HARRISBURG — A Philadelphia area state senator was charged Wednesday with using her elective office for political and personal gain, including throwing herself an annual birthday bash that cost taxpayers upward of $100,000.
Sen. LeAnna Washington, D-Montgomery, was charged with theft and conflict of interest following a grand jury investigation led by the state attorney general’s office.
For at least four years, Washington allegedly bullied and intimidated her staff into performing campaign and personal work they knew was illegal but did anyway to keep their jobs, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in a statement Wednesday.
“The evidence will show that senator Washington pressured her staff into performing political activities using taxpayer dollars for her own personal benefit,” Kane said.
that’s sad. IIRC, she was a pretty strong advocate for victims of domestic violence. The corruption charges are bad enough, but I didn’t know she was involved with ALEC. Could you provide some links about that?
Looks like she split with them about two years ago, right when ALEC’s dirty work was coming to light. I’m not sure that makes her an ALEC tool (I’d use that word for Pat Toomey), although it doesn’t speak well of her judgement.