The Inquirer requested copies of five years of federal income tax returns from Philadelphia’s five major Democratic mayoral candidates. Here is a summary of their responses: U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah yesterday declined, citing his wife’s privacy wishes. He previously cited her confidentiality agreement with NBC10, where she is an anchorwoman. The station has waived that agreement, but Renee Chenault-Fattah says she wants her salary kept private. State Rep. Dwight Evans gave copies of three years of tax returns to The Inquirer yesterday. They show his legislative salary – $86,521 in 2005, reflecting his status as ranking Democrat on the House […]
GAMBLOR: Oh Yeah…Just Remembered…TURNS OUT THERE’S A LAW AGAINST THAT SORT OF THING!
BY PATRICK KERKSTRA OF THE INQUIRER Somehow, it just didn’t come up. Amid all the lawyers, the petitions, the protests and the huge stakes, little was said about Section 14-1624 of the Philadelphia Code – which bans certain adult-oriented businesses from part of the Delaware riverfront. DiCicco said he’s alerting his lawyers to the relevant section of the city code and intends to add this issue to the lawsuit Council has filed against the state Gaming Control Board over its casino site selections. Still, it was unclear yesterday just how large a challenge Section 14-1624 — approved by City Council […]
HIZZONER ’07: Judge Says Rules Are For Other People, Says THE MACHINE, Er, Bob Brady Stays On Ballot
BY WENDY Luzerne county Common Pleas judge Patrick Toole found Brady should have disclosed pension contributions the carpenters union makes on his behalf on his candidate?s statement of financial interests. But Toole said Brady acted ?in a reasonable and responsible manner? in filing out the form and should be allowed to amend his filing. ?Whenever possible, election contests should be decided by the hand of the voter in the election booth and not by the pen of the judge in a judicial chamber,? the judge found. He concluded that Brady was not required to disclose his city pension, because he […]
DOJ’s WHITE HOUSE LIAISON INVOKES THE FIFTH
“The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real,” says her lawyer. WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ liaison with the White House will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, citing her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday. “I have decided to follow my lawyer’s advice and respectfully invoke my constitutional right,” Monica Goodling [pictured right, at a law school alumnus picnic], Gonzales’ counsel and White House liaison, said in a statement to the Senate […]
HIZZONER ’07: Fattah Leading In Tribune Poll
PHILADELPHIA, March 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A recent poll among 400 registered African-American voters who said they planned to vote in the city of Philadelphia’s May 2007 Democratic Primary Election has provided evidence that black voters still rank Chaka Fattah first (27 %), and Dwight Evans second (18%), but that Tom Knox (now at 14%), has moved past Michael Nutter (9%) and Bob Brady (8%), since October 26-29, 2006, when the poll was last taken. While he still maintains a lead position among black voters, Fattah’s support has decreased from 33 percent to 27 percent; Evans and Brady have each increased […]
UN-AMERICAN: NYC Police Spying Before 2004 RNC Convention Curiously Similar To Philly Police Spying Before 2000 RNC Convention
March 25, 2007 City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention By JIM DWYER NEW YORK TIMES For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews. From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show. They made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then […]
WASHINGTON POST Runs John Doe Editorial From Patriot Act Victim
[Excerpted from The Washington Post] My National Security Letter Gag Order BY JOHN DOE Friday, March 23, 2007; Page A17 The Justice Department’s inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the expanded power to issue “national security letters.” It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision — demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval — to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. […]
HIZZONER ’07: Mayor Duh?
BY JILL PORTER “I’M NOT A dumb candidate. I just play one on the witness stand.” At least you’d hope that’s what Bob Brady would say after his disturbingly unimpressive court appearance yesterday Tuesday. The congressman was evasive and combative, and seemed clueless about simple financial concepts. He proclaimed more than once that he didn’t understand questions he was being asked. Brady testified in a hearing to decide whether he should be ousted from the mayor’s race, based on allegations that he omitted required information from the financial-disclosure forms he filed with his nominating petitions. And you have to wonder […]
BUSH TO CONGRESS: Blow Me
WASHINGTON – Flexing their political muscle against the White House, Democrats in the House and Senate are insisting that President Bush’s top aides describe their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors on the record and under oath. A House committee was to vote Wednesday to authorize subpoenas for political director Karl Rove and other administration officials despite Bush’s declaration a day earlier that Democrats must accept his offer to allow the officials to talk privately to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, but not under oath and not on the record. Would he fight Democrats in court to […]
HIZZONER ’07: Idle Hands Are The Devil’s Plaything
Mayoral candidate Tom Knox amused observers in a City Hall courtroom yesterday when the businessman whipped out an emery board and began filing his nails, according to an e-mail sent to us from the courtroom. The well-groomed Knox attended a hearing regarding U.S. Rep. Bob Brady‘s status on the May primary ballot. He and state Rep. Dwight Evans are supporting a challenge over Brady’s financial-disclosure forms. [Via Dan Gross]
GAMBLOR: Send Lawyers, Guns And Money!
DAD, GET ME OUT OF THIS! FROM THE INQUIRER: A ballot question seeking to exclude casinos from residential areas cannot be stopped by court action, City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. has advised Mayor Street. Diaz said that if the ballot initiative approved unanimously by Council last week is passed by city voters on May 15, it will eventually be voided by the courts because state law takes precedence over city codes. Nevertheless, Diaz wrote Friday in a memo to Street, he cannot prevent the proposed amendment to the city charter from being voted on in the May primary election. […]
FIGHT CITY HALL: Vern Anastasio 1, Frank DiCicco 0
[Hat tip to da Wook, HOLLA!]