Free Republic

March 23, 2010, 12:01PM On the day that President Barack Obama signed health care reform legislation, Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican candidate for governor, was slammed by Democrats for his decision to join a lawsuit that calls the bill unconstitutional. Pennsylvania's top law enforcement officer, whose Bonusgate prosecution against state legislators and staffers resulted in mixed verdicts Monday night, said the suit "seeks to protect the citizens of Pennsylvania whose rights will be violated when the health care reform legislation ... is signed into law by President Obama.' "It is wrong for candidate Corbett to use the office of...

HARRISBURG - Prosecutors have offered Rep. John M. Perzel of Philadelphia, the former speaker of the Pennsylvania House, a chance to testify before the so-called Bonusgate grand jury in what lawyers say is a sign that criminal charges may soon be filed against him. Perzel's former chief of staff, Brian Preski, and as many as 10 other current and former House Republican aides have received similar letters, according to lawyers with knowledge of the investigation.

Corruption: Chris Dodd's teetering re-election chances weren't helped by news that the senator may have lied about not knowing he got preferential treatment as one of Countrywide Financial's Friends of Angelo program.Can you foreclose on a house of cards? Dodd, D-Conn., may soon find out after the official who handled his mortgages testified before both the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee and the Senate Ethics Committee that Dodd did in fact know he got sweetheart deals from a company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. As the No. 1 recipient of...

As Congress and the Obama Administration consider legislation to limit bonuses at American International Group (AIG: 1.23, -0.36, -22.64%), documents obtained by FOX Business show AIG bonuses and other compensation were reviewed and changed by officials at the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve in November, when the Treasury made its first investment of taxpayer funds -- $40 billion -- in the company. “Have your benefits team made any progress on the ‘soft’ issues, or heard anything from the fed [sic] on the bonus situation?” a Treasury official wrote in an e-mail on Nov. 1 about the transaction. Despite their deliberations...

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae beg not to be included in "Bonus Gate". The root causes of the problem beg that they are now the good guys.

So now it appears Pres Obama knew all about those AIG bonuses - in time to do something about them....Geithner told Obama before AIG honchos disbursed bonuses to the same folks who bankrupted the company last year. Obama blasted "recklessness and greed," adding "It's about our fundamental values." Took him long enough to catch on. Geithner's Treasury Dept knew of the bonuses last fall. So did the Federal Reserve. Treasury not only never sought to block them - but, in fact, approved them. Obama asked: "How [does AIG] justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"...

HARRISBURG - They cost only a dime each, but it added up quickly. Over more than two years, as they toiled in the minority, Democrats in the state House allegedly purchased millions of e-mail addresses to send campaign-related propaganda to Pennsylvania voters who were stuck paying the political tab - $1.2 million. And that's not including several hundred thousand more in public funds that went to a tech consultant - the son of a state representative - who allegedly made it all look like a legitimate legislative endeavor. Details of the conspiracy were laid out recently in the 74-page grand-jury...