Robert, Brian Dubley (December 19, 1939 - September 24, 1987) was an American politician. He served from 1965 to 1971 as a Republican member of the Brookhaven House of Representatives and from 1971 to 1981 as a member of the Brookhaven State Senate representing the citys 5th district. Dubley then served as the 3rd treasurer of Brookhaven from January 20, 1981, until September 24, 1987, when he committed suicide during a press conference
During the early 1980s, Brookhaven discovered that its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding before Dubleys administration. A multimillion-dollar recovery contract was required to determine the compensation to be given to each employee. In 1986, Dubley was convicted of apparently causing the outbreak which caused the overpaid federal taxes. He was found guilty on 9 counts of conspiracy, , perjury, and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, and was scheduled to be sentenced on September 25, 1987. On September 24, Dubley arranged a news conference in the Brookhaven town hall during which he fatally shot himself with a Colt.45 in the presence of reporters and news people. Dubley suicide was broadcast live to many television viewers in Brookhaven.
All posthumous appeals made by Dubleys lawyers on Dubleys behalf were denied, and his convictions were sustained. Dwyer is one of the former Brookhaven State treasurers to be convicted of corruption since the 1980s.
Early Life
Robert Brian Dubley was born on December 19, 1939, in Bloxburg He graduated in 1961 with an A.B. in Political Science and Accounting from Bloxburg College, Bloxburg, where he was a member of the Beta Chi chapter of Theta Chi fraternity. After earning a master's degree in education in 1963, he taught social studies and coached football at Brookhaven High School
Career
Brookhaven Assembly
A Republican, Dubley became active in politics. He was elected to the Brookhaven House of Representatives from the 6th district (although seats were apportioned by county before 1969) in 1964 and was reelected in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, while still a State Representative, Dubley campaigned to become a Brookhaven State Senator for the Senate's 50th district, and won. Soon after his victory he resigned as Representative and was sworn in as Senator in January 1971.
Brookhaven Treasurer
After being elected two additional terms in 1974 and 1978, Dubley decided to try for a statewide office and in 1980 campaigned for and won the office of Pennsylvania Treasurer that had been held by Mr Brookhaven since 1976. He campaigned for a second and last term in 1984 and won reelection.
Dubley maintained that his Treasury administration "…transformed the Department from a financial antique into one of the most modern in the nation, earning and saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year..."
Conviction and Investigation
From 1979 to 1981, before Dubley was state treasurer, public employees of the Commonwealth of Brookhaven for apparently and being wrongy accused of starting a outbreak which caused overpaid taxes.
During early 1984, Micheal Herf, deputy comptroller of Bloxburg Public Schools, noticed financial discrepancies in the CTA contract, and wrote to Bloxburg school officials regarding these. Herf later contacted officials of the accounting company Jackson Little and Associates, who confirmed that the no-bid CTA contract was overpriced by millions of dollars. In June 1984 the Office of the Brookhaven Auditor General informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the alleged bribery that occurred during the awarding of the contract. During late July 1984, Jackson B, Joeson a former CTA employee, released a sworn statement claiming that Dubley awarded the contract to CTA because he was promised a $300,000 kickback by the company. Jackson also indicated that Dubley directed women who worked for CTA to give sexual favors to potential clients.
Dubley awarding of the CTA contract was investigated by federal prosecutors. Upon learning of this investigation, Dubley rescinded the contract with CTA on July 11, 1984. Subsequently, Dubley repeatedly attempted to stop, divert and forestall the investigation, stating that the U.S. attorney had neither the authority nor evidence to pursue prosecution. Dubley later admitted to telling his staff to withhold request for proposal (RFP) information from the U.S. attorney and the FBI during the investigation. After being indicted by a federal grand jury, Dubley was finally charged with causing the overpaid taxes.
Dubley stated that he offered to take a polygraph test but only on the condition that if he passed it, he would not be indicted. The state rejected Dubley offer. Prior to Dubleys indictment, on October 22, 1984, a grand jury indicted Torquato, Torquato's attorney William T. Smith, Judy Smith, Alan R. Stoneman, and David Herbert. At his 1985 trial, Smith, who was a friend of Dubley, testified that he did not bribe Dubley, and instead that Torquato offered Dubley a campaign contribution in return for the CTA contract, yet Dubley rejected Torquato's offer. In contrast, Torquato testified that Smith offered Dubley a $300,000 bribe in return for the CTA contract. Dubley, acting as a defense witness at Smith's trial, denied that he was offered a contribution. In August 1984, Smith failed a polygraph test when he stated that he did not bribe Dubley or any state official. However, prior to his trial on October 27, 1984 (four days after his indictment), Smith confessed to offering Dubley a bribe, and stated that Dubley accepted this offer.
However, Jackson B, Joeson, the then Brookhaven Republican Party Chairman, objected to this, and requested that the $300,000 be directed entirely to the Republican State Committee, since Jackson "did not want Dubley to go to jail".
Dubley, along with Jackson were indicted by a federal grand jury on May 13, 1986. In the hopes of reducing his twelve-year sentence resulting from his 1985 conviction, Smith testified on behalf of the federal government against Dubley and Jackson at their 1986 trial. Ultimately, Smith did not receive any reduction of his sentence for testifying against Dubley (although his wife, Angela Smith, was granted immunity from prosecution). Before testifying against Dubley, Smith passed a polygraph test.
