1) Indicted State Senator Vince Fumo is in big trouble:

In another blow to State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a computer technician who prosecutors said carried out an electronic cover-up for Fumo has agreed to plead guilty and is expected to testify against his former boss.

Leonard P. Luchko, 51, who worked in Fumo's South Philadelphia office, is scheduled to plead guilty on Monday before a federal judge, according to a document filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.

These computer guys were the ones caught deleting all kinds of information, allegedly at Fumo's direction. If nothing else, the feds now almost certainly will have him on obstruction of justice.

2) The City Commissioners story continues to have legs. In the last week or so, it has been in local media all over the place (The Germantown Courier, Mt Airy Times Express, Art Museum Home News, Northeast Times, etc). And on Monday, the Daily News had a nice editorial about it, as well. The story resonates because the premise- that election results are password protected- is just so ridiculous, and because hundreds of people signed on to force a change.

3) Speaking of corruption, Councilman Jack Kelly's Chief of Staff entered a not guilty plea yesterday. In the meantime, Inga Saffron has more on those shady developers also charged.

4) In site news, you can now get YPP delivered to you by email. Over there --->, just enter your email address in the box, and voila. It should be formatted for whatever device you are using, including blackberries.

5) And one more: From Its our Money, Ben has a a bunch of things up about recycling, including an op-ed today in the paper, a podcast with Dave Heller of WHYY, and a Q/A with Christine Knapp of Penn Future.

More fun from the corruption indictments below, as it turns out that even within the last couple months, Jack Kelly appeared to be introducing legislation that was a direct result of his Chief of Staff being bribed. It turns out that besides the New River City Development, a stupid, weird, hulking development that is out of place in Philly, these developers were buying off Kelly's office for... mechanical parking garages. Nice.

As the City Paper notes, way back in June of 2006, Jack Kelly was introducing legislation that appears to be a direct result of his chief of staff being bribed. Then, he got questioned by the FBI in January about these guys, yet...

...on June 12, 2008, Kelly introduced another piece of legislation (text here) that created a "new definition for 'Mechanical Access Parking Garage' and adding it as a permitted use in certain residential, commercial, and industrial districts." The bill was referred to the committee on rules, and Council won't meet again until September.

So, the burning question: did the FBI mention mechanical parking garages to Kelly when they questioned him about Wright? (It was obviously part of the investigation.) And if they did, why was Kelly still pushing a type of legislation that that investigators later linked to Wright and the Chawla brothers?

If half of what is being reported is true, Jack Kelly needs to resign. Here he was, actually introducing bills as a direct result of bribes going to chief of staff?

And, once again, we also see just how cheap it is to buy someone off in Philadelphia:

According to the indictment, Wright received a $1,000 check marked "Happy Holidays" from Hardeep Chawla, in December 2005; rent-free use of a Rittenhouse Square apartment for a time in 2006 and 2007, as well as a free parking space; and free legal services from Teitelman for an eviction proceeding and divorce.

So, you cut the guy a check for a thousand, give him a little apartment in a building you own, and as a result, you have a City Councilman doing your bidding. Now that is smart investing.

Via Catherine Lucey of the Daily News, we get word that there are some new indictments coming out of City Council's chambers today, this time courtesy of the Chief of Staff of GOP Councilman, Jack Kelly:

City Councilman Jack Kelly's chief, Chris Wright, and three men involved in local land development were indicted this morning on federal corruption charges. Federal investigators say Wright used his post to help real estate developers Ravinder and Hardeep Chawla and their attorney Andrew Teitelman. Wright, the indictment said, received $16,000 in cash, gifts, a free apartment near Rittenhouse square and free legal services.

Check out the rest at Philly Clout.

How about this? How about some statements from City Councilpeople that when staffers are indicted, it is an indictment on how they, too, are running their offices? I know there is a level of collegiality involved in City Council, and I am sure it is somewhat necessary. But at some point, the 'good apples' are going to have to realize that staying quiet when their colleagues bring embarrassment to their whole legislative body, and to our city, is just not OK.

I know that when previous indictments (and later guilty pleas) came out of Donna Miller's office, I received emails from multiple staffers saying that they wish they could speak out, because the job they took pride in was being denigrated.

Maybe it is time for their bosses to step up to the plate?

