Gov. Tom Corbett Buries Paterno to Distract from Own Inaction

Current Pennslyvania Governor Tom Corbett officially learned of allegations of child sexual abuse against Jerry Sandusky in March 2009. As Attorney General of the state at the time, Corbett assigned a single state trooper to investigate the allegations - though that law officer was not authorized to bring charges against Sandusky because Corbett decided not to assign an agent from his office to directly supervise the investigation.

When Corbett became governor two years later the children’s charity Sandusky had founded in 1977, The Second Mile, had not officially been notified by Corbett or anyone in law enforcement that its founder was being investigated on multiple allegations of child rape.

Despite that apparent disconnect, the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS reported on Dec. 10, 2011, that at the same time Corbett was conducting his two-year investigation of Sandusky as Attorney General, Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign benefited financially from Sandusky’s charity:

Corbett accepted more than $25,000 from state board members of Sandusky’s charity, The Second Mile, during his gubernatorial campaign last year. On top of that, he accepted thousands more from the charity’s regional board members, according to Pennsylvania Department of State campaign contributions website.

His openness to the charity’s board members’ contributions to his campaign didn’t stop there. Corbett also allowed S&A Homes president and CEO Robert Poole, who chaired Second Mile’s board, to hold a small fundraiser for him at Poole’s home in January 2010.

Following Corbett’s election as Governor, he “re-released” a $3 million state grant to The Second Mile as part of the charity’s effort to erect a building meticulously-planned by Sandusky himself - with Poole’s company handling the construction. The release of the state funds came four months before Sandusky was arrested on dozens of child sexual abuse charges stemming from Corbett’s own investigation as then-Attorney General.

After the background of the grant was exposed to the public, Corbett pulled the state funding.

From the month he learned of the Sandusky allegations to the day he took office as Governor, Corbett’s Attorney General office issued 42 press releases touting hundreds of arrests by the Corbett-commissioned “Child Sexual Predator Unit” and “Child Exploitation Task Force.” (March, 2009 to Jan. 18, 2011.)

But Sandusky’s case was never assigned to either detail by Attorney General Corbett, even after Mike McQueary told a Pennsylvania Grand Jury of the alleged shower rape of a child by Sandusky in December, 2010, and the first-hand revelations about Sandusky showering with children from two police detectives contained in a 130-page, 1998 Penn State Police Dept. report.

Two weeks after Corbett left office as Attorney General, in late January, acting Attorney General Bill Ryan assigned four more state troopers to the Sandusky case and three agents from the state’s attorney general office, with the latter empowering investigators to bring charges against Sandusky.

10 months later, Sandusky was in handcuffs and the Penn State Board of Trustees was contemplating the fate of Joe Paterno.

Of the November 9, 2011, Penn State Board of Trustees meeting that resulted in Paterno’s ouster, Sara Ganim of the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS reported it was Governor Corbett who had the last word before a vote was taken to determine the Penn State legend’s fate:

Moments before Penn State’s board of trustees voted to fire Joe Paterno, Gov. Tom Corbett uttered a final thought.

“Remember that little boy in the shower,” Corbett said via speakerphone, acting in his role on the 32-member board.

It was the last thing the board members heard before being asked if anyone objected to relieving Paterno of a coaching job he’d held for 61 years.

With that, Paterno was fired Nov. 9 in a late-night move that led to student riots in State College and boiling animosity toward the board by alumni.

Appearing on FOX News Sunday four days later, Corbett said:

“In my opinion, when you don’t follow through, when you don’t continue on to make sure actions are taken then I lose confidence in your ability to lead.“

After learning of Paterno’s death on Sunday, Corbett released a statement which read, in part:

“As both man and coach, Joe Paterno confronted adversities, both past and present, with grace and forbearance.”

“Forbearance” as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due.”

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