Feud With Corbett
DeWeese maintained that his charges were part of a political vendetta by Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett, who indicted DeWeese while running for Governor. Corbett won the governor’s race through an anti-corruption platform despite allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and corruption in Corbett's office.
A key source of dispute between Corbett and DeWeese is the exploration for natural gas in Marcellus Shale, a booming industry in DeWeese’s district. Between 2005 and 2010, more than 1,900 wells had been drilled in Pennsylvania. Greene County, home of DeWeese, has attracted companies as large as Haliburton. Corbett, the former assistant General Counsel of Waste Management, opposes an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale drilling while DeWeese favors it. Corbett also sought to limit regulatory oversight of the drilling industry.
Corbett’s campaign was heavily funded by energy insiders. He received more than $1 million in campaign contributions from the natural gas industry.
In August, 2011, DeWeese called for a theft-of-services investigation of Tom Corbett when the wife of a Corbett cabinet member was charged with DUI and called the Governor’s mansion in the early morning hours to assist. A State Trooper was dispatched to pick her up from the police station and drive her home.
In January, 2012, DeWeese lambasted Corbett for spending tens of millions of state dollars pursuing political enemies but ignoring the child abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky. Corbett received $201,783.64 in campaign contributions from past and present board members of Sandusky's charity, according to media reports.
As part of the ongoing feud, Corbett also canceled a prison destined for DeWeese’s district.
Read more about this topic: Bill DeWeese
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“Sisters we are, yea, twins we be,
Yet deadly feud ‘twixt thee and me;
For from one father are we not,
Thou by old Adam wast begot,
But my arise is from above,”
—Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612–1672)