Former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street (pictured), who was mayor from 2000 to 2008, is under federal investigation for casting votes to push millions of dollars of work to his son's law firm from 2004 to 2007.
A federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) audit has already found that Street broke HUD and city rules as chairman of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) by voting to give up to $29.5 million in contracts to Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen law firm.
Street's son, Sharif, was a lawyer at the Wolf firm and was billed $778,000 for the PHA work voted on by his father.
The former mayor and four other PHA board members resigned last week under pressure from HUD officials.
The Wolf firm was dissolved in early 2009, and now Sharif practices law with a different firm.
Thus far, as the criminal investigation moves forward, HUD Inspector General Michael P. Stephens called Street's votes "a distasteful conflict of interest."
Street maintains he was given permission to vote on the contracts, because he received a waiver from HUD, who says that the waiver allowed Street to serve on the board, not vote on contracts his son would directly benefit from.
It's hard to imagine that a savvy politician like Street would make such an error in judgment innocently. He had to know that voting so much work to his son's firm wouldn't pass the smell test of the average person.
The way the votes played out, it raises serious questions about why Street even appointed himself to the PHA in 2004.
But the feds aren't blameless in this matter.
Street needed HUD permission to join the PHA, and they granted it.
Then Street made the questionable votes over a three-year period. Was no one on the federal level watching where the money was going?
It seems fairly certain that Street violated federal conflict-of-interest regulations, at a minimum, but he wouldn't have had that opportunity if federal watchdogs had done their jobs better.
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Source: http://www.bvblackspin.com/2011/03/14/former-philly-mayor-john-street-broke-federal-laws/
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