Porngate: Was there a coverup?

PORNGATE is escalating.

Yesterday, state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, backed by civil-rights advocates, clergy and community leaders, accused state officials of participating in a "coverup" of the email scandal involving a state Supreme Court justice and other law-enforcement officials.

Williams, the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, gathered his allies behind a podium at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to call for the immediate resignation of Justice J. Michael Eakin and those who failed to hold him accountable.

"What has been described as 'porngate' should be described as 'hategate,' " Williams said, referring to emails received by Eakin and others in the state's criminal-justice system that contain sexist, racist and homophobic photos, videos and offensive jokes.

Eakin also sent inappropriate emails from his Yahoo inbox, although far fewer than he received.

"This man should not, cannot, apparently has never been a fair jurist when it comes to all Pennsylvanians," Williams said. "The substance of what we saw in terms of these emails reveals his true heart, regardless of his apologies."

Williams was joined by representatives from the NAACP, Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, the National Organization for Women, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the LGBT group Equality Forum, among others. They viewed the emails yesterday during a closed-door meeting with Williams, some seeing them for the first time.

Last year, the state's Judicial Conduct Board and the special counsel hired by the Supreme Court cleared Eakin of wrongdoing, saying the emails were largely unremarkable. But after seeing the emails for themselves, Williams and others said they doubt the legitimacy of those investigations.

They have good reason to be skeptical.

The Daily News reported last week that Robert Graci, chief counsel for the Judicial Conduct Board, is a friend of Eakin's and served as general counsel to Eakin's retention campaign committee in 2011. Graci, who did not publicly disclose that conflict, stepped aside from the current Eakin investigation after the story was published.

Supreme Court Justice Corry Stevens told the Associated Press last week that Graci didn't tell him about his relationship with Eakin - even when Graci called him to interview him about Eakin.

"We cannot deal with a coverup. It's time that we come together to make a stand," the Rev. Jeffrey Goodson of Chosen Generation Church of God in Christ said yesterday. He described the emails he saw as "appalling" and "insulting."

The Inquirer reported Sunday that Eugene Dooley, one of 12 members of the Judicial Conduct Board, had himself received sexually explicit emails from former Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery - another possible conflict that was not publicly disclosed.

Eakin, 66, a Republican who was elected to the Supreme Court in 2001, has apologized for the emails. Some were circulated among a small group of lawyers, but others were sent to larger lists that included assistant U.S. attorneys, county judges and public defenders.

Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum, said that a special prosecutor with subpoena power should be brought in to get to the bottom of the mess and issue a public report.

State Attorney General Kathleen Kane discovered the emails while her office was reviewing how her predecessor, Tom Corbett, handled the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse case. Kane, a Democrat, is now facing perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges that she says are aimed at discrediting her.

"It is not only the racist, pornographic and misogynistic content of the emails that have been circulated, but, even more troublesome, the network of powerful people amongst whom they were exchanged," Kane said in a statement yesterday after Williams' news conference. "We need a justice system that ensures all citizens can walk into a courtroom and expect to receive a fair and judicious hearing."

Kane said she was exploring the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor.

On Twitter: @wbender99