Bucks DA declines to recuse himself from probe

Bucks County's lone Democratic commissioner Thursday implored Republican District Attorney David W. Heckler to recuse himself from a criminal investigation of the county's register of wills, a fellow Republican.

Citing "both the perception of a conflict of interest as well as a number of actual conflicts," County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia urged Heckler to ask the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia to take over the probe.

Just as forcefully, Heckler refused.

"If this comes down to a question of whose probity may be relied upon by the people of Bucks County, I welcome any comparison," Heckler said, calling Marseglia "the most aggressively partisan Bucks County commissioner in my recollection."

Their current dispute - though hardly their first - centers around a weeks-old investigation into longtime Register of Wills Barbara G. Reilly.

The Intelligencer, a Doylestown newspaper, has reported that a grand jury is investigating whether Reilly stole from taxpayers by compensating staffers who worked the polls for her. Citing anonymous sources, the paper said Reilly allegedly traded comp time for election work in 2007.

Reached by phone Thursday, Reilly, 74, of Bensalem, said that she was out of the office on medical leave, and declined further comment.

That vacuum was filled by the verbiage of county's highest-ranking elected Democrat and its most visible Republican jousting for the ethical high ground.

At a news conference in her Doylestown office Thursday, Marseglia said that Heckler and Reilly have traveled in the same Republican political circles for so long that his investigation lacks credibility with the public.

Reilly was elected Register of Wills in 1975. Heckler, 63, has held elected office since 1987, serving as a state legislator and a county judge before becoming District Attorney this year.

"In this courthouse, there is a political web and a personal web," said Marseglia, elected in 2007. "People work together, they have been involved personally together, and it really doesn't allow someone to step outside and do a fair investigation."

Because endorsed Republicans appear on the same Election Day sample ballots, Heckler could have benefited personally from the work of those now accused of wrongdoing, Marseglia said.

Even if Reilly and her employees are exonerated, Marseglia said, their innocence might be tainted by questions about whether the investigation had been objective.

"When the very essence of the allegations are political cronyism and abuse of office, clearly it is inappropriate for you to be investigating those whom you have been so closely aligned for so many years," Marseglia wrote in a letter delivered to Heckler Thursday.

The fact that the secret grand jury deliberations have been leaked - coupled with constant courthouse gossip about who has been seen entering the grand jury room - also argues for an outside investigation, Marseglia said.

"The reality is that it has been the talk of this courthouse for weeks," she said.

She called for the investigation to examine other elected county officers as well.

Heckler confirmed that his office has been investigating the Register of Wills office for weeks. He declined to say whether the matter was before a grand jury.

By law, grand jury proceedings are held in secret, with grand jurors and courtroom officials sworn to secrecy. But state law does not prohibit witnesses from publicly discussing their testimony.

"Everyone and their pet raccoon are chatting about this case," Heckler said, "and they would be doing so, I suspect, if the grand jury were convened in Furlong or in Center City, Philadelphia."

Heckler said he owed "no obligations to anybody" and is "confident in my ability to follow the evidence wherever it leads and vigorously prosecute whoever ought to be prosecuted."

Heckler said the probe began after county controller Ray McHugh - also a Republican - "came upon evidence of what could constitute criminal conduct," adding, "He didn't hold a press conference - he reported to our office."

"Commissioner Marseglia apparently claims that our investigation should extend to other county offices," Heckler said. "However, instead of sharing information supporting such a claim with us, she holds a press conference."

Marseglia and Heckler have tangled before.

As president judge, Heckler was the leading proponent of building a new county courthouse. Marseglia has fought vehemently against it.

Two years ago, Marseglia intervened in the case of a troubled 16-year-old girl ordered by a judge to a wilderness camp. Heckler publicly condemned her for improperly meddling in judicial matters.

More recently, Marseglia has joined critics slamming Heckler for not prosecuting cruelty charges against members of a Bensalem club that holds live pigeon shoots.

Still, neither calls the current flap personal.

"We haven't exactly hit it off, but I'm not crying foul," Heckler said. "She is certainly welcome to raise these issues.

"She just happens to be, in my view, wrong."