It appears more bad news is on the horizon for Philadelphia's favorite union leader, John Dougherty. After his surprising, yet refreshing, defeat in the recent State Senate primary, it appears he will now be subject to the indictments hinted at by the Larry Farnese campaign.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today:

"Federal prosecutors yesterday urged a judge to reject a request for immunity for labor leader John J. Dougherty, saying such a move could jeopardize the "possible future prosecution" of the electrical workers' union boss...

Gus Dougherty, 42, president of Dougherty Electric Inc., is accused of violating the federal Taft-Hartley Act by selling John Dougherty a North Wildwood condo for $24,000 under market value and by performing $115,600 worth of electrical work without charge at his Philadelphia home."

Sounds like a regular Vince Fumo, and also sounds like Dougherty is in serious trouble. If he's not granted immunity, he could face serious consequences from the federal government.

Let's hope Farnese actually means change when he says it, unlike Doc, who's campaign slogan of "real change, real results" now sounds like a complete and total sham.

It is time for Tony Payton to do the right thing, and withdraw from his bid for the 179th District. Corruption cannot be tolerated by anyone!

Payton signed off as the circulator on a petition that had FIVE DEAD PEOPLE signed on, and his OPPONENT'S MOTHER. His opponent's mother has already said she didn't sign the petition.

This is clearly a kitchen table job, something that the Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has recently taken very seriously. Although this issue is starting to draw significant attention, it appears that his friends are working hard to silence any criticism.

HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE? Has anyone heard a reasonable explanation for dead people signed on? Or an opponent's mother? How is this different than the Bebko-Jones case? Also, since these same names were on the petition for state rep. as well as for delegate for Obama, this is both a state and federal issue?

So, where is the outrage? Where is the call for an explanation?

Oh, Donna, where can you be? Where can you be? -Richie Valens

A month ago, I wrote that with yet another person indicted for corruption in her office, Donna Miller was still oddly silent. In the comments, I was told:

This post sounds like your still bitter about your dad losing in the primary election....

The latest former staff member is just an indictment and doesn't equate to a conviction, isn't even qualify that she committed any illegal acts, just that the Federal Prosecutor Patrick Meehan has enough to warrant a trial.

In this case Donna Reed Miller shouldn't say anything.The councilwoman trusted her enough to have her on staff as did City Controller Alan Butkovitz who has been doing a great job at finding corruption.

Until the case is heard in a courtroom and decided upon there is nothing to talk about.

And:

Aside from the past election, Councilwoman Miller shouldn't be speaking about the pending trial or anyone related to it.If the woman is found not guilty people might have to re-think alot about what they say.

This is why there is a court process to determine the guilt or innocence of a person, none of us here or anyone besides the judge and or jury has the right to make a determination on charges.

Well, I sort of forgot to mention this, but look what happened:

A Philadelphia woman pleaded guilty on Friday to extorting more than $5,000 in cash and a cell phone in exchange for services she was required to provide as a city employee.

Charges were filed against Theresa Pinkett last month, who is alleged to have extorted $5,000 in cash and a cell phone from 2001 to 2003 while serving as a constituent services representative for City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. Pinkett is also alleged to have extorted $1,200 in cash from September to December of last year while serving as a community specialist in the Community Affairs Division for the City Controller's Office. No wrongdoing is alleged by others in Reed's office or the Controller's Office.

Okey dokey, so, guilty as charged. Maybe now we could get a simple quote saying, "I am sorry that someone under my employment used their position to extort money from the public. I apologize, and assure my constituents this breach of trust will not happen again."

Think that will happen? Doubtful.

And by the way, an almost instant guilty plea, followed by...

Sentencing is scheduled for April 18 for Pinkett, who faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

I don't really know how federal sentencing works. Maybe people are really busy. But, a delay that long in sentencing makes it seem like maybe, just maybe, there is something else that we may be hearing about soon.

We’ve entered an ugly phase in the fight against casinos. Our lame duck mayor has tried to paint the city into a corner through backroom deals. The casinos, desperate to break ground before Mayor Nutter takes office, have their public relations machines beating the drums of inevitability in the hopes that the citizens will simply give up. Furthermore, a recent spate of articles have attempted to brand those of us who continue to oppose these casinos as a bunch of crazies who care more about traffic congestion or saving the “soul” of the city than cutting property taxes and creating jobs.

"It is an honor just to be nominated."
-Lying award show losers.

