The Pennsylvania Turnpike just jacked up tolls by 10% on January 1. They claimed it was needed to repair the crumbling roads in our state. This is happening across the land. You hear liberals and Keynesian idiots wailing about the crumbling infrastructure and the need for a national program to rebuild it. What a crock of shit. Every State and municipality in this country has an annual capital budget to maintain and restore infrastructure. They chose not to allocate the billions under their care to doing what was needed. The story below reveals the truth of how it really works. Criminal dirtbag politicians and criminal government bureuacrats collude with big business to fuck over the taxpayer and enrich themselves.
Every infrastructure project done in this country costs 40% more than it should due to payoffs, bribes, and government union no-bid contracts. In PA it seems that all of these criminals are Democrats and the political contributions went to Fast Eddie Rendell and his cronies in Philly. I hope this doesn’t interfere with the day to day activities of the former Democratic Senate leader who is already in prison for other corruption charges. Politicians are nothing but lowlife swine. They don’t give a fuck about you. Their only purpose is to enrich themselves, their cronies and the companies that bribe them. Remember why your tolls went up 10% next time you hit a pothole on the PA Turnpike.
Ex-Sen. leader, 7 others charged in Turnpike probe
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A witness told grand jurors investigating an alleged “pay-to-play” culture at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission that the agency, awash in toll-payers’ money, is like the Mesopotamia River.
“All of the animals come and drink there,” the grand jury report quoted the unnamed witness as saying. “If you were an engineering firm or a law firm or a consulting firm or whatever, you go to the turnpike because that is where the money is.”
On Wednesday, a former state senator, three former top Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials and two businessmen were charged in a sweeping investigation that prosecutors said involved a long-running scheme in which contract-hungry vendors gave lavish gifts and political campaign contributions to improve their chances of landing lucrative contracts.
The group of former state officials used their extraordinary power over multimillion-dollar turnpike commission contracts both to enrich themselves, rig bids for favored businessmen and help sway political campaigns, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said. The largely-secret investigation that came to light Wednesday dates back to 2009 and involved hundreds of witnesses to crack a political and corrupt culture, she said.
“Evidence of secret gifts of cash, travel and entertainment and the payment of substantial political contributions to public officials and political organizations by private turnpike vendors and their consultants demonstrates that the turnpike operates under a pay-to-play system that is illegal and corrupt,” Kane said.
The public, she said, “has lost untold millions of dollars” in inflated contracts, and she added that the “greatest improper influence” involved the turnpike’s procurement process.
Charges were filed against retired state Senate Democratic floor leader Bob Mellow, currently jailed in a federal prison in South Carolina on unrelated corruption charges. Mellow, 70, was accused of helping supporters and contributors get business from the turnpike and pressuring turnpike staff to support him politically and raise campaign funds.
Also charged were former turnpike chief executive Joseph Brimmeier, 64, and former turnpike chairman Mitchell Rubin, 61.
The investigation is continuing, but is restricted by an eight-year statute of limitations, Kane said.
Turnpike vendors named by the grand jury gave hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively in political campaign donations, while winning tens of millions of dollars in contracts over the past decade. Recipients of the campaign donations included former Philadelphia state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, who is in federal prison on unrelated corruption charges, and former Gov. Ed Rendell.
The vendors also paid for gifts and entertainment worth tens of thousands of dollars, including trips to Paris and Vienna, tickets to professional baseball games, golf outings and expensive meals, some of which was not reported as required by the law, Kane said.
Business executives, including the two businessmen charged in the case, who participated in the pay-to-play system were rewarded with multimillion-dollar contracts, authorities said.
“The reason they made these contributions and provided these gifts (is) because they knew that was the way they would get these contracts,” said state police Commissioner Frank Noonan.
Companies identified by the grand jury, but whose executives were not charged with wrongdoing, included engineering firms, transportation planning and design firms and a major bond underwriter.
Kane said the selection and recommendation of turnpike vendors followed what witnesses identified as a 60-40 rule that split up contracts among firms favored by Republicans and Democrats: 60 percent of the turnpike contracts went to the “majority party” and 40 percent went to the “minority party.”
The governor appoints turnpike commissioners. Traditionally, three of the five turnpike commissioners are from the governor’s political party, while the other two are from the other political party. Each must be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of the state Senate, helping give senators influence there.
A key witness who testified under grant of immunity was Tony Lepore, chief of staff to Mellow and to the current Democratic floor leader, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County.
“Lepore explained that Senate officials would learn of work becoming available at the turnpike and would call … Brimmeier and tell him which firm, vendor or consultant they wanted to steer turnpike work to,” the grand jury wrote in an 88-page presentment released with the charges. “Generally, their requests were honored.”
