Pa, attorney general candidate’s connections questioned

A government reform activist warns if the lone GOP candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general is elected, he could hamper the ongoing probe into the Milton Hershey School.

Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed’s campaign to become the commonwealth’s top prosecutor has the governor’s backing.

However, Freed is the son-in-law of LeRoy Zimmerman, who recently stepped down as chairman of the board that oversees the Milton Hershey School. The facility has been under investigation by the state A-G for the past year.

Tim Potts, with Democracy Rising PA, says that conflict of interest, along with Freed’s ties to the governor, raise some questions.

“As attorney general, Mr. Freed would be in the position to hide critical information about what many at the school see as the failure of Tom Corbett when he was attorney general to investigate problems at the school,” said Potts.

Republicans have held the attorney general position since it became an elected office in 1980.

Potts says the problem isn’t so much the common political party, but the cronyism of the office.

Zimmerman was the state’s first elected attorney general.