Habay - Republican Poster Boy for Ethics and WMD Lapses

State Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay, a five-term Allegheny County, PA Republican who is awaiting trial on ethics charges in an unrelated case, was charged with lying about a white powder he alleged was inside a letter mailed from a critical constituent, raising fears of anthrax contamination.

(edited excerpts from all 5 currently available articles)

Mr. Habay said the envelope came from George Radich, one of five constituents who had asked a court to audit Mr. Habay's political action committee. Mr. Radich insisted that the powder was not there when he mailed the letter and that he never tried to hide his identity.

Habay was charged with falsely incriminating another, fictitious reports, solicitation to commit perjury and possessing or using "facsimile weapons of mass destruction," court documents show.

The ethics charges concern allegations of him using his staff to campaign on state time, theft of service and conflict of interest. Specifically, the court complaint alleges Habay directed staffers on at least five occasions to research family members of a constituent he defeated in past GOP primaries, and whose father was among those who signed a petition seeking the audit of Habay's PAC.

Habay also allegedly directed staff to collect personal information about the constituent, and that he and a staffer then allegedly placed packets of information about the man on car windows.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Legislator-Charged.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/national/31penn.html