Once considered a rising star in the local Republican Party, Jeff Habay now is Inmate 135151.
An Allegheny County judge on Wednesday rejected the former Shaler lawmaker's plea for another delay of the inevitable and ordered him to begin serving a six- to 12-month jail sentence for his conviction in February on a conflict of interest charge.

"This court has given Mr. Habay many, many delays," said Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning. "It's time to pay the piper."

Habay, 40, said nothing as a sheriff's deputy placed him in handcuffs and took him to a holding cell to await a trip to the county jail. His wife, Nubia, and new defense attorney, Ken Snarey, also declined comment as they left court.

"It's about time he's held accountable," said George Radich, of Shaler, a political foe and one of the constituents who turned authorities on to Habay four years ago by asking for a state audit of Habay's campaign finances.

Habay, a six-term member of the state House, resigned his seat on Feb. 8, just hours before Manning imposed the sentence. A jury had convicted Habay of conflict of interest, finding he used state workers and resources for his political campaigns.

Manning at the time said Habay could serve the jail sentence in an alternative housing program with an allowance for work release. The judge also delayed imposing the sentence until Habay faced a second trial -- at the time scheduled for July -- on 21 separate charges of witness intimidation, making false reports to police and harassment.

Common Pleas Judge Lester Nauhaus last month postponed that trial until November to give Habay time to find a new attorney. Habay has battled publicly with attorneys James Ecker and John Elash, who have said they want off his case because he won't pay them.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek asked Manning to impose the sentence yesterday.

"The defendant was using the other trial to delay, delay and delay this sentence," Krastek said.

Snarey, who is representing Habay only in his appeal of the conflict conviction, first asked Manning to allow his client to stay free during the appeal. When Manning accused Habay of being "dilatory," Snarey asked the judge to wait until Monday so his client could tend to his dying father and attend his son's fourth birthday party on Friday.

"The court was most generous and lenient to Mr. Habay during his sentencing," Manning responded.

Habay had applied to enter an alternative housing program that the county has since dropped.

Jail officials now will choose what program Habay enters. Warden Ramon Rustin said it likely will take a week to place Habay into a program. The county pays the cost of such programs, which range from $49 to $57 a day, Rustin said.

Habay is next due in court Nov. 13 in the second case. Among the charges he faces is an accusation that he mailed himself an envelope filled with suspicious white powder and blamed it on Radich.

"He's considered a joke here in Shaler," Radich said.

"Mr. Habay has been pulling the same stunts year after year," said Hampton Republican Party Chairman Raymond Anderson. "It finally caught up to him. And it proves that nobody is above the law."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_464535.html

Good. He's where he belongs. Criminals belong in jail.

Agreed!

George Bush Jr. has appointed numerous felons

George Bush Jr. has appointed numerous felons and others from the Iran Contra scandal to prominent positions in his current administration.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/bushco/bushcontra.htm

Just because you don't like someone's politics does not make them a criminal. Time for a reality check there unintelligable child.

That time came and went, many times, a long, long time ago.

It's now time for IntangibleChild's MEDICATION.

It's time for you to
http://chetday.com/detoxmenu.html

ali-ass is beyond help, just a burn't out ex-hippy, God Bless him though!

Murder is not politics! DUH

Not burned out. Lit up is more like it. I seen the light. God bless you too.

You're right. In that case, you should be directing your focus on the murderers who are out to turn the world into one big Islamic church.

If GOD want's things to happen "His Way" then let's go this way...........

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" --- Albert Einstein

No anti-Semitism here!
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/.../Einstein.html