By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
A week after a listening device was found in Mayor John Street’s City Hall office, Democrats are suggesting Republicans are engaging in dirty tricks, while GOP mayoral candidate Sam Katz believes the federal probe is related in some way to what he calls the mayor’s “pay to play” policy.
On Oct. 7, the Philadelphia Police Department discovered the device and microphones inside a drop ceiling in Street’s second-floor office.
Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson immediately alerted the FBI. Johnson later said he regularly conducted sweeps of the mayor’s office, even without telling his former boss and predecessor, John Timoney.
FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi declared that the bug was not “election related,” thus clearing the Katz campaign of any involvement. Vizi, though, would not confirm anything else about the alleged investigation.
By law, prosecutors are barred from discussing ongoing federal investigations. Various sources, though, have indicated that the probe is related to the awarding of city contracts.
In fact, federal authorities raided the Melrose Park home of Shamsud-din Ali, whose business was given a no-bid contract by the city to collect debt. Authorities also seized documents from the city’s Minority Business Enterprise Council.
In addition, they took Street’s three BlackBerry wireless handheld computers.
Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. publishers of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, has gone to court asking that the federal government unseal the search warrants and affidavits related to the case.
It’s unclear how the FBI planted the bugs, since police officers guard the outside of Street’s office 24 hours a day.
On Oct. 8, the day after the bug was discovered, Street and Gov. Ed Rendell demanded that federal authorities publicly state whether the mayor is being investigated.
Later that day, the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan responded that it already had told Street and his friend/adviser Arthur Makadon about the mayor’s part in the probe.
That night, Street acknowledged that Makadon, an attorney, had spoken with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“They advised him that I am not a target of any federal investigation,” he said.
Replied Katz: “That’s good spin.”
While Street wouldn’t be more specific, sources say he is the “subject” of an investigation. A “target” is someone likely to be indicted by a grand jury.
Street, elected to City Council in 1979, said he’s prided himself on his integrity and commitment to public service in nearly a quarter-century in office.
“I would never compromise those values,” he said.
In recent days, the mayor has tired of questions on the subject. He’d rather continue doing his job as mayor and campaign on themes of blight removal, public safety and economic strength.
When the news first broke, Katz was cautious. He suggested the FBI needed to be more forthcoming to be fair to Street. So did U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican.
Katz discounted Democratic suggestions that Republicans were behind the bugging. He said the alleged investigation would have continued in secret had police not discovered the listening device.
The challenger believes the investigation can be tied to what he calls Street’s embrace of cronyism, nepotism and favoritism.
“Those are three ‘isms’ that have hurt Philadelphia,” he said.
Street has received support from Democrats at the city and national level. They suggest that the investigation is designed to help President George W. Bush carry Pennsylvania in the 2004 presidential race.
Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffee questioned the motives of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
“Serious questions arise when the Democratic mayor of the fifth-largest city in the country discovers, just weeks before a close election, that senior Bush administration officials approved a plan to bug his office,” he said in a statement. “The Ashcroft-led Justice Department should not be used as the Bush administration’s political fog machine, ready to generate a cloud of suspicion around the political opponents of the Republican Party at a moment’s notice.”
U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-2nd dist.) believes Street is the same person today as he was in the early 1980s, when he refused to take a bribe during the FBI’s Abscam sting.
Fattah wants federal authorities to be more clear on the scope of the investigation, one way or the other.
He recalled that, in 1982, the U.S. Attorney’s office cleared then-Mayor Bill Green on the same day that Channel 10 reported that Green was being investigated for allegedly accepting kickbacks.
“Why that same courtesy can’t be extended to Mayor Street is a mystery,” Fattah said of a desire to see Street cleared.
Green sued the station for libel and later reached a six-figure, out-of-court settlement with the station, which retracted the story.
Meanwhile, Fattah was at North Philadelphia’s Bright Hope Baptist Church on Saturday to offer support to the mayor. So were Reps. Bob Brady (D-1st dist.) and Joe Hoeffel (D-13th dist.).
Brady refuted rumors that Democrats were looking at possible successors to Street, in case the mayor abandons his re-election bid.
Others coming to the mayor’s defense have included City Controller Jonathan Saidel, electricians union boss Johnny Dougherty, former U.S. Rep. Bill Gray and the Rev. Robert Shine, president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity.
Even U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, was in town on Sunday to march with Street in the Columbus Day Parade. Pelosi questioned the timing of the probe.
On Friday, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will be in Philadelphia for a Street fund-raiser.
The Katz campaign thinks it’s time for Street and his supporters to stick to the facts and to stop suggesting that Republicans are intentionally trying to sink the mayor’s re-election campaign.
“Philadelphia voters need more light and less heat, more accurate information and less spin,” said Katz campaign spokesman Nate Raab. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com