Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett called for an investigation into The Second Mile, the charity that gave accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky access to thousands of young boys around the state.
"I need to know what [the charity's] board members knew," Corbett told the Wall Street Journal.
It shouldn't be hard for him to find out. Many of the charity's board members are Corbett's campaign donors. Take Lance Shaner, the Chairman of the Shaner Companies and CEO of Shaner Hotels. Shaner served on The Second Mile board from 1998 through 2006, many of the crucial years when it comes to the Sandusky case. Shaner contributed $155,550 to Corbett's gubernatorial campaign.
Then there's Bob Poole, who runs a construction company and has been with The Second Mile since 1998. Poole is currently the chairman of the board, a position he's held for years, although you wouldn't know it because the charity has scrubbed the board information from its website. Pool gave Corbett's gubernatorial campaign $9,133.34.
The connections between Corbett and The Second Mile are numerous, as you might expect with a charity that spiderwebs out from Penn State across Pennsylvania. Corbett has been dipping into the wallets of Second Mile board members since he first ran for attorney general in 2004. For now, though, let's limit our analysis to direct contributions from board members to Corbett's campaign for governor, which took place in the 2009-10 election cycle.
The numbers below won't tell us much about Corbett's mindset or his work investigating Sandusky as attorney general. But they do illustrate the relationships among The Second Mile, Penn State, and all of Pennsylvania, and they capture just how well-connected Sandusky's charity was. Corbett even approved a $3 million state grant this summer to help The Second Mile build an expansive new facility, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The grant is now on hold.
Here's a list of past and current board members of The Second Mile who gave money to Corbett's 2010 gubernatorial campaign:
2011 State Board of Directors
Bob Poole, Chairperson
President and CEO, S & A Homes and Poole Anderson Construction
$9,133.34
Dave Woodle, Vice Chairperson
Chairman & CEO, NanoHorizons, Inc.
$5,000
Cliff Benson, Director
Retired, Deloitte Tax LP
$750
Michael Fiore, Director
Executive Vice President, Leonard S. Fiore, Inc.
$4,590
Bruce Heim, Director
Chairman, Keystone Real Estate Group, LP
$1,000
Heidi Nicholas, Director
Real Estate Developer & Manager
$5,000
Al Pringle, Director
Real Estate Developer/Appraiser
$250
Nancy Ring, Director
Realtor, REMAX Centre County
$350
2011 Central Board of Directors
Michael Hawbaker, Director
Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc.
$500
Ben Heim, Director
President, Keystone Real Estate Group
$500
Benjamin Hulburt, Director
President & CEO, Rex Energy
$6,500
Jack Infield, Director
Regional President, Graystone State Bank, State College
$500
Alan Kirk, Director
Esquire, Babst Calland Clements & Zomnir
$350
Harry Sickler, Director
CPA, Owner, Harry Sickler and Associates
$600
Michael Trombley, Director
Retired, President, Keystone Real Estate Group
$350
2011 Southcentral Board of Directors
Rod Savidge, 1st Vice Chairperson
VP, Director of HR, Gannett Fleming, Inc.
$110.30
Michael R. Gillespie, Director
Chief Accounting Officer, Hersha Hospitality Trust
$250
Ex-Second Mile Board Members Since 1998 Who Donated To Corbett's 2010 Gubernatorial Campaign
Anne Deeter Gallaher, Director
$300
Kimberly Ortenzio-Nielsen, Director
$1,300
Rick Karcher, Director
$1,200
James Swistock, Director
$6,200
Lance Shaner, Director
$155,550
Derek Walker, Director
$1,500
TOTAL: $201,783.64
RELATED: Tax Returns For Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile Charity, 1998-2010
ALSO RELATED: Past And Present Board Members Of Sandusky's Charity And Their Businesses Or Families Gave $641,481.21 To Gov. Tom Corbett
[Campaign contribution figures crunched through Sunlight Foundation's Transparency Data project.]