http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Here's some more info:The Pennsylvania attorney general's office paid a $15,000 settlement to a female agent who accused executives of sharing pornographic emails and making derogatory comments to women while Tom Corbett, who is now the state's Republican governor, was in charge.The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the agent, Dianne Buckwash, alleged in a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the men in the attorney general's office held all the power, women were rarely promoted and executives in the Criminal Law Division were known to email around photos of nude women and "adults engaged in sex acts." Buckwash said the events occurred during the administrations of then-Attorney General Corbett, who served from 1995 to 1997 and 2005 to 2010, and Linda Kelly, who served as attorney general in 2011 and 2012.
Corbett declined to comment to the Tribune-Review and Buckwash couldn't be reached, but Kevin Harley, Corbett's former press secretary, said there were "many females who were promoted into leadership in law enforcement." He suggested that Buckwash sued because she was passed over for a promotion. - Huffington Post, 9/4/14
Add this to the long list of reasons Corbett is screwed and trailing Tom Wolf (D. PA) between 25-30 points in the polls:Attorney General Kathleen Kane's chief of staff, Bruce Beemer, signed the settlement. Kane, elected in November 2012, is the first woman and first Democrat to be elected to the office.The Trib and other news organizations have requests pending for emails and attachments reportedly containing sexually explicit images that staff members shared in the Attorney General's Office. People who have seen the emails say they include nude women, humorous images and adults engaged in sex acts.
The Trib's request for the information was delayed by Cambria County Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III, who oversees a statewide grand jury. He held a phone hearing on Friday to consider whether the office can disclose the documents. It is not known how the issue got to a grand jury.
The emails were among 20 million deleted emails that Kane's investigators recovered during her review of how Corbett investigated serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach. Sandusky's arrest in November 2011 resulted in the firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno and unprecedented sanctions by the NCAA.
Kane found that Corbett did not drag out the investigation to slide past the 2010 gubernatorial election.
Phyllis Hartman, president of PGHR Consulting in Pittsburgh and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's Ethics Special Expertise Panel, said employees who dabble in inappropriate comments or behaviors may not, at first, realize they're offending anyone.
But if a third party notices the behavior, it can lead to complaints, lawsuits or firings.
When training employers and employees, Hartman advises avoiding such conversations, jokes or behaviors while on the clock.
“Why take the risk?” she said.
Sending racy photos of women can send a message that women “don't have value, in terms of your brains and your ability to do a good job,” she said. - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 9/3/14
But some people claim Corbett could still win if he keeps trying to tie Wolf to Obama:This week, two liberal Philadelphia bloggers -- let's call them Atrios and Booman -- both asked the same question: How could Corbett be SO unpopular. Why are other Republican governors -- including some whose activities are under investigation, like New Jersey's Chris Christie and Wisconsin's Scott Walker -- doing better with their constituents than Corbett:Wrote Atrios:
I get the reason he's unpopular - fracking/education funding are primary issues - just not why he's that unpopular. PA is a bit more blue than most of the states it usually gets lumped in with - it really isn't a swing state in presidential elections - and I get the sense that even self-identified Republicans aren't quite as tribal as they are in some other places - but it's still pretty bizarre.
I agree -- but I also have a theory, and it can be summed up in two words: Penn State. Yes, liberal Democrats don't like the things that you'd expect them not to like, such as cutting money for schools and other social programs. But the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno matter at Penn State transcended partisan politics. A lot of folks soured on Corbett because either a) they think he slow-walked the probe so that it wouldn't interfere with his 2010 campaign or b) he seemed a little too eager to get involved in getting rid of Joe Paterno, an unpopular move in some quarters. The evidence is murky on both counts, but a lot of voters who might tend to vote Republican followed the Penn State matter closely and simply didn't like Corbett's handling of it. That would be the difference between Corbett losing by 5-10 points, which wouldn't be a surprise, and his current plight, which is indeed a tad shocking. - Philadelphia Daily News, 9/3/14
I wouldn't hold my breath on that strategy working, especially at this point. We're going to defeat Corbett but we also have a shot to win the State Senate. Click here to donate and get involved with Wolf's campaign, State Senator Mike Stack's (D. PA) Lt. Governor campaign and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party:Robert Morris’ online poll, released Tuesday, of 500 likely Pennsylvania voters shows Corbett trailing Democratic rival Tom Wolf by more than 30 percentage points.The Pitsburgh university's poll put Corbett’s support at 24.7 percent and Wolf’s at 55.5 percent with 20.8 percent undecided. Wolf’s lead could be higher because more undecided voters are leaning toward him and most of the remaining undecided voters are Republicans who are lukewarm to Corbett, the poll found.
Those results led Robert Morris political science professor Philip Harold to be, perhaps, the first state-based pundit to publicly say Corbett’s time appears to be up and he is poised to become the first incumbent to lose re-election since Pennsylvania first allowed governors to seek two consecutive terms in 1968.
“While a sizable chunk of voters has yet to choose a candidate to support, there are not enough undecided voters to make the difference for Corbett,” said Harold, associate dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences at Robert Morris. “Simply put, there is no enthusiastic base of support for Gov. Corbett to rely on come Election Day.”
However, to improve his electoral chances on Nov. 4, Harold said, the poll shows Corbett needs to do a better job of linking Wolf to Democratic President Barack Obama.
About 29 percent of Independents said they would be less likely to support wolf if Obama campaigned for him. That compares to about 19 percent of Independents who said they would be more likely to drop their support of Wolf if Hilary Clinton campaigned for him.
“In the last gubernatorial election independents were 23 percent of the electorate, according to the exit polls,” Harold said. “There are a lot of voters who would be turned off by a tight connection to the president.”
The Corbett camp apparently sees the Obama link, too. It recently started a TV ad comparing Wolf to Obama and former Gov. Ed Rendell.
The Robert Morris poll was released five days after a Franklin & Marshall College Poll of 502 registered voters pegged Wolf’s lead at 25 percentage points (49 percentage points to 24 percentage points). That was largely unchanged since F&M’s earlier poll, in June, even though Corbett and Wolf have been spending millions on television advertising. - Morning Call, 9/3/14
