Milton Street looks for a lawyer to rescue deal (brotherly love?)

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 6/18/03 | Thomas Fitzgerald

[randita]

Posted on Wed, Jun. 18, 2003

Milton Street looks for a lawyer to rescue deal

By Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Staff Writer

MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Inquirer

Milton Street, at his office in Delaware County, believes his brother will go to court to stop his deal to be a contractor with the airport. He argues that it is not improper nor any of the mayor's business.

In a white-stucco office building in Essington, the computers were booted up yesterday morning, the bare walls shone under fluorescent lights, and the empty bins in the garage awaited spare parts for airport baggage carousels.

Milton Street was ready for business.

But instead of taking over the maintenance of equipment at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday as planned, Street was on the phone scrambling to find a lawyer to represent him in what he considers an inevitable court battle against his brother, the mayor of Philadelphia.

Milton Street's new company, Notlim Services Management, was given a $1.2 million contract for the upkeep of baggage conveyors, passenger-boarding bridges, and buses at the city-owned airport. Mayor Street, embroiled in a reelection campaign, asked him to withdraw from the contract because it created an appearance of nepotism.

"What right does the mayor have to use his power to interfere with commerce?" Milton Street said. "He is not stating any wrongdoing; he's saying it doesn't look right. So, you mean the mayor of a major city can void contracts because they don't 'look right' or can void contracts because [they] may have a negative effect on his reelection campaign?... You can't give anybody that kind of raw power."

After first agreeing to drop out, Milton Street changed his mind. On Monday, he vowed to fight to keep the no-bid contract. And the mayor responded by asking city lawyers to cancel the award if possible, saying it would still look suspect to many people.

In an interview yesterday that ranged over the controversy, his colorful political career, and the relationship between brothers, Milton Street said he loved his brother and didn't want to hurt him politically. At the same time, he said, he was not going to give up the business opportunity of a lifetime when he has done nothing wrong.

Since Notlim ("Milton" spelled backwards) actually was awarded a subcontract by Philadelphia Airport Services, the city's prime maintenance contractor, the government has no say over the arrangement, Milton Street said.

"I don't think I'm on quicksand here," Milton Street, 62, said. "Matter of fact, I'm standing on a legal rock... . This is a private contract. The city didn't give me this."

The conflict with the mayor is just the latest episode in Milton Street's colorful public life. He started as a hot dog vendor and activist, seizing abandoned houses for the people in the 1970s. He was later elected to the state House and Senate, where he switched parties to Republican to give himself greater political leverage and once encamped on the state Capitol lawn to protest the state's treatment of the poor.

"Milton is Milton - no one controls him," the mayor said Monday.

Milton Street said he was looking for a lawyer in Pittsburgh because, in his view, too many corporate law firms in Philadelphia depend on the city for contracts. If the city seeks to void his contract, he will seek an emergency injunction in court the next day, he said.

Barbara Grant, spokeswoman for the mayor, said late yesterday that the city's legal department was still reviewing the contract and had not yet come to a decision about whether it could be voided.

Milton Street said he hoped that once his fledgling company is established, he could expand to similar work at other airports across the country.

He said he did not think the situation through when he agreed to Mayor Street's June 6 request to drop the contract, but he has since realized it doesn't make sense.

"This business could have a lifespan of 20, 25, 30 years," Milton Street said. "The mayor can be reelected for only four years. So what profiteth me to give up my business for my brother to be mayor for four years?"

He said he is carrying $25,000 to $30,000 in monthly fixed costs, mostly for general liability insurance, auto insurance, and workers' compensation insurance for the 14 employees he will hire when his firm starts work. Philadelphia Airport Services will lay off the workers, and they will then be offered jobs with Notlim, Milton Street said. "I hope most will come work with us," he said.

Milton Street said that he and his brother had not spoken in detail about his new business, but he said the mayor looked "distraught" in news conferences opposing the contract.

"We have differences - we're just both our own men - and unfortunately, it happens in public," Milton Street said. "We're close, but we're independent. This will not interfere with me going to his house for dinner and with him coming to my house for a picnic... . We've been in politics too long to get angry about this stuff."

In Milton Street's office, in addition to fresh fruit, there is a titanium bicycle. Something the brothers have in common is a commitment to staying fit.

Despite having multiple sclerosis, Milton Street is an avid rider, peeling off 50 miles or more at a time. "My leg goes numb sometimes, and I just ride through the pain," Milton Street said.

This weekend, he is scheduled to take part in a 70-mile charity ride in New Jersey to raise money for lupus research.

"I have fun in everything that I do," Milton Street said. "When the fun leaves, it's like your life left you. It's like your breath is out. I haven't found too much I can't laugh through."

Even his current predicament is fun, Milton Street said.

"You can find fun in everything. Matching wits with the mayor is interesting, it's challenging - he's a smart guy, he's clever, he's witty... . I'm just looser than he is."

Contact staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.