Jane Orie's supporters contend Zappala is pursuing vendetta

Two of Western Pennsylvania's most powerful political families are accustomed to big wins in the courtroom and the ballot box.

One side has to lose this time.

State Sen. Jane Orie's family of staunch Republicans views her legal fight over charges filed by District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. as a vendetta-driven battle of "good vs. evil" or "David vs. Goliath." The Democratic prosecutor's supporters see it plainly as his duty to pursue justice.

"The Ories need to lower their rhetoric right now. If they don't, she's going to start losing public support," said Jim Roddey, chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County and an Orie supporter. "This came from a grand jury. (Zappala) just can't make something up and tell them he wants an indictment."

Orie, 48, of McCandless stepped down Wednesday as Senate majority whip when Zappala charged her with 10 criminal counts of using state-paid staff since 2001 on her campaigns and those of her sister, newly elected Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

Another sister Janine Orie, 55, of McCandless, an aide to Melvin, faces two charges. The close-knit Orie family expects a new grand jury to target Melvin, 54, of Marshall, who was not charged.

"It's a political hit, but it's like the mafia trying to kill their opponent," attorney Jack Orie told reporters last week after a nearly six-month grand jury investigation resulted in a 66-page presentment against his sisters.

The comment left many wondering how the Ories and Zappalas became foes. Zappala, son of retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Zappala Sr., 77, declined to comment. Jane Orie did not return calls.

"The political landscape is that they were both potential attorney general candidates. I guess one way to get a rival out of the race is to have them indicted," said Nick Bonesso, a political and government affairs consultant in Pittsburgh.

In 2001, Zappala released a statement that he wasn't running for attorney general. In a February 2009 meeting with Tribune-Review reporters and editors, Zappala said he was toying with seeking a statewide judicial office.

"I think that's an insult to the integrity of the office. It's baseless," said Jim Burn, chairman of the Democratic Committee of Allegheny County. "The DA didn't go knocking on Senator Orie's office door. The person who did first went to the attorney general's office and never got a response."

Jennifer Knapp Rioja, 26, of Ross, a former unpaid intern in Jane Orie's McCandless district office, told the grand jury she first contacted Attorney General Tom Corbett's office to report that colleagues were campaigning for Melvin on state time.

Rioja said she was instructed to contact the district attorney. Democrats have criticized Corbett — a leading Republican gubernatorial candidate who has prosecuted more than a dozen Democrats in a legislative bonus scandal — for failing to pursue the tip.

Kevin Harley, a Corbett spokesman, disputed Rioja's assertion.

"Number one, no one recalls her calling," Harley said. "Two, if she did she didn't provide any specific information."

The "mafia" comment hurts the Ories' credibility, said Ralph Hartford, president of Downtown-based Italian Sons & Daughters of America.

"They're well respected within the Italian community," Hartford said of the Zappalas. "To make a statement about them as Mafioso or mafia is absolutely ridiculous. It's a slam to the whole Italian-American community for them to use that kind of language."

Zappala, 52, of Fox Chapel and his father belong to the Italian Sons & Daughters of America, which has 12,000 members in Western Pennsylvania.

A Zappala spokesman denied Orie's assertion of a vendetta.

"The investigation was conducted by career investigators and career prosecutors and prior to these events, there was no dispute, political or otherwise, between the district attorney and any member of the Orie family," spokesman Mike Manko said.

There's little proof of a long-running feud among Zappala, Orie and Melvin, though their paths crossed as they sought public office in the mid-1990s.

Orie worked six years as an assistant prosecutor under Zappala's predecessor, District Attorney Robert Colville, and then as a deputy under Republican Attorney General Ernie Preate. She became a state representative in 1996.

When Colville left to become a judge, county judges tapped Zappala in 1998 to fill the vacancy over longtime prosecutors Frank Dermody, now a state representative, and W. Christopher Conrad, whom Orie had worked with and befriended.

"We were gone when Steve got the job," said state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, another prosecutor who worked with Orie, Conrad and Dermody. "A lot of people thought it was going to be Chris Conrad, who was homicide prosecutor. Jane hung out with Conrad a lot. We were all friends."

Most of the Orie-Zappala feud materialized in the last election season.

Orie's former attorney, Jerry McDevitt, told the state Ethics Commission in a Feb. 26 letter that Zappala began investigating the senator on Oct. 30, the day she publicly called for scrutiny of the Pennsylvania Casino Association, a casino trade group headed by Zappala's father.

That's the day former intern Rioja told investigators her colleagues were campaigning for Melvin in an election she won four days later, the grand jury said.

During that campaign, a Melvin campaign ad criticized the Judicial Conduct Board for ignoring the scandal of two Luzerne County judges accused of pocketing millions of dollars in kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to privately owned detention centers in Luzerne and Butler counties.

Gregory Zappala, the prosecutor's brother, co-owned the centers. He was not charged with wrongdoing.

Over the years, Orie has crafted a reputation as a law-and-order legislator. Orie has said she will continue her re-election bid this year regardless of the criminal charges. So far, she's unopposed, but Democratic Party leaders are seeking a write-in candidate.

Additional Information:

Political families

Zappala family members in public office:

• Stephen A. Zappala Jr., Allegheny County district attorney. Salary: $132,373

• Judge Thomas Hardiman, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hardiman is married to Lori Zappala, Zappala's cousin. Salary: $170,000

• Judge Jack McVay, Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Zappala is married to McVay's sister, Mary. Salary: $164,563

• Michelle Zappala Peck, member of Allegheny County Board of Viewers. The attorney is one of seven appointed members. They review 4,000 to 5,000 property tax appeals a year and a few dozen eminent domain cases. Salary: $51,110

Orie family members in public office:

• Justice Joan Orie Melvin, state Supreme Court. Melvin is one of nine siblings • five sisters and four brothers. All of their names start with the letter J. Salary: $186,450

• State Sen. Jane Orie, Melvin's younger sister. She faces 10 criminal charges related to corruption. Salary: $104,993 • dropped to $78,314 when she stepped down as majority whip

• Jerry Orie, attorney in the insurance fraud section of state Attorney General Tom Corbett's office. Salary: $66,000

• Janine Orie, an aide assigned to Melvin's Pittsburgh office. She faces two charges of theft of services. Salary: $66,950