to destroy Corbett. The Post Gazette is decidedly liberal. Right now, I am giving Corbett the benefit of the doubt. Gut feeling is there is way more to the story than we are aware of and because legal proceedings are still going on, Corbett cannot really defend himself without divulging facts in the case.
Until proven otherwise, I say Corbett is, and has been, a straight shooter...a rare breed.
Did you read any of the other background information posts?
Did you read any of the other background posts newbie?
Are you implying that this is a set-up by the left? That never happens, they always play fair.
Perish the thought...
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