Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has said that the report of the investigation of Governor Tom Corbett (related to his handling of the Sandusky child molestation investigation) will be released soon.
Already multiple sources are leaking details to the press. Corbett backers are claiming a complete exoneration (of course).
From Philly.com (the Inquirer):
HARRISBURG - A review has found no evidence that then-Attorney General Tom Corbett delayed the investigation into serial sex abuser Jerry Sandusky for political gain, but it raises questions about the pace of the case, according to three people who have read the report.
The report also does not fault prosecutors for taking the case to a grand jury, a step that lengthened the investigation and that critics contended kept Sandusky on the streets, the sources said. But the review does flag the timing of certain decisions prosecutors made, such as searching Sandusky's house two years after the investigation began.
Commissioned in January 2013 by Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and completed by a former federal prosecutor, the full report is expected to be made public soon.
This report has been highly anticipated, and if early reports are true, Corbett opponents will be disappointed, to say the least. Many have been calling for indictment.
Kathleen Kane has been very vocal in her condemnation of the Sandusky investigation, which dragged on for years while children were still being molested.
Again, from Philly.com:
During an appearance before the editorial board of the Times-Tribune of Scranton in September 2012, Kane accused Corbett of "probably" allowing politics to influence his decision-making in the case.
"The reason it was probably politics is you look at all the other factors surrounding it," Kane told the board, noting the campaign donations Corbett had received from people connected to Penn State and the Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded to help disadvantaged children.
She added: "You don't put a case like that before the grand jury. That was the leadership. Somebody made that decision that they're going to drag that out. Somebody made that decision that they're going to cloak it in secrecy. And I never would have done that."
There is really no way to know right now what the report will ultimately reveal, as it is purported be voluminous. We really don't know who is doing the leaking, but it appears that several media outlets have full access to the report.
Referring to the prosecutor's report (again from Philly.com):
Copies of his findings have been distributed to prosecutors, investigators, and other law enforcement officials who worked on the investigation into Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach convicted in 2012 of molesting 10 boys, the sources said.
From
TribLive.com (the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review):
Corbett, former Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina, and others named in the report were given copies to write responses, due in less than a week. It then will go back to Cambria County Judge Norman A. Krumenacher III for review before public release.
While this report does not make any specific charges, it allegedly lays out in excruciating detail the timeline of the investigation. Opponents will find much to suggest that the AG office at that time was slow-playing the investigation, many suggesting that it was the concentration of Corbett on investigating Democrats in the state, as well as concerns about political fallout. Corbett supporters will claim complete vindication, and are already doing so.
Anyone who thought that the Sandusky affair was a magic bullet in the upcoming gubernatorial contest may have to rethink that, and depend on Corbett's massive unpopularity on almost every issue instead.
For now, just chew on this tidbit:
Corbett's use of outside legal counsel tops $100 million. You know, for cases like defending PA's unconstitutional voter ID law or marriage law, or trying to overturn the NCAA's Penn State sanctions. Things like that, which all failed. Great investment, huh?