Corbett redux


Another scandal that Corbett ignored … in addition to Sandusky

Yesterday, the feds -- not the state -- indicted the founder of Pa. Cyber Schools, Nicholas Trombetta, for fraud and tax evasion. What Trombetta did was buy a condo and some houses in Florida for his girlfriend and mother. 

According to the AP report, he "tucked most of the money in a shell company for his retirement."

How does that involve Corbett? Simple: Corbett hates public education, particularly the teachers who joined unions to earn a decent wage, and the cyber school gave him a place to pour money into instead of these knowledge-infested public schools. He also received campaign donations from Trombetta.

This case goes back to when Corbett was attorney general prior to 2011. According to a 2007 story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a grand jury sought by then attorney general Corbett investigated Trombetta's actions. <http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/cyber-school-empire-under-attack-476882/>

However, Corbett could not find enough evidence to charge the miscreants, or so he said. Therefore, the corruption continued as Corbett avoided charging Jerry Sandusky or any of his Second Mile buddies, who contributed more than $650 thousand to his campaign for governor and AG.

The feds entered the case last year. The U.S. Attorney who led the investigation made clear that Trombetta stole close to a million dollars from the cyber school through his careful accounting secrets.  "We allege this was a conscious, intentional scheme to steal money that was to be used to educate our children," U.S. attorney David Hickton said

The Pa. Cyber School has been part of political controversy in previous years. Former Sen. Rick Santorum lost his senate seat in part because of a controversy regarding his supposed residence. Santorum moved his family to Leesburg, Va. while he was a member of the senate. However, those children were educated by the Pa. Cyber School at a cost of $38,000 per year for three years before the Penn Hills School District cried foul. 

Santorum never repaid that money, but the negative publicity was one reason for his 18-percentage point loss to Bob Casey in 2006. 

Corbett is ranked as one of the most endangered incumbent governors in the country for 2014. This case will not help that case, particularly since it reinforces the idea that Corbett held off investigating Sandusky and Trombetta at the same time.

The case also reinforces the idea that Corbett hates public education, and his multi-billion dollar cuts will be a key issue in 2014.




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