Pennsylvanians give Corbett low marks on Sandusky probe: poll

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Most Pennsylvania voters give Governor Tom Corbett less than stellar marks for his investigation, as state attorney general, of reports Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing children, a poll showed on Wednesday.

Only 17 percent of the state's voters think Corbett, who served as Pennsylvania's top prosecutor for two terms before becoming governor in 2011, did a good or excellent job investigating what later erupted as a scandal at Penn State University, according to the Franklin & Marshall College Poll.

Some 65 percent said Corbett did a fair or poor job on the case which led to the conviction in June of Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

G. Terry Madonna, the poll director, said three factors led to the low approval rating: a sense Corbett did not move the grand jury investigation fast enough, a sense he did not put enough manpower on the probe, and questions about Corbett's role later filling a seat on Penn State's board of trustees that is set aside for the governor.

"There is some residual fallout," said Madonna. "The prospects that this will be over any time soon are not very good."

Kevin Harley, Corbett's press secretary, defended the governor's record on the Sandusky case.

"I would say the verdict of 45 (convictions) on 48 counts is a complete vindication of the thoroughness of the investigation," Harley said.

The scandal will dominate headlines in coming months. Sandusky is scheduled for sentencing on October 9 when Victim 5 will testify according to local media. A series of civil lawsuits is expected to be filed by victims.

In January, two former Penn State officials face trial on charges they lied to a grand jury about the crime. A separate report criticized school leaders for staging a coverup to avoid bad publicity.

Madonna said he doubted that widely published reports that Corbett received campaign contributions totaling some $647,000 from people associated with Sandusky's now defunct charity, The Second Mile, had much to do with the dim poll results.

"Most people don't know that," Madonna said.

Harley, said the donation total was vastly inflated in media reports, putting it closer to $40,000.

"Completely, completely, completely false," said Madonna, noting the higher total included contributions from people only distantly linked to Second Mile, the charity for at-risk youth that prosecutors said Sandusky used to find victims.

The telephone poll of 632 Pennsylvania voters, conducted September 18-23, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pennsylvanians-corbett-low-marks-sandusky-probe-poll-193818931--nfl.html

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