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Posted on 08/31/2002 10:26:32 AM PDT by Liz
The FBI has interviewed at least two people about U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski's ties to companies owned by members of his family.
Thomas W. Unger, a former official at one of the companies, said Friday he met with two agents last week.
At least one agent also questioned Joseph Yudichak, the executive director of the 11th Congressional District Regional Equipment Center, about two weeks ago, a source close to Yudichak said.
Yudichak declined to comment.
It is unclear whether the FBI is conducting only preliminary interviews to determine if a federal grand jury investigation is warranted, or if the matter has gone further.
U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino could not be reached for comment Friday.
Kanjorski, in New Mexico at his daughter's wedding, also could not be reached.
Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski's campaign media consultant, again denied the congressman has done anything wrong.
"With all the stuff that's going on politically and in the paper, it's not hard to believe that questions are being asked, even by the FBI," said Mitchell, who suggested Unger might have complained to the FBI. "This just appears to be more of the same politics that has enveloped this whole issue."
The allegations have become a campaign issue in Kanjorski's election contest against Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. Unger said agents told him they had read newspaper articles written so far about the matter.
Until he was fired in May 2001, Unger was executive vice president of manufacturing for Cornerstone Technologies, a Plains Township high-tech company owned and operated by the congressman's nephews and daughter.
In a lawsuit against him, the company alleges Unger was fired for revealing company secrets. Unger, 56, who has filed a wrongful termination suit against the company, denies he revealed secrets and says he was also a victim of age discrimination.
Unger said the agents "were looking for evidence of wrongdoing" at Cornerstone and by Kanjorski, but declined to say what he told them.
Unger has previously said Kanjorski took an active role in the operations of Cornerstone, which received millions of dollars in federal grants. The congressman had money set aside for "materials micronization technology" in appropriations bills for the Office of Naval Research, which awarded contracts to Cornerstone.
Kanjorski denies taking a large role in the company and says it received the money after a bidding process.
He has called the accusations the work of former allies and disgruntled former Cornerstone employees. One former ally is Yudichak, whom Kanjorski has suggested holds a political grudge.
Yudichak has said he helped stop Kanjorski from steering a $1.1 million federal grant through the center to another company co-owned by the congressman's nephew Peter.
© The Citizens Voice 2002
By L. A. TARONE
tarone@standardspeaker.com
Hazleton, PA, July 30 - There will not be an ethics complaint filed against U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-11. Federal House Republicans backed down after Democrats threatened an "ethics complaints war" against prominent GOP lawmakers.
Snip
The planned complaint against Kanjorski centered on two firms - Pennsylvania Micronics and Cornerstone Technologies - run by his nephews. They've been involved in waterjet technology research, and have gotten between $8.5 and $9.5 million in federal funds since 1998.
Cornerstone, in Plains, is owned and operated by four Kanjorski nephews - Peter, Paul, Mark and Russell - and his daughter Nancy. Peter, once the Earth Conservancy's solicitor, is its CEO. It received a patent for a waterjet technology process in November.
Pennsylvania Micronics markets Cornerstone's technologies. It too is owned and operated by Kanjorski's nephews. The two firms also appear to have been tenants in a building owned by K&K Real Estate, of which Kanjorski is a partner.
The Kanjorski nephews also surfaced in a plan for a company to be called Teccelerate. It was supposed to transform patents and technologies developed at university labs into generally available products. It was to be partially funded by dot-com stocks. The idea fell apart when that market nose-dived in 2000. The four nephews would have been Teccelerate's co-owners.
More...Press Here
Don't yu know the rules? If you are a member of the "party that cares", there will be "no controlling legal authority".
Lots of Kanjorski background here:
http://www.msnbc.com/local/hss/M210477.asp
And no mention of his family businesses on his homepage.
It seems as if all one has to say is that it's political, and then the legal ramifications are disqualified.
-PJ
This deceitful man should be, (to paraphrase Bill Clinton's words during his post-reelection party in 1996), "cut out of politics like a cancer".
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Congressman Billybob
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