Grand jury accuses Pa.state Sen. Jane Orie(R)

Says Republican state senator misused office, staff

An Allegheny County grand jury has accused Jane Orie, the third-ranking Republican in the state Senate, of widespread use of her office and staff for political campaigns on state time, including the state Supreme Court campaign of her sister, Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

The grand jury's findings are expected to become public sometime this week, according to sources close to the case. Charges are expected against both Ms. Orie and one other person who is not believed to be a member of her staff.

The investigation, which became public knowledge Dec. 24, centers on allegations that staff and state resources were routinely used to arrange political meetings, fundraising and even work on telephone banks. Accusations include that political work stretched over several years and involved campaigns other than Justice Melvin's.

Justice Melvin has not been charged in the investigation, but sources connected to it said Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. might refer any involvement by her to the office of state Attorney General Tom Corbett.

The investigation began after a University of Pittsburgh graduate student, Jennifer Knapp Rioja, left her unpaid internship in Ms. Orie's McCandless office after protesting that she and another intern were being forced to perform political campaign chores. Her complaint sparked an inquiry that quickly resulted in an immunity agreement for Ms. Orie's chief-of-staff, Jamie Pavlot, who, the grand jury reported, steered them to a wide array of potentially improper office activities.

At least two witnesses said they told investigators of widespread political activities within the office, including a series of phone banks to which employees were transported during work hours to make calls on behalf of various Republican candidates. One witness told investigators that employees were assigned fictitious names one year and taken to a phone bank where they made calls for the 2004 re-election campaign of President George W. Bush.

One witness told investigators that he was assigned to stuff envelopes for an earlier campaign by Justice Melvin and that he was also dispatched to a nearby office, given the name "Austin" and instructed to work a phone bank for the Bush campaign.

The witness, who spoke to the Post-Gazette on condition of anonymity, also told of taking constituent inquiries at the senator's office and being instructed to immediately add those names to Ms. Orie's campaign contribution list.

The other witness, Ms. Rioja, gave a detailed account of her experiences to the newspaper, saying she and another intern were instructed to work on the campaign of Justice Melvin.

Following that complaint, former and current staff members as well as a large number of former office interns were reached by investigators. A number of them reportedly provided accounts similar to those of Ms. Rioja.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10096/1048171-178.stm?cmpid=MOSTEMAILEDBOX#ixzz0kOAG0HW4

since he is running for Governor and is a Republican. I have my doubts he would find anything illegal unless she were a Democrat.

mark

It really is a cesspit.

The Shuster family by itself corrupts the entire region.

I wonder if they'll go after Orie with as much fervor as they attacked Dr. Cyril Wecht?

I have the uneasy feeling that our new Governor will be Corbett and that Toomey will be elected to the Senate. OK, that's too unsettling this time of day. I have to think of something positive now so that my skin stops crawling.