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Tom Corbett is melting away

No, this isn't a post about the heat. But as I make my usual midday stops on the Internet, I'm beginning to think that the ever-spreading slime from the Penn State scandal (and if you don't think the court of public opinion has ruled on Joe Paterno, you need to read this and this) is enveloping our governor, Tom Corbett, deeper and deeper. And the stench of one-term-itis is spreading.

It's a safe bet to say that local conservative Chris Friend and I do not agree about anything -- Marcellus shale, school choice, you name it. But Corbett has lost this key GOP backer with his handling of the mess in Happy Valley. This one time, I could not agree more with Friend's op-ed this week in the Delaware County Daily Times:

Why was the investigation so understaffed? Yes, you just now claimed - after eight months - that media reports are wrong that only one investigator was assigned the case for the first 15 months. The real number, as you now state, was a whopping two. We know you were busy with Bonusgate, but political corruption never threatens anyone's physical well-being, particularly defenseless children.

And the two investigators assigned were narcotics agents. While Sandusky's heinous crimes were many, drug offenses were not among them.

Yes, they were former police officers. But wouldn't the reasonable course have been to assign agents with experience in child molestation cases? Did their inexperience lengthen the investigation more than normal … say, past your election in November 2010?

His piece (hat tip to the fabulous Philadelphian Adam B.) covers a lot of ground, including questions about the state's continued funding of The Second Mile when it was known to Corbett that the former Penn State assistant was under investigation. I think that as the story festers -- with Paterno gone and Sandusky behind bars for the rest of his life -- things are only get worse for the governor. Especially when these questions are coming from his base.

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