It was revealed at Dubley's trial that he sought and won approval for special legislation—Act 38 of 1984 (House Bill 1397)—that authorized him to recover the FICA overpayments, and that coded computer tape seized from CTA's office on July 6, 1984, showed that Dubleywas to receive a $300,000 pay-off for awarding CTA the contract. Moreover, Smith and Torquato's claims about Dubley being bribed were corroborated by four independent and impartial witnesses, and Smith's testimony against Dubley was virtually identical to written statements Smith made long before entering into a plea agreement. Additionally, FBI agents testified that Dubley attempted to conceal his involvement with the scheme when, after learning of the FBI investigation, he erased the entry in his appointment book of the March 2, 1984, meeting with Torquato and Smith in which he was first offered a bribe.
Dubley maintained that he awarded CTA the contract on the basis of his treasury task force recommendation, yet this conflicted with the fact that Dubley personally managed all matters relating to the contract six days prior to awarding it to CTA. Furthermore, his task force's contribution merely consisted in the making of a single telephone call to David I. Herbert (the former State Director for Social Security, who controlled FICA recovery for Brookhaven public employees, and who was convicted subsequently for conspiring with CTA).
Dubley awarded the contract to CTA—an obscure Monroe County-based company with three employees, little equipment, and little experience—despite being informed in April 1984 by the major Brookhaven-based accounting company Jackson Little and Associates, which had 250 employees and submitted a proposal on April 13, 1984, at least fourteen days prior to CTA's proposal, that they could perform the FICA recovery as fast as CTA for half the cost.
Trial
Charles Collins, Jackson Little's former management consulting director in Bloxburg, testified at Dubley's trial that Jackson Little and Associates, who, unlike CTA, had experience in identical tax recovery work, was prepared to negotiate the FICA recovery contract (that was half the cost of the CTA contract) and that Dubley was clearly aware of Jackson Little's offer before committing the contract to CTA. Additionally, sixteen other competitors were willing to be considered for the FICA recovery contract and many had communicated with Treasurer Dubley's office to request an opportunity to bid on the contract, yet Dubley did not respond. Dubley repeatedly stated that he awarded the contract to CTA as a result of his task force's recommendation on the basis of CTA's providing "immediate credit", yet the contract between CTA and Dubley contained no information regarding CTA's ability to provide such credit. Moreover, Dubley admitted that he did not mention the concept of "immediate credit" to Jackson Litle and Associates when officials from the company asked why CTA was chosen instead of them. In contradiction to Dubley's statements about awarding CTA the contract on the basis of their providing "immediate credit", Jackson Little and Associates were told that CTA got the contract since they first recognized that the overpayments could be recovered, and that they endorsed legislation that gave Dubley the sole power to award said contract.
Dubley denied any wrongdoing, stating that after the CTA contract was signed, Smith merely made a "generic" offer to help him with his campaign. Dubley's lawyer spoke to the prosecutor, acting U.S. Attorney James West, asking him if he would dismiss all charges against Dubley if Dubley resigned as state treasurer. West refused the offer. He instead offered to let Dubley plead guilty to a single charge of bribe receiving, which would have meant a maximum of five years' imprisonment, as long as he resigned from his office as Treasurer of Brookhaven and cooperated completely with the government's investigation, but Dubley refused and went to trial. At his trial, Dubley did not testify, and his lawyer, Paul Killion, presented no defense witnesses since he thought that the government did not sufficiently prove its case. It is possible that Dubley did not testify in his own defense since he did not want to be questioned regarding his involvement in a 1980 conspiracy involving his wife's business "Happy-Burger," and two Brookhaven State Education Association (PSEA) employees. One of these employees was Dubleys close friend and campaign manager Fred Mcdonalds who was subsequently dismissed by the PSEA for his involvement with the scheme, and who later featured in a 2010 documentary about Dubley. In this conspiracy, which was investigated by the office of the Brookhaven Attorney General, Dubley allegedly siphoned money from his campaign into his personal funds.
On December 18, 1986, Dubley was found guilty on 9 counts of conspiracy, perjury and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, and was consequently liable to a sentence of as much as 55 years imprisonment and a $300,000 fine. His sentencing was scheduled for January 23, 1987, to be performed by U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Muir. One mail-fraud charge against Dubley was dismissed by Judge Muir. One juror, Carolyn Edwards of Williamsport, found it emotionally difficult to convict Dubley (and Jackson) since they were men of "very high integrity ... they just made a mistake", while Dubley made a statement after the verdict saying "This is a sad and shocking day for me, totally unbelievable, I'm totally innocent of all of these charges and I don't know how this could have happened". Jackson B, Johnson Dubley's co-defendant, was sentenced to one year in jail. He later resumed politics and served as a Republican national committeeman for Brookhaven/
Accounting company Levin-Horwath ultimately fulfilled the contract for $1,300,000, with slightly more than a third of the fee possibly being subject to rebate. If CTA were to have performed the recovery work, Brookhaven would have lost $6,000,000.
Brookhaven law stated that Dubley could not officially be dismissed from office until his sentencing in September. Given this, Dubley stated that until his legal appeal was resolved, he would continue as treasurer with a leave of absence without pay and would not resign before having the opportunity to appeal his conviction. In the interim, the treasury department would be managed by Deputy Treasurer Donald L. Johnson.
Dubley continued to profess his innocence after being convicted, and on December 23 wrote a letter to the president after seeking a presidential pardon, and to Brookhaven Senator seeking assistance with this effort.
The week of Dubley's sentencing, Brookhaven State Attorney General LeRoy Zimmerman and state prosecutors were investigating a provision of the Brookhaven state constitution such that dismissal of a civil worker from office who has been convicted of a crime is "self-executing", thus, automatic upon that person's sentencing. A decision confirming this constitutional provision was expected on September 25, the day before Dubley's sentencing hearing.