corruption
US Rep citing TOLLROADSnews asks state AG to investigate potential criminal offenses at Penn Pike
Posted on Tue, 2010-02-02 22:42
US congressman Glenn `GT’ Thompson, (Republican, Howard, 5th District PA) is asking Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate claims in former financial manager Ralph Bailets’ lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC).
Former finance manager Bailets accuses Penn Pike chiefs of corruption, waste in lawsuit
Posted on Mon, 2010-01-25 01:53
A former finance manager Ralph M Bailets has lodged a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg Pennsylvania accusing Turnpike Commission chiefs of serious wrongdoing. He says he was fired for his efforts to resist corrupt procurement practices and waste at the Turnpike Commission.
ITS corrupted: intelligent racketeering slowly unravels over traveler data monopoly
Posted on Thu, 2010-01-21 01:25- by Jerry Werner and Peter Samuel
Regular road construction conjures up images of brawny asphalt paving contractors getting together at a hamburger joint to agree whose turn it is to put in the "low" bid for local state highway work, and discussing which official needs to be "helped" in order to ensure that "that new bastard" - not "one of us" - is kept off the list of "qualified contractors."
Smalltown PA - Penn Pike's law firm employs Fumo prosecutor Pat Meehan (PERSONNEL)
Posted on Mon, 2009-11-16 15:00
The large US Department of Justice prosecution that put the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's longtime state senate patron Vincent Fumo into jail for four and a half years for 137 counts of thievery and corruption was run by Patrick Meehan, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Penn Pike employees get order to preserve documents for corruption investigations
Posted on Mon, 2009-11-16 13:31
Pennsylvania Turnpike employees have received an email ordering them to retain a wide range of documents because of multiple corruption investigations. The email called a Revised Mandatory Preservation Order gives an indication of the scope of the FBI and state's attorney's probes - a legal "roadmap."
The specific projects listed for document preservation:
"Irresponsible spokesmanship" by FBI and Penn Pike - EDITORIAL
Posted on Fri, 2009-10-30 18:18We were accused of "irresponsible journalism" Thursday morning for the report (see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4418) we'd run of the FBI raid at the Pennsylvania Turnpike HQ Thursday and Friday Oct 23 - 24 in pursuit of a corruption investigation.
Of course our report inconvenienced both parties. Both went into flat denial mode. It never happened. The FBI weren't there. There was no corruption investigation. We should retract the story immediately.
Pretty much the same line from the Pike and the FBI.
New details emerge on FBI raid at Pennsylvania Turnpike - second source confirms
Posted on Wed, 2009-10-28 14:50
Bob Dietz, 55 of Lancaster PA, construction supervisor for a Turnpike widening project near Valley Forge says we can quote him as saying the FBI were at the Turnpike's head offices in Harrisburg Thursday afternoon and that they went away with computers and other materials.
FBI raid Pennsylvania Turnpike HQ, take hard drives and other evidence
Posted on Tue, 2009-10-27 21:46
A number of Pennsylvania Turnpike officers have lost computer hard drives to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Labor relations boss says Penn Pike fired him for refusing to bow to Teamsters
Posted on Fri, 2009-09-25 23:02
Conspiracy, corruption and other malpractice is alleged at the Pennsylvania Turnpike by a former manager of labor relations Donald Kovac in a wrongful dismissal complaint filed in US District Court in Pittsburgh. Kovac says he was fired on the orders of chief operating officer George Hatalowich after he refused to reinstate a toll collector who had assaulted a motorist.
