Keystone Corruption

Keystone Corruption PDF Author: Brad Bumsted
Publisher: Camino Books
ISBN: 9781933822808
Category : Legislators
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"'Keystone Corruption: A Pennsylvania Insider's View of a State Gone Wrong' traces the cyclical nature of misconduct in Pennsylvania government over the course of the last hundred years. Most of the book focuses on corruption since the 1970s, when the author had a front-row seat during the unprecedented scandals of 2007 through 2012. . . The book is not intended as a complete history. It includes the author's impressions of powerful legislative leaders and top aides who abused the taxpayers in ways that did not, like many of the allegations against them, land in criminal court. When it came to crimes, from Bonusgate to Computergate and the "BIG" caper-Bumsted tracked the cases at every turn." -- Cover page 4.

Keystone Corruption

Keystone Corruption PDF Author: Brad Bumsted
Publisher: Camino Books
ISBN: 9781933822808
Category : Legislators
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"'Keystone Corruption: A Pennsylvania Insider's View of a State Gone Wrong' traces the cyclical nature of misconduct in Pennsylvania government over the course of the last hundred years. Most of the book focuses on corruption since the 1970s, when the author had a front-row seat during the unprecedented scandals of 2007 through 2012. . . The book is not intended as a complete history. It includes the author's impressions of powerful legislative leaders and top aides who abused the taxpayers in ways that did not, like many of the allegations against them, land in criminal court. When it came to crimes, from Bonusgate to Computergate and the "BIG" caper-Bumsted tracked the cases at every turn." -- Cover page 4.

Keystone Corruption Continues

Keystone Corruption Continues PDF Author: Brad Bumsted
Publisher: Sunbury Press, Incorporated
ISBN: 9781620066935
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Once again, a crime wave swept through Pennsylvania state government. During a 17-month period from early 2015 through mid-2016, a sitting state treasurer, and a former state treasurer, both statewide elected officials who were guardians of taxpayers' money, were charged with crimes, as was an ex-Governor's chief of staff and the attorney general, the state's chief law enforcement officer. It was preceded by a sting investigation that resulted in state legislators videotaped taking cash from an undercover operative posing as a lobbyist and an alleged pay to play scheme at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Porn and off-color emails on government computers took out two Supreme Court justices. It's all in Brad Bumsted's latest book: "Keystone Corruption Continues: Cash Payoffs, Porngate and the Kathleen Kane Scandal."

Anatomy of a Banking Scandal

Anatomy of a Banking Scandal PDF Author: Robert Pasley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351531794
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In the early 1990s, the First National Bank of Keystone in West Virginia began buying and securitizing subprime mortgages from all over the country, and quickly grew from a tiny bank with just $100 million in assets to over $1.1 billion. For three years, it was listed as the most profitable large community bank in the country. It was all a fraud. All of the securitization deals the bank entered into lost money. To hide that fact, bank insiders started cooking the books, and concealing that they were also embezzling millions of dollars from the bank. This was all hidden from the bank's attorneys and auditors, federal bank examiners, and even the board of directors of the bank. To keep the examiners at bay, the bank insiders did everything possible to avoid giving them access to documents they were entitled to see, documents they knew would sink their scheme. The head of the bank even went so far as to bury four large truckloads of documents in a ditch on her ranch. Robert S. Pasley explores the failure of the First National Bank of Keystone, the intrigue involved, and the lessons that could have been learned and still can be learned about how banks operate, how federal banking regulators supervise financial institutions, how agencies interact with one another, and how such failures can be avoided in the future.

Pennsylvania Government and Politics

Pennsylvania Government and Politics PDF Author: Thomas J. Baldino
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271098910
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive examination of the Keystone State’s formal and informal political institutions and players, past and present, and elucidates the place each holds in governing the commonwealth today. Covering a period of more than three hundred years, this volume presents a clear and succinct overview of • the commonwealth’s political history, culture, and geography; • interactions between office holders, civil servants, special interest groups, and the media; • policy development and implementation; • how laws are created, enacted, and enforced; • hierarchy and interaction among state, county, local, and special district government bodies and officials; • tax collection and disbursement; and • the political upheaval in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. Featuring practical appendixes and interviews with current and past office holders, bureaucrats, party leaders, and political journalists, this astute and informative book is an indispensable tool for understanding politics in the Keystone State.

