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Moderate Philadelphia radio show host Michael Smerconsih was filling in for Chris Matthews on tonight’s Hardball, and ended the program talking about Tom Corbett’s slimy lawsuit against the NCAA. After spending some time explaining the background of the sanctions levied against Penn State, Smerconish went right to point that Governor Corbett is the only person to benefit from his actions. In the middle of the segment, Smerconish says:
“[I]s this lawsuit really the case of hardball politics? Here are a few considerations. First, Corbett is up for reelection in 2014, and right now his poll numbers are poor. Penn State fans, they are an important part of the Pennsylvania electorate. Second, Corbett didn’t consult the newly elected Attorney General, Kathleen Kane. Instead he hired an outside law firm. Third, when Kane takes office in two weeks, it’s expected she’ll deliver on a campaign progress to investigate why the Sandusky investigation – which was begun by Corbett in 2008 – took so long.
“As Buzz Bissenger noted in today’s Daily Beast, Kane insists that in normal circumstances a predatory animal would have been arrested after the first allegation was proven to be founded. That would have gotten Sandusky off the street and nothing would have precluded the state police from further investigation. But instead a grand jury was panneled, it went on for more than 3 years, which kept the predatory animal free to attack until his arrest. Fourth, Bissenger also pointed out that Corbett took close to $202,000 in gubernatorial campaign donations from board members of the charity started by Sandusky, and in the mean time, there were all of 2 state investigators – some would say it was just 1 – assigned to the case of that predatory animal until Corbett became governor in 2011.”
Then Smerconish noted that the lawsuit, which is going to be a waste of money for the state of Pennsylvania, has little to no chance of overturning the sanctions. He continues:
“Finally, many legal experts are opining that the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed. Lester Munson at ESPN, today, noted that the only apparent legal theory is based on anti-trust laws that govern monopolies that use their powers to fix markets or manipulate prices. The NCAA, it might be a monopoly, but it doesn’t seem to be conspiring to manipulate any market.”