Criminal probe reported into corruption at Penn Pike
Posted on Sat, 2009-09-05 12:05
Morning Call, the major newspaper of northeast Pennsylvania frontpages a report
today that there's a major criminal investigation into corruption at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
Penn Pike sacking exposing Philly gang methods - lawsuit
Posted on Fri, 2009-04-10 16:51
Don Kovac the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's (PTC) former Labor Relations Manager
is suing the Turnpike Commission itself, Mitchell Rubin former chairman, George Hatalowich chief operating officer, and Melvin Shelton a manager at the Turnpike, plus Mark Rowe of the Philadelphia Teamsters Union Local 77 alleging they conspired to have him wrongly dismi
Orlando press finds hints of CEO Snyder links to political fundraising
Posted on Sun, 2009-04-05 20:22
Orlando Sentinel newspaper reports this weekend grand jury records apparently linking Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority (OOCEA) chief executive Mike Snyder to the political fundraising from toll authority vendors. This long drawn out affair has cast a pall over OOCEA over the last several years.
A February 2006 memo written by the tollroad's then PR and marketing chief Ron Pecora on a "fundraising strategy meeting" said:
Gov fires corruption 'target' chair Rubin from Penn Turnpike Commission
Posted on Mon, 2009-03-23 12:54
Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell says in a letter released this morning that he is removing the chairman of the Turnpike Commission, Mitchell Rubin as a commissioner because of his links to corruption. Rubin had asked Rendell for a "leave of absence" from the chairmanship, but instead the Governor today fired him from the Commission.
The Governor gives four reasons in his letter to Rubin:
Shakeups loom at Orlando, Pennsylvania tollers
Posted on Wed, 2009-03-18 23:41
Shakeups are looming at toll authorities in Orlando FL and Pennsylvania.In Orlando the release of a grand jury
paper about shenanigans inside the local toll expressway authority threaten the tenure of CEO Mike Snyder and longtime general contractor PBS&J, while in Harrisburg PA the Governor Ed Rendell has said he's investigating whether he has the leg
Penn Pike associates found guilty of corruption in US Court in Philadelphia
Posted on Mon, 2009-03-16 18:05
Vincent Fumo, the Pennsylvasnia Turnpike's leading legislative patron while a Democrat state senator and
Ruth Arnao, wife of the chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission have been found guilty on all 182 counts in the big corruption case against them tried in Philadelphia by the US Government.
Illinois Governor Blagojevich not involved in Tollway contracting - spokesman says
Posted on Fri, 2009-01-09 00:37
Illinois Tollway spokesman Joelle McGinnis says that Governor Blagojevich was not controlling Tollway
contracts and that the Tollway has not been involved in the fundraising by the Governor which got him arrested by the FBI and put under impeachment proceedings by the state legislature.
Illinois AG files plea with Court to strip Gov Blagojevich of his power to direct Tollway activities
Posted on Fri, 2008-12-12 21:03
Illinois Attorney-General Lisa Madigan has asked the state Supreme Court for an injunction
preventing Governor Blagojevich from "directing the activities of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority" among other gubernatorial powers. Madigan's 12 page motion titled "PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff v.
Illinois Tollway contracts used by Governor to raise $s for slush fund
Posted on Tue, 2008-12-09 14:25
The Illinois Tollway is heavily involved in corruption charges following the dramatic arrest of state Governor Rod Blagojevich
and his chief of staff by the Feds and their indictment on multiple criminal counts.One incident cited in the indictment is Gov Blagojevich saying he expected an Illinois Tollway contractor to raise $500k for his Friends of Blagojevich campa
New Jersey Governor Corzine pays former Turnpike accountant Rocco Riccio another $362k
Posted on Sun, 2008-11-30 02:03
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has told the Newark Star Ledger newspaper
he has paid a former Turnpike Authority and state Treasury accountant Rocco Riccio $362,500 in a legal settlement. Riccio the brother-in-law of Corzine's then girlfriend Carla Katz is reported to have gained a job at the Turnpike with the Governor's help.
Illinois Tollway said to be subject of corruption probe over service plaza contracts
Posted on Fri, 2008-10-31 16:33
The Chicago press has run occasional reports over the past three years of federal prosecutors investigating corruption at the Illinois Tollway in connection with vendor contracts at their service plazas or 'oases' as they call them. This morning the thing went national with the Wall Street Journal in an editorial piece headed "The Chicago Boys":
