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Ex-U.S. Attorney?s Ties to Casino Owner at Issue in House Race

By Andrew Ramonas

A George W. Bush U.S. Attorney who is running for a House seat in northeast Pennsylvania is the subject of a growing controversy surrounding his relationship with a casino owner when he was the top federal prosecutor in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Tom Marino (Tom Marino for Congress)

Tom Marino, a Republican who served as the Scranton-based U.S. Attorney from 2002 to 2007, is the subject of a recent campaign ad that attacks his relationship with Louis DeNaples, who sought a casino license while Marino was the top federal prosecutor in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Marino agreed to be a business reference on the casino application for DeNaples, who was under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time.

Marino told a radio station in April that the Justice Department allowed him to be a reference for DeNaples. But the DOJ doesn’t have any record of the authorization, The Associated Press reported.

The former U.S. Attorney said he has evidence that he received authorization from the DOJ. But Marino told the AP he was not allowed to make public “documents related to my service as United States Attorney.”

“Marino says he was authorized to give the felon a reference and has a letter to prove it, but he refuses to release the letter,” says the narrator of the ad put out by the reelection campaign of Rep. Chris Carney (D-Pa.). “Marino ? what’s he hiding?”

Full post as published by Main Justice on September 17, 2010 (boomark / email).