Corruption in America

Corruption in America PDF Author: Zephyr Teachout
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674745086
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
When Louis XVI presented Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box encrusted with diamonds and inset with the King’s portrait, the gift troubled Americans: it threatened to “corrupt” Franklin by clouding his judgment or altering his attitude toward the French in subtle psychological ways. This broad understanding of political corruption—rooted in ideals of civic virtue—was a driving force at the Constitutional Convention. For two centuries the framers’ ideas about corruption flourished in the courts, even in the absence of clear rules governing voters, civil officers, and elected officials. Should a law that was passed by a state legislature be overturned because half of its members were bribed? What kinds of lobbying activity were corrupt, and what kinds were legal? When does an implicit promise count as bribery? In the 1970s the U.S. Supreme Court began to narrow the definition of corruption, and the meaning has since changed dramatically. No case makes that clearer than Citizens United. In 2010, one of the most consequential Court decisions in American political history gave wealthy corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion treated corruption as nothing more than explicit bribery, a narrow conception later echoed by Chief Justice Roberts in deciding McCutcheon v. FEC in 2014. With unlimited spending transforming American politics for the worse, warns Zephyr Teachout, Citizens United and McCutcheon were not just bad law but bad history. If the American experiment in self-government is to have a future, then we must revive the traditional meaning of corruption and embrace an old ideal.

On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics

On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics PDF Author: John M. Baer
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614237034
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Enjoy a fun look at behind-the-scenes politics and personalities in the history of Harrisburg and the Keystone State. Pennsylvania, first home of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, has a tradition of political progress. However, along with the good, the political playground of Pennsylvania has also seen the brazenly bad behavior of its political leaders. For over twenty-five years, political columnist John Baer has had a front-row seat to the foibles and follies of the Keystone State's political system. Baer takes readers through his memories of covering state politics for the last quarter century, from Democratic governor Milton Shapp's short-lived run for president--in which he finished behind "no preference" in the Florida primary--to highlights of some of the game-changing campaign missteps and maneuvers that moved administrations in and out of the capital. With a delightfully gruff wit, Baer gives readers a behind-the-scenes view of the politics and personalities that have passed through Harrisburg.

Capitol Hill's Criminal Underground

Capitol Hill's Criminal Underground PDF Author: Richard Lawless
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 0578209985
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
Perhaps one of the most thorough explorations of government corruption ever put in writing, this nonfiction account investigates the theft of trillions of U.S. dollars—money laundered in countries that are hostile to the United States. The ratings agencies, the banks, and our politicians are funding anti-American activity against their own people—and they couldn’t care less. The FBI refuses to investigate, the U.S. Attorneys refuse to prosecute, and the Securities and Exchange Commission refuses to protect the public. With enough evidence to investigate and prosecute over one thousand high-ranking government employees, bankers, and politicians, Capitol Hill’s Criminal Underground will show that the level of arrogance and contempt our political leaders hold for the American people is boundless.

On Corruption in America

On Corruption in America PDF Author: Sarah Chayes
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0525563938
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
From the prizewinning journalist and internationally recognized expert on corruption in government networks throughout the world comes a major work that looks homeward to America, exploring the insidious, dangerous networks of corruption of our past, present, and precarious future. “If you want to save America, this might just be the most important book to read now." —Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains Sarah Chayes writes in her new book, that the United States is showing signs similar to some of the most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption, she argues, is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key private-sector interests, and out-and-out criminals interweave. Their main objective: not to serve the public but to maximize returns for network members. In this unflinching exploration of corruption in America, Chayes exposes how corruption has thrived within our borders, from the titans of America's Gilded Age (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, et al.) to the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Great Depression, and FDR's New Deal; from Joe Kennedy's years of banking, bootlegging, machine politics, and pursuit of infinite wealth to the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution--undermining this nation's proud middle class and union members. She then brings us up to the present as she shines a light on the Clinton policies of political favors and personal enrichment and documents Trump's hydra-headed network of corruption, which aimed to systematically undo the Constitution and our laws. Ultimately and most importantly, Chayes reveals how corrupt systems are organized, how they enable bad actors to bend the rules so their crimes are covered legally, how they overtly determine the shape of our government, and how they affect all levels of society, especially when the corruption is overlooked and downplayed by the rich and well-educated.

