Posted on 07/29/2009 3:46:24 AM PDT by Born Conservative
The U.S. attorney's office has issued a grand jury subpoena seeking records from the county authority that oversees PNC Field.
It is the latest revelation of a widening federal probe into how Lackawanna County was governed under the previous administration of Commissioner A.J. Munchak and former Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro.
The Lackawanna County Multipurpose Stadium Authority received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney's office late last week for copies of all approved contracts between 2004 and 2008, authority solicitor Frank Tunis confirmed. Mr. Tunis and airport officials have declined to release copies of the subpoenas, but The Times-Tribune was able to obtain copies Tuesday of both, posted with this story on thetimes-tribune.com.
Federal prosecutors made a similar request for construction records from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport - jointly overseen by Luzerne and Lackawanna counties - and have sought records of all Lackawanna County payments to Mr. Cordaro.
Mr. Munchak acknowledged Tuesday the scope of the federal investigation seems to be focusing on his and Mr. Cordaro's tenure as majority.
"It certainly appears that way ... I hope they'll be ready to issue an apology when they find nothing was done illegally," Mr. Munchak said.
Mr. Munchak said he has no idea what the feds are after.
"I guess it's because we put a new field in, I guess it's because we built a new clubhouse. I don't why they're doing this other than trying to find something that the Cordaro/Munchak administration did wrong," he said.
Both Mr. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro previously said they have not received target letters. Neither has been charged with wrongdoing.
In subpoenas to both the airport and stadium authorities, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Scranton requested "a copy of all contracts entered from January 1, 2004 through January 31, 2008 for design, construction, remodeling, refurbishment and concessions ... and all invoices submitted and payments made related to said contracts."
Both subpoenas said information must be turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Scranton before an Aug. 18 grand jury meeting.
Airport director Barry Centini and the stadium authority solicitor Mr. Tunis both said they planned to fully comply with the requests.
Majority Commissioner Mike Washo declined to speculate on what the investigation is looking at.
"I'm going to let the federal officials do their job and we'll see where it all ends," Mr. Washo said Tuesday. "We want to assure everyone that the county and its authorities will comply fully and expeditiously with any request."
Between 2004 and 2008, decisions by the former majority commissioners dramatically remade baseball in Northeast Pennsylvania. Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak oversaw $3.5 million in improvements to locker room facilities - which the pair have said helped bring the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to the region - and paid $638,000 to replace the baseball field at PNC Field.
Commissioners also approved a management agreement with Mandalay Baseball Properties that allows Mandalay an option to buy the team.
The field, installed in 2007, will need to be replaced this year after it failed to properly drain water. It was learned recently the field was only meant to last three to five years. Mr. Cordaro had planned to replace PNC Field with a new stadium for the SWB Yankees - with the understanding that the management company would first agree to invest $150 million in a New York Yankees-themed retail complex, hotel and museum.
During those same four years, Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak, with commissioners from Luzerne County, oversaw the $80 million makeover of the airport terminal building, a new parking garage, roads and cargo building.
Reached Tuesday, officials from other county departments and independent authorities - including COLTS, the Northeast Pennsylvania Railroad Authority and the Lackawanna County Housing Authority - said they have received no subpoenas from federal investigators.
Mr. Centini said legal advisors for the airport are reviewing the subpoena and deciding what needs to be turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He said much of the terminal work was contracted for prior to Jan. 1, 2004.
But even taking that into consideration, he expected the amount of paperwork to be "substantial."
Yankees ping.
let’s see....Lackawanna County would be the ancestral home of that shining Senatorial intellect Bob Casey (as well as his father, the late Governor, who all of the blue-hairs out there really thought they were voting for in ‘06).
Maybe they should have also bribed someone to put in a drainage system. The SWB Yanks have had to move about 14 games to other cities this season because of persistent problems with standing water on the field.
Hey, Steinbrenner....you should have never left Columbus!
You forgot Joe Biden and HRC's family in there as well.
ping
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