More monkey biz from the brown shirts:
Philadelphia Mayor Finds Office Bugged
By Robert Strauss and Dan Eggen
Washington Post
Thursday 09 October 2003
Device Linked to FBI Probe of Corruption
A federal corruption investigation was inadvertently exposed here this week when a secret listening
device was discovered in the City Hall office of Mayor John F. Street.
The bug was uncovered Tuesday during an electronic sweep of Street's office by the city police
department, a sweep officials said was performed routinely every few months.
Its discovery set off a political firestorm when local FBI officials announced that the bug was not part
of any electoral espionage -- Street (D) is locked in an acrimonious campaign with Republican Sam
Katz -- but would not say how they knew that.
"The FBI doesn't confirm or deny investigations," said special agent Linda Vizi, the FBI
spokeswoman in Philadelphia. "We were contacted by police that they found the device and
responded. We will confirm, however, that we have ruled out the possibility of it being connected to the
election campaign."
On Wednesday, federal law enforcement sources said the bug had been placed in the mayor's office
as part of an "anti-corruption investigation" by the FBI in Philadelphia, but the sources refused to
elaborate on the nature of the inquiry.
The city is already the subject of federal investigations into ticket-fixing and an airport-maintenance
contract that was given to the mayor's brother but then rescinded, according to local news reports.
"This is a huge matter of concern to me," Street said in an impromptu news conference Tuesday
afternoon, not long after the bug was found. "You'd like to think you have a certain amount of privacy in
your own office, and when you don't, you feel violated."
The battery-powered device was found in the ceiling of the mayor's office, along with several
microphones throughout the large room. The device transmitted its signal outside City Hall.
Street has said he had no knowledge of the bug before it was discovered and angrily demanded an
explanation from the FBI. "I haven't done anything wrong, and I don't know that anybody in my cabinet
or in my staff around me has done anything wrong," he said Wednesday.
Katz spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said she was happy that the FBI had quickly exonerated the
Katz campaign, but she could shed no further light on what the bug meant.
"I don't think anyone knows what is going on yet. We just don't know the truth," she said. "We have
three-and-a-half weeks to go in the race, and hopefully this investigation will take its course, and the
people of Philadelphia will find out just what it is about."
This year's election is a repeat of the close race that Street won four years ago. The discovery of the
listening device is the latest in a string of incidents that have plagued his campaign.
In June, the mayor had to rescind the multimillion-dollar city contract for airport maintenance with a
firm connected to his brother to avoid suspicion of no-bid nepotism; the city turned over 25,000 pages
of documents relating to the contract to federal investigators. Then Katz made an issue of the
ticket-fixing scandal.
The wife of a Street spokesman was found to be writing letters to the editor of a local newspaper
under her maiden name criticizing Katz. In August, someone threw a firebomb into a Katz campaign
office, though police could not determine who did it.
The campaign has also prompted heated discussions about race in the city, which is divided about
equally between white and black residents, with a much smaller percentage of Asians. Katz, a former
Democrat whose only city office has been as a school board member, is white. Street, who was a
longtime city council member and council president before becoming mayor, is black.
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D), a former Philadelphia mayor and a longtime ally of
Street's, has asked the FBI to make public what it knows about the bug.
Street campaign spokesman Frank Keel suggested that any investigation was being orchestrated
by the Justice Department for political reasons because Pennsylvania is an important state in next
year's presidential election. "Is the Republican Party capable of dirty tricks? I think that is well
documented," Keel told the Associated Press.
The local U.S. attorney, Patrick L. Meehan, a Republican appointee, denied that politics would have
any role in any investigation by his office but did not address directly the topic of the listening device
found in Street's office.
"The U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of
doing its work without regard to partisan politics. That was the practice of my predecessors, and it is
my practice as well," Meehan said in a statement.
Appearing agitated during the Tuesday news conference, the mayor said he was not going to just
wait for the FBI to tell him what was going to happen next.
"We'll conduct our own investigation in conjunction with the investigation that the FBI is conducting,"
he said. "We'll try to get to the bottom of it."
Go to Original
Philly Mayor Says He's Not Being Probed
By David B. Caruso
Associated Press
Thursday 09 October 2003
Philadelphia's mayor says he is not the target of a federal probe, even though his
office was bugged by the F-B-I.
Mayor John Street said Thursday he is "not part of any investigation" by the U.S. attorney, a day
after officials said the FBI planted bugging devices in his office. Politicians in both parties demanded an
explanation from the bureau.
Street, a Democrat, is locked in a bitter rematch against Republican businessman Sam Katz, and
the campaign has been marked by charges of intimidation and race-baiting.
Late Wednesday, Street said one of his advisers had been told by the U.S. attorney's office that the
mayor was not the target of an investigation.
"I now feel vindicated because obviously the U.S. attorney has said that I'm not part of any
investigation. I feel good about that," Street said Thursday morning. His comment went further than the
statement he issued Wednesday night, in which he said he had never believed he was the "target" of
an investigation.
The U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia did not acknowledge responsibility for the bugs but said it
had been in touch with Street.
"We have stated very clearly to both Mayor Street and his attorney the mayor's status in this
matter," spokesman Richard Manieri said Wednesday night.
He would not elaborate on what federal prosecutors told Street.
Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter were among the politicians
who called on the FBI to tell the public what it knows about the eavesdropping equipment. That list
also included Katz, who called the discovery "breathtakingly shocking."
"I think given this extraordinary situation with four weeks to go in the campaign, it is incumbent upon
the FBI to say why they planted the device," Rendell said Wednesday.
The FBI made no such public disclosure.
Three federal law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that
the FBI was responsible for the bugs, but refused to provide any details about the nature of the probe.
FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi declined to comment on the devices, other than to say they were not
connected to campaign espionage. The devices were found Tuesday by police conducting a routine
sweep of Street's City Hall office suite.
Street's campaign suggested the bugging was instigated by Republicans.
"The timing of the discovery of these listening devices seems incredibly strange, seeing that we are
four weeks out of the election, and we have a Democratic mayor ahead in the polls," said Frank Keel,
the Street campaign spokesman.
Keel went on: "Do we believe that the Republican Party, both at the federal level and state level, is
pulling out every stop to get Pennsylvania in 2004? Absolutely. Is the Republican Party capable of dirty
tricks? I think that is well documented."
U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, denied politics plays any
role in prosecutors' decisions. Election Day is Nov. 4.
"The U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of
doing its work without regard to partisan politics. That was the practice of my predecessors, and it is
my practice as well," he said in a statement.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said the security sweeps of the mayor's office
have been going on for decades. Police said a similar sweep done in June found nothing suspicious.
An aide to Street, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that more than one microphone was
found and that all were within the mayor's office suite. Officials would not say how long the equipment
was believed to have been in place.
Street beat Katz four years ago by fewer than 10,000 votes in this city of 1.5 million. Polls also
show a neck-and-neck race in this year's campaign, which has been marked by ugly words and an act
of violence.
In August, someone tossed what may have been an unlit firebomb through the window of a Katz
campaign office. An aide to Street and a former city employee were charged with making threats after
getting into a confrontation the same day. Supporters of Street, who is black, and of Katz, who is
white, have accused each other of race-baiting.
A debate between the two was scheduled for Thursday night.
During an appearance on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Street was asked if race was a factor in
the bugging.
"I think there will continue to be a huge amount of speculation and concern that some of this is
racially motivated," Street said. "We live in the greatest country in all the world but it's not a perfect
country. ... That doesn't mean that there aren't still people in this country who have racial biases and
racial animosities and that doesn't mean that it can't work its way into the activities of the government." |
