Corruption's Scent Sniffing Feds Make Campaigns Nervous

Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright 2006 The Philadelphia Daily News
November 27, 2006

Corruption's Scent Sniffing Feds Make Campaigns Nervous

By Dave Davies, The Philadelphia Daily News

AS THE 2007 mayoral election season begins and Philadelphia pols engage in the predictable frenzy of raising money, spreading rumors, begging and bluffing for support, talking trash and trading gossip, something is different from past campaign chatter:

They're not sure who else may be listening.

Over the past four years, the FBI and federal prosecutors have gone on an anti-corruption crusade, nailing more than two dozen people on corruption charges and shaking the city's Democratic power structure to its core.

"I assume I have no confidential communications now. Everybody is mindful," said a politically active lawyer, who like many interviewed, spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Besides stirring uneasiness about who investigators are listening to, the probes and their legislative fallout have dramatically altered the rules for political fundraisers and donors.

The combined effect is an altered political climate for 2007.

"I think it's changed everything," said one Democratic ward leader, who also spoke on condition that he not be named. "Contributors are much more skittish. Out-of-town contributors just don't like to get involved in Philadelphia campaigns.

"There's new contribution rules, and a general sense of bad karma, bad weather, bad things happening, so maybe you should just stay away from Philadelphia."

The anxiety is widespread because the feds haven't focused on just one political organization in town. They've investigated - and, in two cases in particular, successfully prosecuted - a number of prominent pols from throughout Philadelphia's political landscape:

• The City Hall corruption probe nailed two of Mayor Street's friends and fundraisers as well as his city treasurer, several private businessmen and others.

• An investigation continues into State Sen. Vincent Fumo and a community nonprofit group he's associated with. So far, only two state Senate employees have been charged.

• City Councilman Rick Mariano and five businessmen were indicted and convicted. Mariano is now serving time in a federal prison.

• Authorities recently executed a search warrant at the home of labor leader and potential mayoral candidate John Dougherty. The exact nature of that investigation is unclear.

The investigations occur at the same time as national scandals involving congressional leaders in trouble for everything from campaign-finance violations to improprieties with congressional pages.

And in Philadelphia, pols are edgy.

"There's a shunning effect when somebody's name gets mentioned in an investigation," said one prominent Democrat. "There's a kind of guilt by association, then after a period of time, if nothing happens, it begins to heal."

U.S. Rep. and Democratic city committee chairman Bob Brady said if politicians are apprehensive about investigators, it's for good reason.

"It's devastating to an elected official," Brady said in an interview. "A rumor gets started that you're under investigation, and if the FBI says they'll neither confirm nor deny, you're in trouble."

In February, Brady fielded calls from numerous reporters who'd been tipped by political sources that his Washington office had been raided by the feds.

No media carried the story, and the FBI quickly issued a statement clearing Brady. But the episode demonstrated how prominently federal investigations figure in the city's political life now.

Another clear way that corruption probes have changed Philadelphia politics is the presence of new laws driven by the perceived need for reform.

Campaign contribution limits for city elections were enacted shortly after the 2003 election and modified in 2005, and other City Council ordinances now restrict contributions among those who want no-bid city contracts or financial assistance for development projects.

"That's a very tangible impact that will play itself out in this [mayoral] campaign," said Zack Stalberg, president of the Committee of Seventy, the nonpartisan political watchdog group. "Candidates will probably be raising and spending less money, and if you have to buy fewer TV commercials you'll have to figure out other ways to get your message across."

Brett Mandel, director of Philadelphia Forward, said the probe and ensuing reforms have pushed candidates in the right direction.

"You've seen candidates working to comply with the contribution limits, even when it's not so clear what they mean," Mandel said. "And when they cut corners, there are lawsuits and at the very least a shame factor that's made them defensive about it. The shame factor is something that's been missing in Philadelphia politics for a long time."

One question embedded in discussions of the probes is why U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan has been so actively going after Philadelphia politicians.

Meehan says when he came into the job in November 2001, he made public corruption a priority, and he notes that success in public-corruption cases tends to bring in more information about alleged wrongdoing.

"When it occurs to people involved in the [political] process that something will actually be done, they're more likely to bring issues to our attention," Meehan said.

Meehan has also gone after politicians in Norristown and elsewhere.

Another explanation is a new focus from the FBI on public corruption. Spokeswoman Jerri Williams said that when Robert Mueller became FBI director in 2001, "we shifted our priorities... . Public corruption became the number-one criminal priority."

"The cases aren't made by the U.S. attorney," said Peter Vaira, who was U.S. attorney here under Presidents Carter and Reagan. "You need agents, people on the street to follow up on leads."

In the end, Meehan said, politicians who do the right thing have nothing to worry about.

"It's conduct that invites scrutiny," Meehan said. "The investigations are determined by the actions of those who are investigated."

WHEN FORMER U.S. Attorney Michael Stiles, appointed by a Democrat, was the region's top federal prosecutor, Democratic officeholders in Philadelphia weren't plagued by corruption probes.

The biggest fish Stiles netted was powerful state Sen. Joe Loeper — a Republican.

By contrast, current U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, a Republican appointee, has cut a wide swath through Philadelphia Democrats, investigating, indicting and convicting with seeming abandon.

Can we conclude federal corruption probes are politically driven?

No, say veteran prosecutors.

First, consider the counter-evidence.

Republican appointee Meehan has also prosecuted Republicans in Norristown — including the mayor — and GOP politicians in other parts of Eastern Pennsylvania.

And while Democrat Stiles didn't prosecute elected officials for corruption, his office successfully prosecuted Michael Youngblood, a close associate of Democratic Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell; city Licenses and Inspections official Frank Antico, who had ties to Democratic politicians; and former Democratic Congressman Ed Mezvinsky.

Stiles, now an executive with the Phillies, said he avoids public comment on his days as U.S. attorney.

But Meehan and other prosecutors said the assistant U.S. attorneys who actually make corruption cases tend to stay through Republican and Democratic appointees and wouldn't tolerate a case being tanked for political reasons.

Peter Vaira, a former U.S. attorney who worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, said corruption cases depend heavily on career FBI and IRS agents who won't take a dive to suit someone's political agenda.

"You'd get in trouble pretty quick turning down cases for political reasons," Vaira said. "Because the FBI agents can go to Washington and go right over your head."

Vaira said there's a simple explanation for the investigation of so many Democrats in Philadelphia: They run the place.

"There will always be corruption cases, and with one party in power, that's where you'll see them," Vaira said.

If there's a grain of truth in the political explanation for investigations, some prosecutors said, it may be that sources with information may be more likely to go to authorities who they think have a motivation to pursue it, so a Republican appointee might get a tip that a Democrat wouldn't