Legislators Arrested in Sting Case

Member Group : Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania

In March of 2014, Pennsylvanians learned about a sting operation that snared a number of Democratic officials accepting bribes. The public did not learn about the sting due to high profile arrests. Rather, we learned about them through press reports because Attorney General Kathleen Kane discontinued the investigation without pressing any charges. At the time, Kane called the investigation "deeply flawed" and "so botched that this case was found unable to be prosecuted."

As we noted previously, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams took up the case. In December of 2014, Williams brought charges against two lawmakers.

On Tuesday of this week, he charged three more. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Williams announced Tuesday morning that a grand jury had brought charges against State Reps. Louise Williams Bishop and Michelle Brownlee and a former state representative, Harold James, all Philadelphia Democrats.

"Bishop and Brownlee have long been identified as targets of Williams’ investigators, ever since he accepted a challenge from Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and reopened a "sting" probe that Kane said was so flawed that any all cases were too weak to prosecute."

In that same article, Williams notes that there should be "no free passes" when it comes to prosecuting public corruption. That is a lesson Pennsylvania’s embattled Attorney General should have taken to heart.

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) is a non-profit organization founded to raise the standard of living of all Pennsylvanians by restoring limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility. By empowering the Commonwealth’s employers and taxpayers to break state government’s "Iron Triangle" of career politicians, bureaucrats, and Big Government lobbyists, this restoration will occur and Pennsylvania will prosper.