'Gadfly': Feds must investigate Corbett

Gene Stilp, considered a good-government activist by some in Harrisburg and an attention-seeking gadfly by others, asked the feds yesterday to investigate state Attorney General Tom Corbett's connections to two Philadelphia Republicans he charged last week in a public corruption probe.

Corbett on Thursday charged state Rep. John Perzel and his former chief of staff, Brian Pre-ski, along with eight other Republicans from the House GOP caucus, as part of a long-running investigation into the use of state money for political campaigns.

Those charges came on the same day that the Daily News reported that Perzel had a meeting with Corbett in October 2007, and Preski organized a fundraiser for Corbett's campaign for governor two months later. Both events happened while Perzel and Preski were under investigation.

Stilp, who made his request in a letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Harrisburg and who sent copies to reporters across the state, said that Corbett's actions demonstrated a clear conflict of interest.

"The investigation into this must be conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice," Stilp wrote. "Were there other conflicts of interest no one knows about?"

Stilp also called on Corbett to resign as attorney general.

Heidi Havens, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment on Stilp's request for an investigation.

Kevin Harley, a spokesman for Corbett, brushed off Stilp.

"We don't comment on letters or actions by Gene Stilp, which are all designed to get his name in the newspaper," Harley added.

Corbett, who is running for governor, has faced criticism from his rivals - Democrat Tom Knox and Republican Jim Gerlach - for running a 21-month political- corruption probe while seeking GOP support for his campaign.

Corbett on Thursday said that the Perzel meeting and Preski fundraiser came "at a time when we didn't have all the facts in front of us" but that he has no concerns about the propriety of those events.

"There has been very little contact with these individuals since that period of time, once we understood where everything was going with this investigation," Corbett added.