Ethics counts stand against Senator Orie, Judge Manning rules.

[Divernan]

Ethics counts stand against Sen. Orie, judge rules
Monday, January 24, 2011
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

State Sen. Jane Orie will have to fight the three ethics counts against her when she goes to trial next month, an Allegheny County judge ruled today in denying a motion to dismiss the counts.

Ms. Orie, R-McCandless, filed a motion to have the state conflict-of-interest charges against her dismissed, saying the law does not clearly delineate what behavior is prohibited. But Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, in a 10-page opinion, determined that the law is clear.

"There is a clear line created in the statute, and it is the line between using state resources, including employees, for state-related purposes and using those resources to provide a financial benefit to the office holder or a member of their immediate family," the judge wrote. A jury should decide whether that line was crossed, he continued.

Jury selection in the case against Ms. Orie and her sister, Janine Orie, is scheduled to begin Feb. 7. They are charged with using the senator's office and staff to help the campaign of another sister, Joan Orie Melvin, who was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2009.

Read more in tomorrow's PG.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11024/1120369-100.stm#ixzz1C02zAyVS

[Bunny]

1. Good for Judge Manning.

I crack up every time I see this picture. Is that wrong?

[Divernan]

2. As Administrative Judge of the Criminal Div., Manning gets to assign cases.

And he typically takes the juicy, high profile cases for himself. No way he was going to grant Ories' earlier petition for change of venue to a different county. As to dropping any of the charges, the fewer charges there are, the fewer fireworks and the less PR.

Then you have the Orie "girls", who fight like bulldogs - this will make for a trial worthy of a Law & Order episode.