The other defendants were the turnpike’s former chief operating officer George Hatalowich, 47; Dennis Miller, 51, a former vice president of information technology firm Ciber; and vendor consultant and registered lobbyist Jeffrey Suzenski, 63.
Miller, Rubin, Hatalowich and Suzenski were arraigned Wednesday and released on $100,000 unsecured bail. Brimmeier was due in court Thursday. Arrangement was pending for Mellow.
The men either declined comment or could not be reached Wednesday. Miller’s lawyer said his client has cooperated fully with the grand jury investigation and will fight the charges.
The grand jury issued a separate report for two former turnpike commission employees.
Raymond Zajicek, 67, described as a close associate of Brimmeier and now retired from his $110,000-a-year job as fare collection operations manager, allegedly performed personal errands regularly on state time and occasionally made political fundraising calls during the work day or requested turnpike employees to perform political activities.
Melvin Shelton, 81, “held himself out to be a ‘labor relations specialist’” but acted more like a Democratic party functionary, the grand jury said. He allegedly pressured officials to rehire fired employees who were registered Democrats by emphasizing his contacts with an unnamed Philadelphia congressman and with Rubin.
The turnpike figured tangentially in the federal criminal case against Fumo, who was convicted in 2009. Fumo is not identified by name in the jury report, but as Senator No. 6 he is described as having a powerful influence over the turnpike.
Political donations from turnpike vendors were directed to him and other senators of both parties who had sway over the turnpike commission, the report said.
Rendell ousted Rubin in March 2009, citing what he called “overwhelming” evidence in Fumo’s trial testimony that Rubin had been paid $150,000 for a no-work job for the Appropriations Committee under Fumo.
Rendell also was not named, but it is clear he is referred to in the grand jury report as Gubernatorial Candidate No. 1, for whom Brimmeier and Hatalowich were allegedly collecting political donations from vendors. Rendell said Wednesday that he had not read the indictment and was unaware of any inappropriate activity.
Administrator says:
SHOCKING NEWS!!! DIRTBAG PHILLY CONGRESSMAN BOB BRADY THINKS HIS BUDDIES DID NOTHING WRONG. HE’S AS DIRTY AS THEY GET>
U.S. Rep. Brady stands up for longtime friend facing Turnpike panel theft charges
Allison Steele and Amy Worden, Inquirer Staff Writers
Posted: Friday, March 15, 2013, 6:33 AM
In the wake of a grand jury report depicting a Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission awash in bribes and bid-rigging, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady is vouching for his man.
His man who worked at the turnpike, that is.
Brady (D., Pa.) said Thursday that “one of the most honorable people I know” is Melvin Shelton, his longtime friend and political ally, who now faces theft charges for alleged personal use of a turnpike car and falsifying of work hours.
“He told me he did nothing wrong, and I believe him,” Brady told The Inquirer. “He’s my friend and I’m going to stand by him.”
The comments from Brady, who was a turnpike commissioner from 1991 until his election to Congress in 1998, came as others in both parties said the grand jury report signaled a need for change at the turnpike. State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) called it “a sad day” for Pennsylvania.
Shelton was one of eight current and former turnpike officials and contractors charged. Brady, the city’s Democratic Party chairman, expressed concern over how the charges might affect Shelton, who turns 82 next week.
“He’s a very upstanding member of the community,” Brady said. “He’s loyal and upstanding.”
Efforts to reach Shelton for comment were unsuccessful. He was arraigned Thursday and freed on $100,000 unsecured bond.
Shelton and Brady got to know one another in the mid-1980s in the city’s Overbrook section, where Brady for years has been 34th Ward Democratic leader and Shelton the ward chairman.
In 1988 he was hired by the Turnpike Authority as assistant deputy executive director of fare collection. He listed Brady as the first reference on his job application, according to the grand jury, which identified Brady only as “Congressman #1.”
Shelton quit in 1998 but was rehired in 2004 – again listing Brady as a reference. Shelton’s job title: “assistant director of projects, east.” In 2007, the report said, his salary was raised to $94,500.
He was fired in 2010 after an inspector general’s investigation found that he falsified his work hours and used a Chevrolet Tahoe assigned to him by the turnpike to drive to his homes in Philadelphia and Virginia. According to the grand jury, Brady campaign signs and other political materials were found in the car and in Shelton’s turnpike office after his firing.
Shelton’s rise to a managerial position also raised red flags among turnpike staffers, the report noted – including Brady’s son, Robert F. Brady, then an assistant director of operations and projects at the turnpike, who was told to split his job with Shelton.
“It never sat well,” the younger Brady told the grand jury. “He always complained he wasn’t making enough.”
Other employees testified that Shelton did no work and was often absent. He was known to boast of ties to Brady and other politicians; “if a Democrat was terminated from the turnpike, Shelton would try to get them re-hired,” the report said.
