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Perennial Philadelphia mayoral candidate Sam Katz must repay $2.1 million he obtained from three business partners by allegedly fraudulently misrepresenting information about the viability of skating rink development projects.The Delaware Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling in a civil lawsuit over a private business deal that Katz tried to keep from the public during his third failed run for mayor last year.The justices were unmoved by Katz's argument on appeal that the Delaware Chancery Court's summary judgment decision against him blindly accepted the plaintiffs' disputed version of the facts.According to court records, the dispute arose from Katz's effort...

Posted on Tue, Nov. 04, 2003 Incidents mar Election Day By Angela Couloumbis and Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. Inquirer Staff Writers As voting continued throughout the city today, a court injunction and 36 reports of incidents at the polls highlighted the contentious nature of the mayor's race. Mayor Street's campaign officials went to court and obtained an emergency injunction against a Katz supporter who was asking to see voters' identification before they entered the polls. Later this afternoon, Katz's campaign obtained an injunction against an alleged Street campaign worker who was engaging in physical and verbal intimidation, harassment and coercion...

Goons gone wild a tired election actBy Tom Ferrick Jr.Inquirer Columnist When is someone in this town going to stand up to Johnny Dougherty and tell him to stop his guys from thugging up our elections?Time and again, members of Doc's union - Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - have engaged in bully-boy tactics and punch-in-the-mouth politics. It's become their stock in trade.They did it again Monday night in South Philadelphia at a Sam Katz rally at Front Street and Snyder Avenue.When the Republican candidate arrived, he was greeted not only by a handful of supporters,...

Posted on Wed, Oct. 29, 2003 Polls show Street opening a sizable lead over Katz He campaigned in the city with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Sam Katz said polls did not deter him. By Thomas Fitzgerald and Angela Couloumbis Inquirer Staff Writers Mayor Street got a big lift yesterday as two new polls showed him opening a double-digit lead in the last week of his reelection campaign, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson urged audiences to stand up for a mayor who has stood up for the disadvantaged. Street led Republican challenger Sam Katz by 17 points, 54 percent to 37...

BLUE STATERDemocrats in North Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. John Edwards finally backed out of a re-election race that would have taken the back seat to his presidential (or vice presidential) aspirations. His retirement, as it were, opened the door to Erskine Bowles, the former Clinton chief of staff who has already run for the Senate once and lost once to Elizabeth Dole. Bowles was the state Democratic Party’s pick to run for the seat, in part because it believes Bowles has the personal financial wherewithal and the fundraising connections nationally to make it a competitive race...

STREET CITY Just how desperate is the national Democratic Party for a win? Desperate enough to send both DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe and Democratic lightning rod James Carville to Philadelphia to campaign for embattled Philly Mayor John Street. Street, who is in a tough race against moderate Republican Sam Katz, remains ahead in the polls, and Democrats don’t feel he can afford to lose. "If we lost Philadelphia, even in an off-year election, it would be devastating to the party’s psyche," says a DNC fundraiser. "We got beaten up in 2002, McAuliffe is getting hammered for his lack of leadership,...

Posted on Wed, Oct. 22, 2003 Street, Katz trade barbs over ethics By Thomas Fitzgerald Inquirer Staff Writer Mayor Street maintained that a federal investigation into city contracts was an attempt to sabotage his reelection, while Republican Sam Katz called the probe an "exclamation point" on a long-corrupt political system that needs reform, during a televised debate last night dominated by sharp exchanges over ethics. After 25 years in public office, "it was not until the last couple of weeks that anybody raised any question at all about my integrity," Street said. "The fact that there is an investigation does...

If mayoral elections decided winners by which candidate had the highest score in training, knowledge and aptitude, perennial candidate Sam Katz would have long ago gained the office he most covets in the world: mayor of Philadelphia. Republican Katz, who even designed his own urban-studies major at Johns Hopkins University before going on to earn a master’s degree in urban affairs and policy analysis from New School University, says he has been preparing for the job all his life. “It’s the only job I ever wanted,” he said. On Nov. 4, after the polls close, Katz will know if he...

Posted on Sat, Oct. 18, 2003 TRUMPING THE RACE CARD KATZ RIPS STREET OVER CLAIM THAT FEDS ARE PREJUDICED AGAINST HIM By ERIN EINHORN, MARK McDONALD & EARNI YOUNG eeinhorn@phillynews.com SAM KATZ CAME out swinging yesterday, accusing Mayor Street of making a "blatant appeal to race" and "cynically injecting the issue of race into a federal investigation about corruption." As news of buggings and subpoenas dominated the coverage of the mayor's race, Katz had, until yesterday, largely stayed out of it, offering only measured or tepid responses to questions about the ongoing federal probe. But maybe because his poll numbers...

The 2003 election cycle involves more than the recall election in California, although it is difficult to underestimate the importance of that race. Republicans may gain governorships in Kentucky and Mississippi, both of which would provide critical momentum in the South. Elections for several state legislatures offer Republicans opportunities to increase strength in this building block level of political power which has proven so vital in keeping congressional districts and state legislative districts drawn to help Republicans win elections. Several of these states will also be electing secondary statewide officers which will provide a strong class of candidates for governor,...