As most of you already know the race between David Oh and Jack Kelly for a city council seat here in Philly is still too close to call. Although they are both Republicans there are real differences in what they plan for our city, who is backing them, and who they are most likely to work with in City Hall. They need volunteers to help count votes today and tomorrow to make sure that all of the votes cast are valid and that valid votes are all counted. If you can afford the time, please come out and help ensure that our democracy is working and our votes are counted and that fraud is prevented. This is a very close election and every vote will count and any fraudulent votes could disenfranchise all of us.

David Oh, Thanks for Running.

I don’t know the result of the Jack Kelly-David Oh vote count for the second Republican At-Large Seat. It’s due to be finished later this week. I did, however, want to post a few thoughts because my thoughts are independent of whoever wins.

I don’t think anyone imagined that the race between Kelly and Oh would be so close. Even with the additional attention the race garnered in the final weeks of the campaign, I doubt that a significant percentage of Philadelphia’s residents could have told you much about either individual. Certainly I knew nothing about David before interviewing him, other than having seen him once campaigning at an event prior to the May primary in North Philly. I knew nothing about Jack Kelly, other that that he is seems to be a nice fellow and that he voted with John Street on a fair amount of occasions, and of course, that he really loves pets.

I am amazed by David Oh’s campaign. It’s not often in this town that newcomers really challenge incumbents. Certainly, it doesn’t happen often enough. David’s apparent accessibility and his five-page long list of endorsements attests to the many relationships that he developed across the city.

It is worth noting the reported enthusiasm for David in the Korean community. Having lived in Olney for most of my life, I call tell you that by and large, the Korean community has not been connected to politics or had much of voice. In retrospect, it seems to me that it was about time that they did. The Korea community effectively staved off the decline of the North Fifth Street business corridor (above the Roosevelt Boulevard) for more than twenty years.

I probably would have run David’s campaign a little differently (with a more comprehensive nitty-gritty policy committee) but given the evidence that he connected to so many voters, it is hard to believe that he could have been more competitive than he was.

Typically, competitive elections are good. They make our political leaders more responsive. I’m not sure that will be the case in this instance, because Jack Kelly has been pretty open that this would probably be his last campaign. How well Jack has done in this campaign is a testament to the many relationships that he has built over the years. Still, I think Jack owes us something---he owes us some more tightening up of campaign finance laws. I mean, when a politician is competitive because he or she collect campaign funds within the legal limit of the law but not the spirit of the law, I’m going to question his or her commitment to little “d” democracy.

To be really honest, however, I have to question lots of Jack’s priorities. The campaign to make our city a kill free city (as far as stray pets go) was a good nitty-gritty issue. It also was also blatant appeal to those who don’t want to tackle real problems. One of those real problems is the Parking Authority. I hope I’m proved wrong.

From what I understand, and I admit this is complete speculation on my part, Al Taubenberger has designs on being elected as a Republican At-Large in the near future. I like Al. He’s a nice guy. I don’t think he should be demonized needlessly but neither do I think he’s entitled to serve on Council or that he would add much to its current dynamic. Unfortunately, given six months of free media attention, Taubenberger’s name recognition may prove tough to beat if he decides to run.

We’ll see how the Kelly-Oh races goes but on the whole I’d say voters sent a pretty strong message that Philadelphian’s would like to see a more responsive, creative and democratic process rather than politics as usual.

For that, we should thank David Oh.

This sticker is on full display at the Girard and Front Street El stop.
It shows that Jack Kelly will do just about anything to get elected, even
lie that he's a Democrat.

As far as I know, Jack has always been a Republican, from the Northeast, for the Northeast.

"Promises Made, Promises Kept"?

www.Kelly2007.com

If you are looking for reasons to vote for David Oh, I'm rounding up a few links of interest. In his interview with me, he was personable and I'd bet that if you could spend an hour with him, you'd end up voting for him.

To be fair, a couple of your favorite local media outlets cited David's quotes from his interview with me when it was clearly the case that they were paraphases. They were merely intended to provide flavor, not exact details on the discussion. Media folks, please keep that in mind for future attributions.

The flavor that the Republican party has allowed a number of lousy Democratic party power brokers to do whatever they wanted was essentially confirmed in one article:

As one insider told City Paper, "Under this current leadership, the Republican party is the largest Democratic ward in the city."