After the report was issued Wednesday, turnpike CEO Mark P. Compton said in a statement that steps had been taken in the last two years to “reform and modernize” the agency, such as hiring a chief compliance officer who is a former FBI agent and creating a more transparent process for awarding contracts.
Pileggi, noting that the grand jury “found what appear to have been longstanding practices,” vowed to work with other lawmakers and Gov. Corbett to determine “what legislation would prevent this from ever happening again.”
State Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Montgomery) said he might reintroduce a 2008 bill to eliminate the commission and transfer its operations to the Department of Transportation. Rep. Mike McGeehan of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, said he opposed such a move but was open to legislation, such as requiring contract rotations and tougher screening of turnpike vendors.
“We need to better vet contractors,” he said. “The core of the report lends itself to some discussions about remedies to cure that.”
One change at the turnpike was noted by the grand jury: it said officials “recently eliminated Shelton’s position entirely because the commission determined that it was superfluous and unnecessary.”
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15th March 2013 at 1:04 pm
johnQpublic says:
the Pa tolls have gone up 100% since 2008
the newest 10% is just that. It was 50 cents in 2008 where it is a dollar now
same along the entire stretch out of philadelphia north
the construction just never stops too. some places get fixed then ripped right back up again.
plus all the fake construction zones where the traffic fines for speeding are doubled.
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15th March 2013 at 1:13 pm
AWD says:
That’s hilarious, because I don’t live there. I live in the socialist state of Illinois, were more than 50% of criminal politicians end up in prison. They built a special prison to house former politicians; the only other people allowed in are union bosses and organized criminals/mobsters. They eat lobster every day, have their own golf course, and live in luxury at taxpayer expense. And they still get their pensions. Crime does pay in Illinois, especially if you’re a democrat.
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15th March 2013 at 1:58 pm
napari says:
bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha I live in florida and either I’m moving to Texas or New Zealand or staying put… havent made up my mind yet. They couldnt pay me to live up in the north east anymore.
The only draw back about florida or texas is theres a higher percentage of alleged extremists in those areas. Therfore they become the likely places where all the guns & ammo the fed gov buying will end up.
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15th March 2013 at 2:33 pm
Zarathustra says:
“Kane said the selection and recommendation of turnpike vendors followed what witnesses identified as a 60-40 rule that split up contracts among firms favored by Republicans and Democrats: 60 percent of the turnpike contracts went to the “majority party” and 40 percent went to the “minority party.”
To the victors go the spoils; the taxpayer gets the shaft no matter which one it is. Just more proof that being associated with either is self-destructive.
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15th March 2013 at 3:27 pm
Llpoh says:
Somewhere else – anywhere else – is looking better and better.
The US is headed for a massive re-set. Cannot come too soon.
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15th March 2013 at 6:32 pm
Makati1 says:
Al Capone dealt in drugs, booze and prostitution. Now he would be a Senator.
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15th March 2013 at 10:07 pm
DaveL says:
The Big Dig was put out to contract for 2 billion. Years later it was finished at 14 billion. Unions made a killing.
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15th March 2013 at 12:31 am
Administrator says:
Understanding the Pennsylvania Turnpike pay-to-play scandal
By Ron Southwick | rsouthwick@pennlive.com The Patriot-News
on March 13, 2013 at 10:30 PM, updated March 13, 2013 at 10:34 PM
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane outlined a wide-ranging culture of bid-rigging and bribery at the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
On Wednesday, Kane outlined a “pay-to-play” environment involving a former state senator and former top officials at the turnpike.
Former state Sen. Robert Mellow, former Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier, and Mitchell Rubin, the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, are key figures among the eight facing charges.
They misused and stole millions of dollars of public money and tried to influence elections, Kane alleges. Solicitations for campaign contributions – from Turnpike vendors and staff – were a common occurrence, according to the grand jury presentment.
“These were blatant actions,” Kane said. “It was almost as though they had no fear of being caught.”
Mellow allegedly directed contracts to go to favored vendors and campaign supporters, according to the attorney general’s office. He is currently serving a federal prison sentence for using taxpayer resources to aid political campaigns.
Brimmeier allegedly made sure work went to specific vendors and ordered campaign contributions from both turnpike vendors and staff, state prosecutors say.
Rubin also exerted great influence in steering contract decisions and soliciting campaign contributions, the grand jury report states.
Here’s a closer look at all eight defendants, their charges, and a brief summary of the allegations against them, based upon the grand jury report.
ROBERT MELLOW
Age: 70
Address: 110 Oak Hill Drive, Archbald, PA
Who he is: Once one of the most powerful figures in state government, Mellow was a former Senate President Pro Tempore and a longtime leader of the Senate Democrats. Hailing from Lackawanna County, Mellow spent four decades in the state Senate and was the longest-serving member of the Legislature when he retired two years ago. He’s serving a federal prison sentence for misusing taxpayer resources to bolster election campaigns.
