GOVERNMENT CONFLICTS, CORRUPTION AND INDICTMENTS

- PENNSYLVANIA -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
02/09/05	Bureau of Administration Adjudication	Head of City Agency Guilty of Fixing Tickets The former head of the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication. Joseph F. Hoffman, was convicted of taking bribes for fixing tickets for a taxi company, which owed $47,000. For a bribe of $5,000, he was able to reduce the amount of the tickets to $3,500. He was acquitted of a more severe charge of fraud because widespread dismissal of tickets appeared to be normal practice in Philadelphia.
02/15/05	Mayor of Philadelphia/ Treasurer	Former Philadelphia Treasurer On Trial Many crooks are embroiled in a scandal that purports that the Philadelphia City Treasurer, Corey Kemp, sold his office to businessmen who lavished him with gifts, payments, and promises of future benefits. The players include the Treasurer, a bank president and vice-president, a self-made millionaire, a lawyer and fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, and Kemp’s mistress. The Mayor, John F. Street, will be subpoenaed to testify as the FBI has been investigating his office’s handling of city contracts for several years.
02/23/05	Mayor of Philadelphia	Philadelphia Mayor Plan to “Sell” Luxury Stadium Boxes Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street has banned the use of the city’s Lincoln Financial Field’s luxury stadium boxes for raising campaign contributions, only after he and a fund-raiser were overheard on tape planning on ”how to sell” the seats for up to $20,000 apiece. The fundraiser, Ronald White, also used the luxury boxes to raise $388,000 in pledges for Street’s re-election campaign in 2004.
05/09/05	Philadelphia Treasurer	Former Philadelphia Treasurer Convicted of Fraud Corey Kemp was convicted of 27 counts of fraud and conspiracy for pocketing tens of thousands of dollars from companies seeking city contracts, including two Commerce Bank executives, who were also convicted. He was able to build a new deck on his house, received an all-expenses paid trip to the 2004 Super Bowl, numerous parties in his honor and $10,000 in cash. In theory, Kemp could be sentenced to 800 years in prison.
11/01/05	Philadelphia	Councilman and Five Others Indicted for Fraud and Bribery City councilman Rick Mariano and five cohorts were charged with conspiracy, honest services fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in an indictment filed by U. S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan of Philadelphia. According to the Star-Ledger, authorities allege that, among many charges, Mariano helped officials with a scrap metal company win a tax-friendly designation in a state enterprise zone and helped another defendant win a $225,000 consulting contract with the Philadelphia School District. Don’t be too surprised if you suddenly read that Mariano has retired for “heath reasons” drawing an outlandish pension while fighting the charges. According to a grand jury report, a former bookkeeper at Erie Steel accused Mariano of receiving illegal payments in exchange for official acts. The bookkeeper sent a letter to the City Council President and to the mayor of Philadelphia, John F. Street, who is suffering in his own purgatory of corruption charges. The City Council President forwarded the letter to federal authorities, but no one seems to have any idea what happened to the copy provided to the mayor. Why is it that when corruption charges are filed against politicians on the east coast it seems that the charges have been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office and not by local officials? Is that because many local officials are involved in the corruption and federal officials are “untouchable?” Major news organizations should be investigating this possibility.