Profiles in Corruption

Profiles in Corruption PDF Author: Peter Schweizer
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062897926
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Washington insiders operate by a proven credo: When a Peter Schweizer book drops, duck and brace for impact. For over a decade, the work of six-time New York Times bestselling investigative reporter Peter Schweizer has sent shockwaves through the political universe. Clinton Cash revealed the Clintons’ international money flow, exposed global corruption, and sparked an FBI investigation. Secret Empires exposed bipartisan corruption and launched congressional investigations. And Throw Them All Out and Extortion prompted passage of the STOCK Act. Indeed, Schweizer’s “follow the money” bombshell revelations have been featured on the front pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and regularly appear on national news programs, including 60 Minutes. Now Schweizer and his team of seasoned investigators turn their focus to the nation’s top progressives—politicians who strive to acquire more government power to achieve their political ends. Can they be trusted with more power? In Profiles in Corruption, Schweizer offers a deep-dive investigation into the private finances, and secrets deals of some of America’s top political leaders. And, as usual, he doesn’t disappoint, with never-before-reported revelations that uncover corruption and abuse of power—all backed up by a mountain of corporate documents and legal filings from around the globe. Learn about how they are making sweetheart deals, generating side income, bending the law to their own benefits, using legislation to advance their own interests, and much more. Profiles in Corruption contains tomorrow’s headlines.

Dirty Little Secrets

Dirty Little Secrets PDF Author: Larry Sabato
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 9780812924992
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Political corruption in America is worse today than it has been since the Watergate era. Americans know it, and the politicians have known it for years. Urgent calls for reform have become standard fare, but nothing changes. A Democrat President and a Republican Congress were both elected on the strength of their promises of reform. Neither has delivered. Americans contemplate the tottering remains of our ethically bankrupt political system with despair. Fact: The Christian Coalition's 1994 voter guides appear to have been skewered to favor Republican candidates in key congressional races across the country, in direct contravention of federal election law. The truth is, the politicians couldn't be happier dickering over the remains of the welfare state. Because, as you'll learn in Dirty Little Secrets, there is probably not a politician in America who does not benefit directly, personally, and continually from the status quo. Fact: The state Democratic party in Tennessee paid sums in excess of six figures to a number of groups and organizations for various political services in 1994. The problem? None of the groups actually exist, except on paper. Our Politicians, from those in the highest reaches of the Republican and Democratic parties to those in the humblest state congressional districts, evade, massage, and even break the law in order to hold on to power. But instead of merely unmasking corrupt politicians in every region of the country, Dirty Little Secrets analyzes why corruption persists in American politics, despite scandal after scandal, and in spite of periodic bursts of reform. Fact: On the eve of the 1994 elections, mock "pollsters" called up thousand ofvoters in one Wisconsin congressional district to ask whether their electoral decisions would be influenced if they knew one of the candidates was a lesbian. Most politicians want to do the right thing. But they also want to be reelected, and the system is far stronger than any honest man or woman. The influence of money and the intricacies of the levers of power make it easier for politicians to ignore the law than to obey it. In Dirty Little Secrets you will read of the conservative movement's hidden manipulations in 1994, and learn the truth about Newt Gingrich's twenty-year program of political destabilization. The history of the corrupt House the Democrats built with the help of liberal interest groups stands revealed. And Larry J. Sabato and Glenn R. Simpson expose the corrupt and illegal tactics both parties have used for decades to protect and promote their own power. Fact: In 1994, in Alabama, one local election was decided by three hundred votes. Seventeen hundred ballots cast in that election were illegally admitted absentee ballots, some of them submitted by dead people. Sabato and Simpson's fresh reporting and thousands of hours of background research include interviews with influential politicians, consultants, and political operatives, Freedom of Information Act requests, and thousands of pages of obscure campaign reports. They prove corruption is not about bad apples or colorful local traditions. And they offer a completely original plan for reform--Deregulation Plus--that will frighten both parties and make the American electorate smile for the first time in years. Dirty Little Secrets pulls together the corruption story from all parts of the country sooverwhelmingly that no one--from the White House to your house--will be able to deny that political reform must be one of the key issues of the 1996 election campaign.