Following my ode to Donna 'See No Evil' Miller, now we find that out that our very own Vince Fumo has been nominated for an award. OK, so it is not an Oscar. And it is not an award for best local governance, or most creative use of staff time (well, it sort of is).

In fact, national blog Talking Points Memo has nominated our own Vinsanity as a nominee in the 'best local scandal' category of their annual awards show.

Let's all be honest here, Vince Fumo is no Susan Lucci. He will accept nothing less than a win. And, if he wins, Fumo could be at a kick-ass awards after-party with national nominees such as Alberto Gonzales and Larry Craig.

Let the lobbying begin!

Oh, Donna, where can you be? Where can you be? -Richie Valens

A few years back, Donna Miller's Chief of Staff, Steven Vaughan, pled guilty in a pay-to-play tax racket that he ran out of Miller's office. I don't know about you, but if I ran an office, and my chief of staff used that office's powers for a little corruption, I might apologize for a violation of the public trust.

This is about as repentant as Donna Miller gets about the incident:

“You have to trust your staff when you run an office,” she said. “You just don’t know every second what everyone is doing.”

Now of course, we learned that another former Miller aide has been charged for activities from within that office. In the grand scheme of the City, a $5,000 extortion from a Councilwoman's office is not the reason that our schools suck, poverty is high, and the city is shrinking. But, this type of BS is symptomatic of so much of what is wrong with our political system, and certain actors within it.

And, once again, Miller was very willing to discuss the latest alleged bout of corruption within her office:

Miller, who faced a serious primary challenge last May but breezed to re-election last month, did not return Daily News calls seeking comment.

Oh, Donna. With corruption a seemingly normal part of your City Council office, where can you be?

As if proposing legislation to stifle the First Amendment was not enough, Councilman Darrel Clarke (along with Council President Anna Verna) recently introduced legislation to strike at one of Philadelphian's most treasured institutions - their Wawa's.

And Starbucks.

And Rita's Water Ice.

And every mom-and-pops little sandwich shop, deli, small restaurant, neighborhood coffee house, bakery, pizza shop, taqueria, noodle shop, Chinese take-out - in-short anything the zoning code defines as a "small retail food establishment" or "take-out restaurant."

The bill, #70913, would redefine all of these types of establishments as falling under the "Regulated Uses" portion of the zoning code, the portion of the code that covers commercial uses like:

(a) Adult book stores;

Today, my reform campaign ran the second of a series of full page ads in the Daily News where I poked fun at State Senator Vince Fumo's alleged misuse of taxpayer and charity money for personal and political purposes. (The Daily News is 60 cents - go buy a copy. They have a nice comics section.)

Though the fraud and corruption detailed in the Fumo indictment are dramatic and infuriating, the issues in Harrisburg are much larger than Fumo himself. The problem is that our legislature is broken, unwilling to operate in the light of day, and unable to reform itself.

For too long, Pennsylvania government has been corrupt and content, and the voters have grown frustrated. When the General Assembly gave itself an illegal pay raise in a late night vote on fourth of July weekend in 2006, voters of all political stripes joined together in a populist revolt and threw out dozens of lawmakers from around the state.

Philadelphia, PA, Nov. 27 -- Today, the Anne Dicker for State Senate Campaign is running the first in a series of three full-page ads aimed at educating voters about the particulars of the Vince Fumo indictment. The three full-page ads will run on successive Tuesdays with the next two running in the Daily News on December 4 and 11.

To download a copy of the full page ad: www.DontFeedtheAlpacas.com

One would have to assume that this can't be good for Vince Fumo:

n a surprising move, Richard A. Sprague and his firm asked today for permission to withdraw as lawyers for indicted state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo.

The request comes just three weeks after U.S. District Judge William Yohn ruled that Sprague and his firm, Sprague & Sprague, can represent Fumo, despite conflicts of interests alleged by prosecutors, as long as Fumo waives and acknowledges any such conflicts in court. Yohn had set such a hearing for later this month.

Instead, Sprague and colleagues Mark Sheppard and Geoffrey Johnson filed a motion this morning, seeking to withdraw.

Withdrawing from a case is pretty unusual. Not that it doesn't happen, but, considering that these guys were just fighting the government's request to remove them as Fumo's lawyers, this is pretty weird. I have no idea why (and as the article notes, we will probably never know), but Sprague is a Philly super-lawyer, feared by many. Losing him has to hurt.

That said, not to go down this road again, but if Vince did everything that was alleged and is convicted, we will both likely have justice served, and lose quite a lot of clout and state resources coming from from Harrisburg, especially when Rendell hits the road too.