State Rep. Habay charged in white powder hoax

Courtesy the AP via the PG:

State Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay of Shaler was charged today for allegedly lying about a white powder he said he received in the mail from a contituent who was critical of him.

Allegheny County authorities charged Habay, 38, with facsimile weapons of mass destruction, falsely incriminating another and fictious reports for claiming in May that he received an envelope in his home that contained a suspicious white powder.

U.S. Postal Service investigators had said the powder was harmless.

In court documents, authorities claim Habay said the package came from George Radich, a constituent who along with four others asked Commonwealth Court to conduct an audit of Habay's political action committee, the Friends of Jeff Habay.

Radich had insisted the powder was not there when he mailed the letter and said he did not try to hide his identity when mailing it. Postal officials said Radich paid for the mailing with a credit card, an unusual thing to do if someone had put the powder in the envelope.

In September, authorities charged Habay with two felonies, alleging that he repeatedly used state workers to conduct campaign work for him on state time.

He was arraigned on theft of services and conflict of interest charges brought by the state attorney general's office.

After the arraignment, Habay said he had no plans to resign and would do everything he could to fight the charges.

The State Ethics Commission ordered Habay, a five-term Republican legislator, to pay nearly $13,000 in restitution and referred the case to state prosecutors, who filed the felony charges.

In the words of Mr. Nelson Muntz:HA HAW!

Nothing like a Wednesday dose of schadenfreude to make the afternoon seem brighter.