Throwing Stones From a Glass House

During a March 12 hearing on Bill 629, the legislation that would gut taxpayers’ rights to appeal zoning board decisions, Councilman Frank DiCicco interrogated anti-billboard activist Mary Tracy about who contributed money toward her efforts.

What makes DiCicco’s questions so hypocritical is the fact that a non-profit group he and state Sen. Vince Fumo co-founded in July 1991 recently reported $5.6 million in anonymous "contributions, gifts or grants."

Tracy is director of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB), a non-profit foundation that has successfully challenged zoning variances granted to outdoor advertisers since 1990. Nearly 20 existing or planned illegal billboards have been nixed over the past several years due to SCRUB’s efforts. Considering that outdoor advertisers pocket up to $200,000 annually for leasing a single billboard stand, they don’t much like Tracy.

In October, Tracy received an anonymous contribution. The money was enough to pay her a salary so she could quit her job and fight illegal outdoor signs full time, as well as rent a small office on Chestnut Street. SCRUB has an annual operating budget of $80,000.

During the March 12 hearing, DiCicco questioned Tracy’s integrity based on the possibility that SCRUB’s anonymous benefactor is a billboard company.

"Has any person affiliated with Interstate Outdoor Advertising, directly or indirectly, contributed to you?" DiCicco demanded to know.

"I’m not sure," Tracy responded. After a brief pause, she elaborated, "I’m not sure I should answer that question."

"You’re not sure if they made the contribution or you’re not sure you should answer the question?" DiCicco hounded.

"I’m not willing to answer any of the questions about any of the donors because I don’t think that’s really what’s at issue here," Tracy replied.

Even if SCRUB did receive money from Interstate, the group still fights more illegal signs than the city — which does a fine job of ignoring its own laws.

Sam Stretton, an attorney who represents SCRUB pro bono, says he would be "jeopardizing" SCRUB’s funding if he revealed its main donor. But, even if SCRUB does favor one billboard company over another, so what? he questions.

"SCRUB didn’t take an oath saying it would enforce every sign in the city," he says. "There is nothing illegal here. Nothing even smells."

And on top of that, a South Philly non-profit co-founded by DiCicco, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, refuses to reveal its own donors.

The group’s most recent federal tax form 990 — the expenditure and revenue report all non-profits must file with the IRS— lists nearly $5.6 million in anonymous "contributions, gifts or grants." Not bad for a little organization originally set up to clean streets.

These contributions were made during 1999. Citizens Alliance’s 2000 federal tax filing — technically due next month — is not expected until November given previous extensions it has requested.

Last year, City Paper repeatedly asked DiCicco to reveal the identities of these very generous contributors. DiCicco, who was president of the organization at the time, refused to do so. First, he claimed to be too busy to keep track of such trivialities. After he resigned as president of the board, DiCicco said it was no longer his obligation to respond to City Paper’s inquiries.

Up until 1997, Citizens Alliance reported a mere $500 in private contributions. The bulk of its funding came from Pennsylvania community development grants secured by State Senator Vincent Fumo. Suddenly, in 1998, Citizens Alliance reported more than $1million in anonymous donations. The following year, that amount quintupled. Where the windfall came from isn’t known because Citizens Alliance is hiding behind IRS laws that allow charities to conceal the identities of their donors from the public, although the information must be disclosed to the IRS.

That’s the same federal law DiCicco apparently resents SCRUB taking advantage of.

Fumo and DiCicco spend millions of dollars from the Citizens Alliance kitty and never have to explain where they got the money. For instance, Fumo’s Fall 2000 constituent newsletter notes that his office "secured a grant of $10,000 from a non-profit civic organization" for police patrol bikes.

And now Citizens Alliance is renovating a 27,000-square-foot warehouse at Second and Spring Garden Streets to house Internet start-up companies. In November, Fumo aide Christian Marrone told Philly Tech magazine the building was purchased with "economic development and grant money." Take a look at the 1999 tax report filed by Citizens Alliance — you will see the group spent at least $691,664 on the property. Who knows where Citizens Alliance got that money, though.

The group is not at liberty to divulge "information regarding any private donations," says spokesperson Jennifer Franklin.

"The reason for that is both to honor donors who choose to remain anonymous, and because we want to retain a confidential list of donors so that every non-profit doesn’t go after our donors," Franklin says.

Sounds strikingly similar to explanations provided by SCRUB — a small non-profit run by private citizens, by the way, as opposed to two elected officials.

Regardless of who made the contribution to SCRUB, Stretton insists, he and Tracy are certainly not backing down in their challenges to billboard owners, including Interstate. He says they are gearing up to file two major lawsuits — one against the city for failing to comply with its own regs, and another against railroad companies that lease space to illegal billboards along their tracks.

If DiCicco believes SCRUB should out its financial backers, shouldn’t his own non-profit do the same?

While SCRUB’s "anonymous donor" isn’t problematic, another aspect of the group’s status may be.

All non-profit organizations are legally bound to register with the state Bureau of Charitable Organizations and file 990 tax reports. SCRUB is not registered with the department, however. Stretton says he only handles litigation for the group and referred inquiries to Tracy, who did not return calls.

—Gwen Shaffer