The Party of Values Strikes Again

From the Centre Daily :

A state lawmaker already awaiting trial for alleged ethics violations was charged Wednesday with making up a story that he had received a suspicious white powder in the mail and with retaliating against and harassing constituents who questioned his political finances.

Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay, 38, a Republican lawmaker from Allegheny County elected to a sixth term in November, faces 20 new counts as a result of the latest complaint, including a felony charge of possessing or using a facsimile weapon of mass destruction.

Habay claimed he found a suspicious white powder inside a letter he got last May from George Radich, a constituent who along with four others had asked for a court audit of Habay's political action committee.

Though the complaint did not detail the source of the powder, Habay was charged with falsely claiming it was inside the envelope when it was delivered to his house. Postal officials had determined it was harmless and noted that Radich did nothing to hide the source of the mailing - he paid for it with a credit card.

"The day that the postal inspectors came here, they were serious," Radich said Wednesday. "I'll tell you, I was scared because you're being accused by a powerful Harrisburg politician."

The State Ethics Commission ordered Habay last year to pay nearly $13,000 in restitution after finding that he had used legislative staffers to campaign on state time from 1997 to 2002. The state attorney general followed up with felony charges of theft of service and conflict of interest.

The new charges, including those of conflict of interest and theft of services, cover the period of January through August 2004.