Morganelli accuses Corbett of misusing money for gun task force

This article is by Alex Roarty in Harrisburg and Dan Hirschhorn in Philadelphia.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Tom Morganelli is accusing Republican incumbent Tom Corbett of using up to a million dollars in taxpayer money to fund personal political advertisements on-the-sly.

Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney, focused his criticism on money that was allocated to address illegal gun trafficking. The money was entrusted to Corbett's office, which has been running radio advertisements that Morganelli said "do nothing about illegal guns."

"These are nothing but political advertisements disguised as 'public service announcements' saturating the airwaves of SE Pennsylvania in an election year solely designed to raise Mr. Corbett’s name identification," Morganelli wrote in an e-mail to reporters Sunday. "Mr. Corbett has decided, like those under investigation in 'Bonusgate' that our tax dollars, rather than his campaign funds, can be used for his re-election campaign."

In comparing Corbett's actions to those of the subjects he has targeted in the high-proflle 'Bonusgate' investigation, Morganelli sought to undercut one of Corbett's most well-known reformist credentials. The investigation has touched Democrats throughout Harrisburg, and has accused them of giving illegal bonuses to legislative staffers in exchange for political work.

Rumors have been swirling that charges could be coming down in the investigation any day.

"In fact, Mr. Corbett is spending more tax dollars than was doled out in the alleged use of tax dollars to reward political work," Morganelli wrote. "The larger question here is, 'who polices the Attorney General?'"

Corbett's campaign did not return a call seeking comment Monday morning.

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• Corbett spokesman: Morganelli 'just flat wrong' on criticism of anti-gun ads