FBI Raids 3 City Agencies, Street Fund-raiser's Office By Anthony S. Twyman, Nathan Gorenstein and Emilie LounsberryInquirer Staff Writers       Ratcheting up the federal investigation that has engulfed the mayoral election, FBI agents crisscrossed Center City yesterday to search three city agencies and the office of a lawyer who is a top political ally of Mayor Street's and has earned millions from municipal legal work.   The extraordinary raids targeted the city Finance Department, the city treasurer's office, and the city Board of Pensions and Retirement, as well as the law office of Ronald A. White, a major...

Posted on Sun, Oct. 12, 2003 A Campaign in Turmoil By Thomas Fitzgerald Inquirer Staff Writer Mayor Street and Republican challenger Sam Katz have spent nine months testing their messages with polls and focus groups, raising money, shooting television commercials, and making speeches. None of that may matter anymore. The discovery of an FBI bug in the mayor's office last week has inextricably altered a campaign that should be winding up for a carefully scripted finale. Now, nothing seems certain. Both camps are scrambling to make sense of the new landscape even as time rapidly runs out. "There is no...

FBI Steps Up ProbeBy Emilie Lounsberry, Mark Fazlollah and Clea BensonInquirer Staff Writers A wide-ranging federal investigation of alleged corruption in City Hall broke into the open yesterday, as FBI agents seized records from people with political ties to Mayor Street.In several searches across the city, federal agents rushed to preserve possible evidence the day after Philadelphia police found a listening device that the FBI had planted in the ceiling of Street's City Hall office.Yesterday morning, agents raided a small financial firm run by two Street supporters, including one of Philadelphia's most prominent Muslim leaders. Under Street's administration, the firm...

Posted on Fri, Sep. 26, 2003 John Baer | STREET PINNING HOPES ON NUMBERS?BLACKS, DEMS OUTNUMBER WHITES, REPUBLICANSBy John Baerbaerj@phillynews.com MAYBE THERE'S a reason John Street's campaign so often seems in fiery freefall.(Phony letters, alleged firebombs, brother boil ups, alleged gun goons, mayoral meltdowns, etc.)Maybe when Street snarls at AFSCME saying he's gonna win, "with you or without you," he knows whereof he speaks.And maybe the reason this unlikeable pol down in the polls runs and rants the way he does is simply fact he knows...ta da!...da numbas!In other words, maybe the maybes are all in the math.A close...

Police and the Philadelphia fire marshal are investigating an incident in which an incendiary device -- or "Molotov cocktail" -- was thrown through a window of a North Philadelphia campaign office of Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz. But the investigation may be hampered, since the bottle was discarded by a campaign volunteer, who didn't realize what it was. The device came through the front window sometime overnight, after a heated argument between the building's owner, Louis Harris, and a companion of Mayor Street's son Sharif -- later identified by a neighbor as Joey Temple. A spokesman for the Fire Department...

Mayoral candidates take gloves off earlyBy Thomas FitzgeraldInquirer Staff Writer Sam Katz unveiled a sober proposal to crack down on "pinstripe patronage" yesterday - but a few words at the end of his press conference ignited the kind of rhetorical warfare not usually seen until just before an election.Mayor Street's campaign is "out of control," Katz said, responding to questions about tactics. "They're engaged in character assassination. I'd urge the campaign to get out of the gutter."For good measure, Katz said it was not surprising that Street's campaign press secretary had come under fire for attack letters his wife wrote...

Milton Street lands contractIt's worth $1.2 million a year for maintenance at the airport. He won't be financially liable.By Nathan GorensteinInquirer Staff Writer Mayor Street's brother, T. Milton Street Sr., has been given a contract worth more than $1 million a year for equipment maintenance at Philadelphia International Airport.He also has been given a trained staff to perform the work. And he won't be held financially responsible for the work or how it gets done day by day.That was the agreement reached between the city managers of the airport and a private firm, Philadelphia Airport Services, that hired Milton Street...

Republican challenger Sam Katz has made a race of the fund-raising battle for City Hall, as campaign-finance reports filed yesterday show that he and Mayor Street both have more than $3 million available to spend on the coming campaign. While Street is about $224,000 ahead in cash on hand, Katz outraised Street in the first five months of the year, pulling in more than $4 million to Street's roughly $2.5 million. "I think we're doing a better job of raising money," Katz said in an interview yesterday. "I'm gratified by the extensive support that's materialized both in money, in volunteers...

PHILADELPHIA - Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz kicked off his campaign Thursday as the man who narrowly defeated him four years ago, incumbent Democrat John F. Street, marked the one-year anniversary of a program to shut down open-air drug markets. Katz, speaking to about 100 supporters outside a South Philadelphia restaurant, said the city had lost "momentum" and was having continued population loss, business woes and problems with its schools. "I am running to end the cronyism, the cynicism and the secrecy inside City Hall," Katz told the crowd. He accused Street of practicing "the politics of division and confrontation"...

PHILADELPHIA - Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz kicked off his campaign Thursday as the man who narrowly defeated him four years ago, incumbent Democrat John F. Street, marked the one-year anniversary of a program to shut down open-air drug markets. Katz, speaking to about 100 supporters outside a South Philadelphia restaurant, said the city had lost "momentum" and was having continued population loss, business woes and problems with its schools. "I am running to end the cronyism, the cynicism and the secrecy inside City Hall," Katz told the crowd. He accused Street of practicing "the politics of division and confrontation"...