The charges: Two counts corrupt organizations, two counts of restricted activities, one count of commercial bribery, one count of unlawful bid-rigging, one count of restricted activities, one count of criminal conspiracy, and one count of failure to file expense account.
The details: As Senate Democratic Leader, Mellow allegedly worked to steer contracts to favored vendors and improperly sought campaign contributions from turnpike staff and vendors, according to the grand jury report. Mellow also received trips to New York Yankees games. Mellow is already serving a federal prison sentence for improperly using taxpayer funds and resources for election campaigns.
MITCHELL RUBIN
Age: 61
Address: 1608 Green St., Philadelphia, PA.
Who he is: The former chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Rubin was fired from that post by then-Gov. Ed Rendell. In ousting him, Rendell cited “overwhelming” evidence that Rubin accepted $150,000 in taxpayer-paid work that apparently was never done.
The charges: Three counts of unlawful bid rigging, two counts corrupt organizations, two counts of restricted activities, one count commercial bribery, and one count of criminal conspiracy.
The details: Rubin allegedly exerted improper influence on the awarding of contracts. The grand jury report also states that he inappropriately urged turnpike vendors to make campaign contributions. He also improperly benefited from turnpike work he steered to City Line Abstract Company, according to the grand jury report.
JOSEPH BRIMMEIER
Age: 64
Address: 141 Renfer St., Pittsburgh, PA
Who he is: The former CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Brimmeier ran the toll road from 2003 to 2011. He was appointed by former Gov. Ed Rendell.
The charges: Two counts corrupt organizations, two counts of unlawful bid-rigging, two counts of restricted activities, one count of commercial bribery, one count of criminal attempt, and one count of criminal conspiracy
The details: The grand jury report describes Brimmeier as a “heavy handed” executive directly and improperly steering the awarding of lucrative contracts. Quoting from the report: “ Brimmeier quickly aligned himself with the Senate Democrats and took orders directly from Senator Mellow, or his Chief of Staff Anthony Lepore, concerning the awarding of Turnpike contracts to particular vendors, and political fundraising efforts required of Turnpike personnel and Turnpike vendors.”
GEORGE HATALOWICH
Age: 47
Address: 224 Tiverton Lane, Harrisburg, PA,
Who he is: Former Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) and former ContractsAdministrator of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
The charges: Seven counts of restricted activities, three counts of unlawful bid-rigging, two counts of corrupt organizations, one count of commercial bribery, one count of criminal attempt, and one count of criminal conspiracy.
The details: The grand jury report says that he was heavily involved in directing Turnpike contracts to favored vendors. He allegedly solicited campaign contributions from turnpike vendors for senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns. The grand jury report states that Hatalowich was “extremely active in the political fundraising activities.”
DENNIS MILLER
Age: 51
Address: 1626 Whitley Drive, Harrisburg, PA,
Who he is: An executive with Ciber, a firm that has secured tens of millions in turnpike contracts.
The charges: One count of unlawful bid-rigging, one count of theft by unlawful taking, one count of theft by deception, one count of restricted activities, and one count of criminal conspiracy.
The details: He improperly tilted the contracting process by using a friendship with a turnpike official to steer work to his company. “Miller also developed a close relationship with Hatalowich and often bragged of his relationship to Rubin,” the grand jury report said.
JEFFREY SUZENSKI
Age: 63
Address: 2193 Saint Peters Road, Pottstown, PA.
Who he is: The owner of Commonwealth Consulting Services, Inc. and a partial owner of Twin County Construction
The charges: one count of restricted activities.
The details: Suzenski “lavishly entertained” Turnpike officials – Rubin and Hatalowich specifically – in his efforts to improperly steer contracts to his companies, the grand jury report stated.
MELVIN SHELTON
Age: 81
Address: 6000 West Oxford St., Philadelphia, PA
Who he is: Former Turnpike employee
The charges: Two counts of theft by unlawful taking, two counts of theft by deception, two counts of misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions, one count of unauthorized use of automobiles and other vehicles, one count of perjury, one count of false swearing
The details: Shelton allegedly operated turnpike vehicles, obtained turnpike resources, such as gasoline, for his own personal use, and took payment for hours he didn’t work, according to a criminal complaint.
RAYMOND ZAJICEK
Age: 67
Address: 731 Hidden Lake Drive, Tarpon Springs, FL.
Who he is: Former Turnpike employee
The charges: Two counts theft by unlawful taking, two counts theft by deception, two counts of misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions, one count of unauthorized use of automobiles and other vehicles, and one count of simple assault.
The details: Zajicek allegedly used a Turnpike vehicle for personal use and accepted payments for hours he didn’t work, according to criminal complaints.
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15th March 2013 at 9:45 am