Examples are rife.
At the top of the pile is Gov. "Cut-Cut" Corbett who once blasted predecessor Gov. Ed for spending $45 million on Capitol complex stuff and pushing $1.9 million for an Arlen Specter Library.
Now Corbett's seeking $55 million for Capitol complex stuff and releasing $1.9 million for an Arlen Specter Library.
Corbett's defense?
His Capitol money is "a different story" than Ed's. And the Specter library money is OK now because, "I felt I had to keep his [Ed's] promise."
Why Corbett worries about Ed's promise is beyond me. He should worry about his own: "My very first week as governor, I'm gonna send a reform plan to Harrisburg legislators and, believe me, some of them aren't going to like it."
Enjoying all that reform?
How about the former Democratic House leader at his second corruption trial being compared to Nelson Mandela?
Yep, onetime Whip Mike Veon, already serving up to 14 years in the $1.8 million "Bonusgate" ripoff, is on trial again in Harrisburg.
He's charged with feeding tax dollars to a Beaver County nonprofit he founded for his own political and personal use.
One of his lawyers, Joel Sansone, of Pittsburgh, last week called Veon a "political prisoner" and compared him to Mandela.
In one way, maybe: The former South African president served 27 years in prison. Maybe Veon matches that if he's convicted again.
There's former Democratic Senate Leader Bob Mellow, of Scranton, under a federal corruption probe; FBI/IRS agents raided his home and office in 2010.
Last week, citizen gadfly Gene Stilp filed a complaint and request for a state investigation of Mellow. The complaint suggests Mellow improperly spent campaign funds on $738,000 in legal fees last year.
Mellow wasn't a candidate in 2011. He left office in 2010. His annual taxpayer-paid pension is $138,958. He also got a lump-sum payment of $331,025.
He no doubt thanks you.
As does former Democratic Speaker Bill DeWeese, who, along with staff in four district offices, remains on your payroll despite his felony conviction earlier this month.
Oh, he's also on the Greene County ballot for re-election in the primary April 24 - the same day he's scheduled to be sentenced to prison.
You can't make this stuff up.
Finally, in Pittsburgh today, former Republican Senate Whip Jane Orie goes on trial for a second time.
She and her sister, Janine, are charged with using public resources for years to benefit political campaigns of the senator and another sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.
It's a bad soap opera: "Orie My Children" or "Days of Orie Lives."
And, of course, Justice Melvin still sits on the court faced with resolving the redistricting debacle - old maps or new maps, primary or no primary, special elections or no special elections - which is further evidence of Harrisburg leadership's ongoing psychosis.
This all reminds me of another line from "As Good as It Gets."
Nicholson's character opens his door to a woman seeking assistance then drawls in that Nicholson voice, "Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."
For recent columns, go to
philly.com/JohnBaer.
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