SchmidtyLeaks

Man Overboard! isn't the only one getting the ol' echo effect.

by Isaiah Thompson

When is a city worker not a city worker? When he or she isn't doing the city's work! Right? Anyone out there? Hello ello ello ello?

Man Overboard! isn't the only one getting the ol' echo effect. Last Friday, local Republican insurgent and former candidate for city controller Al Schmidt announced his newest aspiration: a bid to become one of three city commissioners, a group that oversees elections. But that wasn't all of Schmidt's news. Along with his candidacy, the would-be pol announced the results of two years' worth of Right-to-Know requests which, he said, revealed public officials, and lots of them — Council members, state reps, the BRT, PPA, lottery — using their taxpayer-funded offices and equipment for political work.

The evidence comes in the form of pages and pages of requests to the city commissioners to certify poll watchers at polling places. A meat-and-potatoes part of the political machine, poll watchers keep an eye on malfeasance, yes, but also on the voter log of who showed up to vote, and who didn't. Requesting they be certified is a normal part of any election.

What caught Schmidt's eye, though, is that a lot of the requests came directly from public workplaces, on public fax machines, and via public e-mail. Schmidt calls this activity illegal, but it's not so simple: The Harrisburg "Bonusgate" scandal, which ended in a scad of indictments, involved state legislators running a massive campaign office within the state capitol, paid for by taxpayers and powered by the labor of state employees — a no-no on a grand scale. The political activity Schmidt's unearthed so far doesn't seem to rise to anything close but may, in some cases, run afoul of state and city ethics guidelines governing political activities and use of public property for personal use.

Not that you'll see anyone bragging about it: On the contrary, everyone implicated so far seems to be squirming out of the spotlight.

With the kind of collective "Uh..." of being caught playing solitaire at work, implicated officials began blaming inferiors: The chief of staff for Congressman Bob Brady put several faxed requests on "an employee who was not aware that doing so was a violation," according to the Inquirer. Likewise Vince Fenerty, head of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, cited an employee who has been gone for 18 months. The office of Council President Anna Verna, to which Schmidt traces several faxes, denied having sent them, noting that a fax machine sits in the public reception area. The Office of the Governor, meanwhile, via spokesman Gary Tuma, declined to comment until the documents could be authenticated. Had they come up with a fuller response four days later? "No," said Tuma.

Maybe they're all hoping this one will just go away, and maybe it will: There's nothing particularly Machiavellian in this alleged mixing of public work and private politics. On the contrary, it all seems quite run-of-the-mill. Which is Schmidt's point, and it's not a bad one.

Isaiah Thompson doesn't even know how to use a fax machine. E-mail him at isaiah.thompson@citypaper.net.