Also this issue:

Paki-Slammed
The feds' July 3 predawn raid in South Philly has the local Pakistani community crying foul.
-Daniel Brook

Play Missy for Me
A 14-year-old fur ball was the cat's meow in one North Philly neighborhood. Then she was killed by a pit bull.
-Deborah Bolling

Over the Rainbow
Can an African-American woman represent the needs of black-and-white Grays Ferry?
-Jenn Carbin

Sins of the Fathers
Life has been tough for a couple of sons of bosses.
-Brendan McGarvey

Remembering Buddy
-Mary F. Patel

July 12-18, 2002

guvwatch

Fisher Swims Free for Now

by Daryl Gale

Three weeks ago, GuvWatch brought you the summertime story of Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Mike Fisher, who was to testify in court this month in the case of the “Bastard Squad,” an elite investigative unit of narcotics officers in the Attorney General’s Office. The officers claim that they uncovered a conspiracy to raise money for a political party in the Dominican Republic by selling drugs on the streets of Philadelphia, New York and Worcester, Mass. For their crime-busting efforts, the officers say, they were treated abominably by their supervisors in the A.G.’s office, demoted and publicly humiliated.

They responded by suing the office, with Fisher named as a defendant. With a trial date set for July 22, Fisher would have had to use precious time and resources defending his office and answering charges of corruption in the middle of the biggest political race of his life.

All that changed last week when the judge allowed a defense motion to delay the trial until Jan. 5, 2003. A January court date ensures that Fisher won't take the stand until a couple of weeks before the inauguration of the next governor, and long after the November election.

But rather than winning a temporary victory, the attorney general made a serious tactical error, politically speaking, says Bastard Squad attorney Don Bailey.

Bailey is a politically astute Harrisburg lawyer who's also a successful former politician himself, having served as state auditor general from 1985 to 1989, after two terms as a U.S. congressman.

"They made a mistake by delaying the court date until after the election," Bailey says. "I understand the political strategy involved; I just think it's a result of faulty reasoning. I spent a good many years in politics, and if it were me, I'd much rather have this thing in July. That way I could get it out there, explain my position and move on. To have it hanging over my head the entire campaign season is much, much worse."

Bailey says that July would have worked out better for Fisher, since most people are on vacation, down at the Shore or just plain not paying attention to the news in the middle of summer. Bailey says Fisher would have had plenty of time and plenty of ink and free air time to make his case to the voting public, instead of letting his opponent use the court date to hammer him through the fall.

Fisher spokesperson Kevin Harley won't comment on the political strategy or the specifics of the pending litigation, but he says the A.G. will carry out his double duties as candidate and state official with equal zeal, no matter what obstacles lie ahead.

"Obviously, the fact that Mike Fisher was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Office of Attorney General in 2000 is a clear indication that Pennsylvanians trust him to do the job and that he takes his job very seriously," Harley says. "He will fulfill his duties as attorney general, upholding the law and maintaining the highest ethical standards."

The opposition camp won't comment on whether the Bastard Squad will become a campaign issue, but a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell says they want Fisher to come clean.

"We would hope that the attorney general won't allow questions to linger past the election," says Dan Fee, "and we hope he would fully cooperate with any inquiries into this issue."

Speaking of annoying lawsuits in campaign season, Rendell has a thorn in his own side with the case of Don Adams, the anti-Clinton protester who, along with his sister, was roughed up by Teamsters at a Center City rally for the former president four years ago. Adams has sued not only the Teamsters, but also District Attorney Lynne Abraham for not throwing the union hooligans in jail, and Rendell for inviting the Teamsters to the rally in the first place. Adams' lawyers deposed Rendell in a contentious session early last month, and Adams showed City Paper the videotape June 26. On the tape, Rendell gets angry with Adams' attorney for asking what he considered irrelevant questions, and he threatens to walk out on the deposition after further needling. Adams also contends that during a break, when the cameras were off, Rendell lunged at him and had to be restrained by his attorney, an assertion vigorously denied by Fee.

"We're sorry for what happened to Adams at that rally, but it is simply false that Ed went after him at the deposition. It is simply false," Fee says angrily. As of yet, no trial date has been set for Adams vs. Teamsters, et al., but bet the farm that we haven't heard the last of this one either. Stay tuned.

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January 16, 2003
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