Next on the Stand?
Why Mr. Mayor himself, John Street. Come on Down!!!
So the best I can make of the whole deal as of right now is that a number of folks think that the way to secure city contracts is to get in good with the recently departed Ron White, a lawyer friend of John Street with what one could charitably refer to as "undue influence". So this big shot at JP Morgan, Anthony Snell, disregarding specific company memos NOT to get involved in "pay to play" operations submits an invoice for $50,000 in legal services to be paid to White. Turns out, however... funny thing... there never WERE any legal services provided by White. Turns out Snell himself doctored up some of White's stationary to be an invoice, 'cause he was just dying to get this swell guy some cash.
No reason. Why do you ask?
Another thing about that $50,000. Seems Ron White learned about it on his way to breakfast with John Street at the Ritz-Carlton - where, by sheer coincidence, I am sure, he ran into Snell in the lobby first. Snell didn't go to breakfast with them. Apparently the Street administration has the mafia procedure down well - always act through an intermediary and never be seen all together at once.
Good thing the FBI had the breakfast under surveilance, or we wouldn't know about ANY of this.
So, Mr. Snell why did you do it?
Well, apparently his income at JP Morgan depended on bonuses which could be significantly padded with some juicy municipal contracts, of course.
According to the plea agreement Snell signed on to today in federal court, "Believing that White could deliver business in Philadelphia, they (Snell and associate Charles LeCroy) therefore had a personal incentive to support him, the firm's objection to an unlawful consulting payment not withstanding."
So, next up, that JPMorgan associate LaCroy, Denis Carlson, senior VP at Janney Montgomery Scott, and former city treasurer Corey Kemp. And Street is set to take the stand in the trial of Carlson.
A couple of political observations:
- If J.F.Kerry were president, I'd be willing to put significant money on the dogs being called off. After all, Philly did deliver a 400,000 vote democratic margin in a state that ended up about 100,000 close. I won't comment on the validity of these numbers or the strength of the Philadelphia Democratic machine, currently headmanned by one John Street.
- Notice how folks associated with the party of the "common people", with a mayor who sold himself as the "neighborhood" mayor seem to be spending a good amount of time consorting with high powered lawyers and investment bankers in shady financial transactions?
This one'll be fun to watch, I'll keep the Rox blog apprised.
Oh, and while the link to the "Street Subpoenaed" story is to the Inquirer, I relied heavily on the Evening Bulletin for my info. I'd link to them, but I am getting a very troubling "we may never be back" message. Let the conspiracy theories begin. Unions, Knight Ridder, Street himself? Or maybe they just have Verizon DSL.
So the best I can make of the whole deal as of right now is that a number of folks think that the way to secure city contracts is to get in good with the recently departed Ron White, a lawyer friend of John Street with what one could charitably refer to as "undue influence". So this big shot at JP Morgan, Anthony Snell, disregarding specific company memos NOT to get involved in "pay to play" operations submits an invoice for $50,000 in legal services to be paid to White. Turns out, however... funny thing... there never WERE any legal services provided by White. Turns out Snell himself doctored up some of White's stationary to be an invoice, 'cause he was just dying to get this swell guy some cash.
No reason. Why do you ask?
Another thing about that $50,000. Seems Ron White learned about it on his way to breakfast with John Street at the Ritz-Carlton - where, by sheer coincidence, I am sure, he ran into Snell in the lobby first. Snell didn't go to breakfast with them. Apparently the Street administration has the mafia procedure down well - always act through an intermediary and never be seen all together at once.
Good thing the FBI had the breakfast under surveilance, or we wouldn't know about ANY of this.
So, Mr. Snell why did you do it?
Well, apparently his income at JP Morgan depended on bonuses which could be significantly padded with some juicy municipal contracts, of course.
According to the plea agreement Snell signed on to today in federal court, "Believing that White could deliver business in Philadelphia, they (Snell and associate Charles LeCroy) therefore had a personal incentive to support him, the firm's objection to an unlawful consulting payment not withstanding."
So, next up, that JPMorgan associate LaCroy, Denis Carlson, senior VP at Janney Montgomery Scott, and former city treasurer Corey Kemp. And Street is set to take the stand in the trial of Carlson.
A couple of political observations:
- If J.F.Kerry were president, I'd be willing to put significant money on the dogs being called off. After all, Philly did deliver a 400,000 vote democratic margin in a state that ended up about 100,000 close. I won't comment on the validity of these numbers or the strength of the Philadelphia Democratic machine, currently headmanned by one John Street.
- Notice how folks associated with the party of the "common people", with a mayor who sold himself as the "neighborhood" mayor seem to be spending a good amount of time consorting with high powered lawyers and investment bankers in shady financial transactions?
This one'll be fun to watch, I'll keep the Rox blog apprised.
Oh, and while the link to the "Street Subpoenaed" story is to the Inquirer, I relied heavily on the Evening Bulletin for my info. I'd link to them, but I am getting a very troubling "we may never be back" message. Let the conspiracy theories begin. Unions, Knight Ridder, Street himself? Or maybe they just have Verizon DSL.
posted by soulpole66 at 10:23 PM
3 Comments:
The Evening Bulletin's website is www.theeveningbulletin.com. (Don't worry, there's nothing there, either.) The paper isn't called the Philadelphia Bulletin. And since you use them for your info, I must guess you're woefully uninformed. :P
ps. the last sentence was a joke.
eh... details, details...
ruin a fun conspiracy theory while you're at it why don't ya?
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