Republican ambitions

This guy sounds like an up-and-comer in the Party of DeLay.

GLENSHAW, Pa., March 30 (AP) - A state legislator was charged on Wednesday with lying about a white powder that he claimed was inside a letter from a critical constituent.

The lawmaker, Representative Jeffrey E. Habay, said that he got the letter at home in May and that it contained a suspicious white substance, raising fears of possible anthrax contamination.

The United States Postal Inspection Service said the substance was harmless.

Mr. Habay, a 38-year-old Republican, was charged with falsely incriminating another, fictitious reports, solicitation to commit perjury and "facsimile weapons of mass destruction," court documents show.

Mr. Habay said the envelope came from George Radich, one of five constituents who had asked a court to audit Mr. Habay's political action committee. Mr. Radich insisted that the powder was not there when he mailed the letter and that he never tried to hide his identity.

In an unrelated case, Mr. Habay is awaiting trial on charges of using his staff to campaign on state time, theft of service and conflict of interest.

Wow. Accusing a "critical constituent" of sending anthrax. That's novel. Perhaps even Howard Fineman would find that to have an "odor" about it.