Poll says half the state backed axing Paterno

In a poll released Friday, about half of Pennsylvanians surveyed supported the firing of Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno.

In the Quinnipiac University Poll, 52 percent of Pennsylvania voters said they supported Paterno's firing and 43 percent opposed it.

Paterno was dismissed and university president Graham B. Spanier resigned under pressure after former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing boys.

The poll says 74 percent of respondents supported Spanier's ouster.

Prosecutors have said alleged on-campus assaults were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about at least some of them. Sandusky has maintained his innocence.

The poll of 1,453 registered voters for the week ending Monday has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Sandusky is to appear in court Tuesday to face more than 50 charges that accuse him of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. Investigators have questioned whether Sandusky used funds from the Second Mile, the charity he founded and ran, to "groom" the boys with extensive gifts.

Also Friday, Penn State announced the hiring of a prominent Washington lawyer and former White House counsel to advise Spanier's successor.

Lanny Davis, who served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton and now heads a law and crisis-management firm, will provide legal advice and counsel to president Rodney Erickson, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. Erickson was appointed to lead the university last month.

Davis also has also served on an oversight board for President George W. Bush. The Centre Daily Times reported the hiring Friday.

Penn State also has a general counsel for the university as a whole, Cynthia Baldwin.

Amid increasing scrutiny on the Second Mile, another executive appears to be leaving. Katherine Genovese, the foundation's executive vice president and wife of recently departed chief executive officer Jack Raykovitz, is no longer listed as a staff member on the charity's website. Her apparent departure was first reported by the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

The Second Mile announced Wednesday that some employees would be laid off by the end of the year but gave no details. The charity has hired former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham to help it conduct an internal investigation.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday that Penn State had ordered vendors holding licenses for products depicting Paterno's name or likeness to sell those products within 60 days, after which they must be pulled from store shelves.

University officials said they reached a mutual decision with Paterno's representatives that the university would no longer manage licensing for his image because he is no longer head coach. He held that position for 46 years.