Onorato: Corbett's Twitter Subpoena "Completely Outrageous"
Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, speaking at City Hall this morning, accused state Attorney General Tom Corbett of repeatedly using his office for political purposes. The latest example of this pattern, Onorato said, was a subpoena issued by one of Corbett's deputies to Twitter, seeking information about two accounts, including one connected to an anonymous blogger who frequently criticizes the attorney general, his staff and their work.
Onorato: Corbett's Twitter Subpoena "Completely Outrageous"
Chris Brennan
Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, speaking at City Hall this morning, accused state Attorney General Tom Corbett of repeatedly using his office for political purposes. The latest example of this pattern, Onorato said, was a subpoena issued by one of Corbett's deputies to Twitter, seeking information about two accounts, including one connected to an anonymous blogger who frequently criticizes the attorney general, his staff and their work.
"You can't subpoena somebody if they say something negative about you," said Onorato, who faces Corbett in the Nov. 2 general election for governor. "It's the nature of the beast. To me, that's using your office in a political way."
The subpoena, issued May 6, demands that Twitter produce "any and all subscriber information" about the account connected to CasablancaPA.com and bfbarbie, including name, address, contact information, creation date, and all Internet protocol addresses.
Onorato calls that "Completely outrageous." He said it follows a pattern, citing as other examples the lawsuit Corbett filed to challenge federal health care reform legislation and the timing and targets in "Bonusgate," the long-running investigation into corruption in the state General Assembly.
The Associated Press reported today that the American Civil Liberties Union is helping the two Twitter users fight the subpoena and will ask a judge to quash it if an agreement can't be reached with the Attorney General's Office.
Tom Corbett is using his office to further his own personal political agenda. There, I said it! Can I be on his hit list, too?— union guy- His decision to sue over HC Reform was politically motivated too. He was appealing to his conservative base. Of course, he was also wasting our tax money on the lawsuit. Which is ironic since he was complaining over the cost of HC Reform. Corbett is a hypocrite.— PattyB23
- Watch out people! Corbett is probably trying to find out your identities, too.— pic man
- The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.— Economics
- This is hard to believe this is happening in this state. The state where the Bill of Rights was written a state official is seeking to infringe upon freedom of speech!! Is this guy a viable candidate? What if he is governor and somebody speaks about him negatively? Does he call out the National Guard?— mark1161
- The entertainment value of all this is unbelievably high. Corbett paints himself as an out-of-touch dinosaur for doing this.— Wednesday
- Stand up for free speech here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Subpoena-me-Tom/128483617168768— communities united
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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