Some local officials are questioning the Street administration’s decision to strike a deal with a politically connected newspaper, the Public Record, to promote events planned around the 100th anniversary of City Hall. Critics contend it was inappropriate to spend taxpayer money to support a publication run by a political ally of the mayor and then tell City Council members to distribute thousands of copies each.

Last month, the Public Record published a 36-page supplement commemorating a century of civic life in the venerable City Hall building. "Brought to you by the City of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Public Record," reads the front-page headline.

Jimmy Tayoun is the publisher of the weekly paper, which has a circulation of about 35,000. Color photos of Street regularly grace its cover, along with headlines such as "Police Traffic Unit Honored" and "Sheriff to Host Breakfast."

Tayoun hustled votes for the mayor during his 1999 campaign. He and Street also served on City Council together from 1988 until 1991, when Tayoun pleaded guilty to corruption and tax evasion. (He served 40 months in Federal prison).

Tayoun says the City Hall supplement was his idea. He approached the city back in November and suggested "they should come up with something" to commemorate the 100th anniversary of City Hall.

"It’s such a great historical thing," Tayoun says. "They asked me if I’d put it together."

So he worked out a deal with Deputy City Representative Bonnie Grant. The supplement was paid for with advertising sold by the Record, and while Grant provided stacks of background information, newspaper employees wrote the copy. This "special keepsake edition" features stories on the history of City Hall, photographs taken over the past century and interviews with people who work in the building.

Tayoun printed 50,000 copies of the supplement for regular circulation — significantly more than he does for a typical issue — plus the city paid for a 125,000 overrun, he says. Most of those papers were to be dropped at dozens of city buildings, such as the Criminal Justice Center and department offices.

On May 29, Grant sent a memo to all 17 Council members letting them know about the supplement. "We ask that each member of City Council accept 2,500 copies for your distribution to constituents. The copies will be arriving sometime after May 31," she wrote.

"We’re in the business of legislating city policies, not distributing newspapers," says Councilman James Kenney, who sent a thick bundle of the papers out of his office.

One of his colleagues, who asked not to be named, also questions whether it is appropriate for the city to publish a joint issue with the mayor’s friend. "I never saw the memo, so when that big stack of papers arrived from the Public Record, it really caused me to raise my eyebrows."

Local building trades unions, who are among the mayor’s strongest supporters, placed pages of advertisements in the supplement. Greetings from the sprinkler fitters, steam fitters, electricians, operating engineers, laborers and masons are scattered throughout its pages. The centerfold is a two-page salute to City Hall, "compliments of Lana Felton-Ghee Associates, Inc." Felton-Ghee served as Street’s campaign manager in 1999. The supplement also contains a handful of ads from Street colleagues, such as Councilwomen Joan Krajewski and Jannie Blackwell.

Grant says she collaborated with the Record because it was the only affordable option, not because of any political allegiance.

"I would have preferred a major-circulation paper like the Inquirer or Daily News, but I didn’t have the budget," she says.

And as for pushing 2,500 copies of the supplement on every City Hall office, Grant says she didn’t realize anyone would object. "I thought they could take the issue with them to functions and to their constituents."

It is worth noting that taxpayer money helps subsidize Tayoun’s paper on a weekly basis, not just when it comes to celebrating City Hall’s anniversary.

The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter requires the city to advertise public hearings "at least once in two newspapers of general circulation." These notices — along with city-paid requests for bids on contracts — regularly run in the Inquirer and Daily News, as well as papers geared toward a specific demographic, such as Al Dia.

But these legal ads also run in the Record, even though the city is not obligated to place them in a paper with such a limited audience.

In the June 7 issue of the Record, the city bought legal ads totaling about a page and a quarter (two public hearing notices, two requests for contract proposals and a notice of reading of sealed bids). It is impossible to estimate how much the city paid for the ads since the Record offers discounts for frequent advertisers and only one ad size actually matches the newspaper’s published rates. According to that rate sheet, full page ads cost up to $1,000 and half-page ads can run as high as $540.

City Procurement Commissioner Lou Applebaum, who oversees legal notices, did not return repeated calls for comment.