Those "hipster" republicans and when prosecutors choose not to prosecute.

*Hoping to get votes from people who are under fifty years old, republicans have launched a new ad. campaign (*not the pic*) targeting "minorities" and "hipsters". This will be running in fourteen states, and according to the RNC it is aimed at disenfranchised Obama voters.


My prediction: This ad. will not sway one single minority or so called "hipster" voter. Republicans are going to make gains in the senate and the House of Representatives this mid-term, but it will not be because of some silly ad. campaign that is trying to make them seem hip and tolerant. It will be because it is a mid-term election, and the people who support the Democratic Party do not traditionally vote in large numbers during mid-term elections. That, and the demonization of the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.


"To underscore the point that this is an actual “hipster” who willingly revealed that he votes Republican, National Journal found that Scott Greenberg is a real person who does PR director for the Washington Ballet..."


Good for him. I hope that there is more where he came from. Maybe enough of them will come out in 2016 and make that presidential election close.


Finally, there are two stories from my hometown that I feel compelled to write about.


They are both about prosecutors deciding not to bring criminal charges against elected officials.


The first one involves the democratic Attorney General here in Pistolvania and her decision not to go after a bunch of mostly democratic (not to mention black) politicians here in Philly.


"Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane defended her decision to close a corruption probe of Philly politicians and one judge that was begun under previous attorney generals at a press conference this morning.


The allegations made by several cowardly anonymous sources in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer paint an inaccurate and sensational version of the details and timeline of events related to Case File No. 36-622,” Kane said in a statement issued by her office on Sunday evening. “The real truth is that this investigation was not only deeply flawed, but unraveled long before I was elected and then took the oath of office.”


The Inquirer article, which quoted almost entirely from anonymous sources, alleged that State Rep. Louise Bishop, State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, State Rep. Michelle Brownlee, State Rep. Vanessa Brown, and former Traffic Court Judge Thomasine Tynes all received sizable donations which they did not report as required by law from a lobbyist named Tyrone Ali, who was in fact an undercover operative working on behalf of then-Attorney General Tom Corbett.

The piece reported that Kane “shut down” the sting.

But Kane said in her statement that the investigation itself was improper.

“The majority of the work, including more than 91 percent of the recordings by a confidential informant, took place 18 months prior to my inauguration, through three former Attorneys General,” Kane’s statement continued. “When prosecutors dismissed more than 2,000 serious charges of fraud that alleged their informant [Ali] stole $430,000 meant for poor children and seniors, they crippled the chance of this case succeeding in prosecution. Despite the case originating in 2010, this agreement to drop the charges was signed just 24 days after I was elected and weeks before I was sworn in.

The Inquirer reported anonymous sources stating that Kane took issue with the fact that the sting was directed at members of the Black Caucus, although other anonymous sources denied this claim." [Article]


I am familiar with the above mentioned Mr. Ali, and I can say with a clear conscience that he is not a good dude. Still, if there is corruption among elected politicians and the AG has enough evidence to bring charges against them, she should not shut it down because of politics or for fear of cries of racism.


The next case involves a republican official in the suburbs.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office on Monday abruptly dropped all charges against former county Republican Party Chairman Robert Kerns, whom it had accused of drugging and sexually assaulting an employee at his law firm.
Prosecutors said that the results of a drug test on which the case was built had been misinterpreted, and that Kerns’ accuser had not been drugged with the sleep aid Ambien.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman is expected to say more later Monday.
The disclosure marked a stunning twist in the case, one that led Kerns to leave his law practice and resign from his prominent party position.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Montco_DA_drops_all_charges_against_ex-GOP_chair_Kerns.html#FZ9WRPbfbmEdGik3.99

Republican party chairman, Robert Kerns, was charged with drugging and "sexually assaulting" an employee from his law office. (19 counts in all, including rape.)


The case was suddenly dropped by the republican District Attorney's office because of a lack of proper evidence.


"A lab report “misinterpreted” by Montgomery County investigators prompted the district attorney’s office Monday to have rape and related charges dropped against former county Republican Committee Chairman Robert J. Kerns, according to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.     


Investigators, whom she declined to name, incorrectly believed that the report showed there were trace amounts of Ambien, a drug commonly used in date rape situations, found in the alleged victim’s system “when in fact there was none,” said Ferman.

Because this misreading of the lab results “was so intertwined” with the evidence that the county presented to the grand jury, which recommended the filing of the charges against Kerns, and with the evidence presented at Kerns’ preliminary hearing, “we decided that the only appropriate thing to do in the interest of justice was withdraw the charges,” said Ferman.


Kerns had been accused of drugging, raping and sexually assaulting a female employee of his law practice. The reported incidents occurred in his Mercedes sedan and at the woman’s home, police said." [Source]


Hey I just report, and you can decide.