Bob Brady's campaign bills make the news again today (not to be confused with the Steve Cozen suit against the Ethics Board), as the Board of Ethics has filed a petition for Contempt against two men, one of whom is Tom Nocella, a Municipal Court Judge.

According to the press release from the Board of Ethics, a PAC was set up by the late Carol Campbell by taking in money from judicial candidates. The PAC, called the Appreciation Fund, did not follow campaign finance laws, and was ordered to pay $39,000 in penalties. The Ethics Board alleges that, instead of paying those penalties, the PAC made illegal payments on behalf of Congressman Brady's own PAC.

In effect, the PAC told the Ethics Board they didn't have money to pay their fine, but in the meantime, were actually paying off Brady's debts. And, to top it off, they allege that Judge Nocella, before he was a Judge, facilitated this and made demonstrably false statements about it.

Needless to say, asking for Contempt against a sitting Judge is a big deal. And this is the second time in as many months that Congressman Brady is in the news for campaign finance stuff. Not good.

The press release from the Board of Ethics is below.

PHILADELPHIA – Today, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics filed a Petition for
Contempt and to Enter Judgment Against Ernesto DeNofa and Judge Thomas
Nocella, alleging that they had engaged in a deliberate and fraudulent scheme to
drain the assets of a political action committee that was under Court Order to pay
the Ethics Board a $39,000 Judgment for violating the City’s campaign finance
law. The Ethics Board is seeking to hold DeNofa and Nocella personally
responsible for the Judgment against the PAC.

According to the petition, the Honorable Gary DiVito issued an Order on June 1,
2007 directing the PAC known as the Appreciation Fund to pay a statutory penalty
of $39,000 to the Ethics Board for failing to file a required campaign finance report
even after it was given additional time to do so by the Board. On September 21,
2007, Judge DiVito issued a second Order holding the PAC in contempt of Court
for failing to pay the fine levied under the Court’s June 1st Order.

The petition alleges that between December 2007 and March 2008, with full
knowledge of the Court’s Orders and the Ethics Board’s efforts to execute on those
Orders, DeNofa and Nocella deliberately and systematically depleted the PAC’s
bank account through a pattern of illegitimate payments. While they did so,
according to the Board’s filing, they also repeatedly delayed and obstructed the
Ethics Board’s efforts to execute on the Court’s Orders so that their fraudulent
scheme would not be detected until they had drained the PAC’s bank account.

The petition asserts that while stalling the Ethics Board’s efforts to execute on the
Court’s Orders, DeNofa and Nocella used most of the Appreciation Fund’s money
to pay a catering company bill that was owed by a different PAC, “Bob Brady for
Mayor”. Specifically, according to the petition, DeNofa signed and Nocella
personally delivered a $13,550 check to the caterer, and when that check failed to
clear, Nocella arranged to take care of the problem with a cashier’s check issued by
the bank. The petition alleges that Nocella next arranged for the delivery of a $390
check, signed by DeNofa, to a different vendor owed money by “Congressman
Robert A. Brady.” Finally, the petition asserts, knowing that a couple thousand
dollars remained in the PAC’s account and that nothing had been paid towards the
Court Order, Nocella helped himself to $2,500 from the PAC’s bank account at
DeNofa’s suggestion on the pretext of “legal services” – even though he was
representing the PAC for free and was not owed any money by it.

The petition also alleges that immediately after DeNofa issued the $2,500 check
from the PAC’s bank account to Nocella, but before Nocella actually deposited the
check, Nocella told the Ethics Board’s attorney that the PAC was “dormant” and
that it had “no assets.” The petition asserts that these statements were flat
misrepresentations by Nocella.

The payments contrived by DeNofa and Nocella were fraudulent, according to the
petition, because the PAC did not owe any money to the recipients, and were made
when the PAC owed money to the Ethics Board under the Court Orders. The
Board’s filing asserts that less than $400 remained in the PAC’s bank account after
the fraudulent payments that were devised and carried out by DeNofa and Nocella.
“The Board will pursue all steps necessary to ensure enforcement of the campaign
finance laws and to seek appropriate relief against those who demonstrate they
have nothing but disdain for those laws, the Court and the Ethics Board,” said
Richard Glazer, Esquire, Chair of the Ethics Board. “This petition asks the Court to
hold individuals accountable when their outrageous and fraudulent conduct
frustrates the intent of the Court and injures the Board.”

The Appreciation Fund PAC, as described in the petition, was formed by the
recently deceased Carol Ann Campbell in 2003 and raised $27,000 that year -
ironically through donations made by then City judicial candidates. According to
the petition, Ernesto DeNofa is the PAC’s Treasurer and Thomas Nocella, Esquire
represented the PAC until he was appointed a Municipal Court judge three months ago.