The latest in Phil. Inquirer Series About How Corbett Ignored Charity's Waste and Misuse

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20101025_Hershey_Trust_bought_neighboring_land_for_well_above_market_value.html

The Phila. Inquirer has run an excellent set of articles over the last couple months about incredible waste of tens of millions of dollars by the $7 billion Milton Hershey Trust. Corbett, as Attorney General, is the only person who has authority to oversee and investigate the Trust. He has refused repeated demands to investigate - until very recently when he was embarassed into saying he was investigating. However, the article points out, he still hasn't asked for any information from the Trust.

Today's article (linked above)described how the Trust spent $7.5 million of charitable funds, which was many times more than market value, to buy a produce stand named Pumpkin World USA. The article infers that the real reason was to avoid competition from a new private water park against Hersheypark.

The article points out that the Trust's subsidiary, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts(HERCO), has taken in $1 billion in revenue in recent years, but has only paid back $1 million in profits to the charity. The Trust owns 100% of HERCO, which is supposed to exist for the sole benefit of the Trust. The Trust is supposed to exist for the sole benefit of the boarding school for needy kids which it runs. HERCO handsomely compensates many members of the Trust Board, including helping the part-time chair fo the Trust, Leroy Zimmerman to make $500K a year from the Hershey companies for part-time work.

The Trust is controlled by powerful Republicans, including many who have been using the Trust's recently acquired golf course as their free personal playground.

[wisteria]

1. We aren't hearing any of this in Western PA. It just seems like Onorato is being bombarded with a

lot of misleading and outright lying ads to promote Corbett.

[Dawson Leery]

2. And this piece of trash is going to win in a swing state.

Sad.