Larry Krasner

Philly has elected a district attorney who seems to be the antithesis of traditional DAs. It remains to be seen if his approach to law and order will surprise us all.

$50K Worth of Inventory Missing from Schools

A recent audit found over $50,000 worth of 'stuff' missing from the Philly schools.

The Wilmington News Journal has more details here:


http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100825/NEWS/100825050/Philly+schools+audit+shows++50+000+in+missing+items

Have You Heard About Asia Coney?

She's got a housing authority job (through some sort of fake non-profit intermediary) make six figures. And guess what? She's living in public housing.

Philly.com has all of the details ...

www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20100821_Sweet_deal_at_PHA__6-figure_salary___654-a-month_rent.html?page=1&c=y

Gone But Not Forgotten

Vivien Miller, the court clerk, has resigned. Now we have to see if the whole office can be abolished. For now, Miller's job is being turned over to her top assistant ... her daughter. Some things never change in Philly.






http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq_ed_board/87157927.html

Clerk of Quarter Sessions

Do you have any idea what the Clerk of Quarter Sessions does? Me neither, until fairly recently. Apparently the official purpose of this cesspool is to handle court records and to collect and invest bail money and fines in criminal cases. Hmmm. In a city with financial problems to the extent that Philadelphia has you would think that the handling of all of this money would be taken very seriously, right? Ahem. This is Philadelphia, remember. From the Philadelphia Inquirer's report:

Frustrated by a city agency's handling of tens of millions of dollars in court fees, the president judge of Common Pleas Court has ordered it to surrender its bank accounts and cede some key functions to another department beginning today.
Citing severe financial problems in the office of Clerk of Quarter Sessions Vivian T. Miller, President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said the office must turn over its books to the probation department, which will take over fiscal operations.
Dembe said the office had botched its handling of key accounts, depriving the city of needed revenue at a time of fiscal crisis.
"I don't have time to be patient," said Dembe, who was elected president judge in November. "It's simply not acceptable, at a time when we're talking about closing libraries and rec centers, for the city not to have revenue to which it's due."
Miller said she was insulted by the order and would fight it.
"I take my job very seriously," said Miller, whose office handles court records and collects and invests bail money and fines in criminal cases. "To me, this is no joke. This is not no plaything."

Yes, this is not no plaything. Vivian T. Miller is very serious about her incompetence, and that of her daughter, Robin T. Jones, first deputy clerk of quarter sessions. (Because it would barely be a city job in Philadelphia if you didn’t bring family members to the trough as well).
"We don't want to give up what she's elected to do," Jones said.
Yes. Once you are collecting a salary for doing nothing, it is very hard to give up.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20090130_Phila__agency_s_money_handling_angers_judge.html?viewAll=Y&text=

The Case of Latrice Bryant

Mayor Nutter was elected on a platform that promised to attack corruption in city hall. In the fall of 2008, an aide to city councilman W. Wilson Goode (son of the former mayor who bombed his own city) was caught by Fox 29 attending to personal business (including visits to Goode’s home) while clocked in at city hall. Bryant then responded by calling the Fox 29 reporter racist, and W. Wilson Goode made some racially charged comments himself. Later in the scandal, some pictures of Goode and Bryant on a romantic vacation together became public. This raised questions as to what exactly Bryant was doing to earn over $90,000 per year in city taxpayer money.

You may have seen the reports here or read about the top city council worker who last week accused Fox 29 News and investigative reporter Jeff Cole of racism.

The claims were made as Cole tried to question Latrice Bryant about her work hours.


It's 6:10 p.m. on July 2 near Love Park, and there's the longtime municipal employee moments after leaving her city council staff job at city hall.

Bryant is deputy chief legislative aide to City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., a third-term, Democratic councilman. She has worked for the city since 1995, nearly nine years for Goode.

Bryant makes $90,000 a year -- $54,000 more than when she started in 2000. In fact, she got two raises totaling $13,000 this year.

She also made an unsuccessful primary run for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2004.

On July 2, we saw Bryant arrive at work at 12:15 p.m. and leave just after 6 p.m. Even though she has apparently worked less than six hours, she's going to get a full day's pay.

How do we know? Fox 29 Investigates obtained her handwritten and signed timesheets that show she logged in at 8:30 a.m. and left at 6 p.m.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/news_other_1/Fox_Investigates_Aide


The sad thing in all of this is that Nutter has been stunningly silent on the topic. I guess some things never change.



“I’m not sure what I would have called for an investigation into,” Nutter said. “I think to this day there seems to be not any clarity into the relationship. I’m not sure then what there is for me to say about it.”

Nutter was also asked if the city should have a policy barring personal relationships between supervisors and staffers.

“It’s one of those things, I’m sure we can certainly take a look at it. I have no idea if it’s any kind of a widespread problem,” Nutter said. “I’m not sure what I can do from a purely legal standpoint of imposing any rules in that regard on City Council as an independent body of the government.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Latrice

About Corruption In Philadelphia

Michael Nutter was elected as the mayor of Philadelphia in the fall of 2007 as a reformist. His platform resonated across a broad spectrum of Philadelphia voters who had had enough of the old school politics and pay-for-play.

The purpose of this blog is to document examples of corruption, chicanery, and plain old bad government in the city of Philadelphia. In my own small way, I want to hold Mayor Nutter’s feet to the fire – will he be true to his campaign promise to address these issues?

I truly hope that he can fix the way that government works (or does not work, as the case may be) in the city of Philadelphia. He has a huge task ahead of him.