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Moments before killing himself in January, 1987, Pennsylvania's state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer charged that politics and secret deals were involved in his prosecution.
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The Sins of Our Fathers. Buy an e-book edition of this long sought-after classic. |
Read this long sought-after account of Dwyer's prosecution and public suicide in this limited edition, free e-book edition. The Sins of Our Fathers details how the criminal case was manipulated by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, who late in 1986 interceded in the prosecution on behalf of prominent Pennsylvania Republicans 'caught in the same criminal net that brought Dwyer down.' The book documents the historical seamy underside of politics in Pennsylvania's capital city and characterizes the late state treasurer as a transitional figure who tragically did not understand the rules of old, and new, Harrisburg. 'Our legal, and our political system has been used, not to foster truth,' the book reports, 'but to punish those who would speak out against perceived wrongdoing. Well-meaning people were overwhelmed by the darker side of Harrisburg's law enforcement community. Federal prosecutors and the FBI elected to look the other way. Ultimately all this combined to create a formula for disaster. Into this sad reality came jaunty Budd Dwyer, the Bumpkin from Meadville.' The book also illuminates the 'distant, cold and manipulative, even Nixonian' personality of former Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh, who succeeded Meese as U.S. Attorney General. Must reading for anyone interested in American government and politics.
'The Sins of Our Fathers has to be the best
'underground' seller in the Harrisburg area. It's hard to find copies that
aren't snapped up off the newsstands. I've talked to several people who
have read the essay and—like me—weren't able to put it down
after starting. I was compelled to read it all the way through in a quiet
Sunday afternoon. The brief but compacted essay is detective-like in details
and made reading pleasurable—and astonishing! I recommend it highly
to everyone who wants to understand Harrisburg (and state) politics....
'It's a great exposé going to the heart
of the old boy network and the flirting with gray areas of the law.... What really
is illuminating since this essay was finished in the early part of 1988 is the
involvement in the CTA scandal of U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese... Please
read Sins for yourself. It truly is the unwritten history of Harrisburg and it
reads like a good detective story.'
--Curt Sanders
D.S.A. Newsletter
'William Keisling and Richard Kearns' intimate look at the Computer
Technology Associates scandal that rocked Harrisburg politics bristles
with the feel of real-life melo-drama. From its cover depiction of Sherlock
Holmes locked in a death-grip with his nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, to its climactic
reconstruction of treasurer Dwyer's televised suicide, The Sins of Our
Fathers is definitely 'like a movie.' But it's a movie whose implications
range far beyond the careful documenting of a particular case. If the authors
are to be believed (and their work presents convincing argument), the alleged
corruption of upper echelon Pennsylvania politics serves as an emblem for
an entire system whose unchecked greed threatens to rot it from within....
'A conscientious secretary, formerly employed
with the office of acting U.S. prosecutor James West (Dwyer's personal
Moriarty) piqued the writers' interest by recalling that Republican state
senator John Shumaker's name had been included on, then deleted from, the
indictment that finally netted the state treasurer. Surely moves were afoot
to have justice meted out discriminately, to sort out the wheat of the
Republican elite from the expendable chaff (i.e., Budd Dwyer, 'the Bumpkin
from Meadville'). If, as Dwyer claimed, West was 'making deals fast and
furious' to win the treasurer's conviction, the pressure came from above.
Following testimony in court that Shumaker and state attorney general LeRoy
Zimmerman were offered money for CTA services, even US attorney general
Edwin Meese (shortly to leave office under his own cloud) got into the
act, barking by phone into West's ear, 'What the f—'s going on down
there?' West's office also received several death threats.... The Sins
of Our Fathers is a compelling, fascinating read.'
--Chuck Leayman
Lancaster Independent Press
'State Auditor General Don Bailey said he
believes the book, The Sins of Our Fathers, raised enough questions of
possible influence exerted on Acting U.S. Attorney James West that 'these
matters should be pursued.' Bailey said he has formally requested Deputy
Chief Marshal Jarrett of the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department
to investigate 'clear indications of criminal interference with prosecutorial
and investigative responsibility' that were included in the book. Bailey
said the allegations concerning CTA also were included with the complaint
he filed last week against West with Michael Shaheen Jr. of ther Justice
Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.'
--Scranton Times
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