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Trial will offer peek at pay-to-play politics in Philadelphia

[The Associated Press by David B. Caruso] With a little help from the FBI, a federal jury will get a rare chance this week to eavesdrop on an unseemly side of politics in this famously corrupt city.

Jury selection [was] to begin [last] Tuesday in the trial of a former financial services executive indicted after FBI wiretaps allegedly recorded municipal officials, lawyers and businesspeople talking about using cash, favors and gifts to influence millions of dollars in government contracts.

in the region, he complained. White countered by explaining that Carlson had given heavily to Democrats in the past, and had only recently joined Janney. Burrell wasnt immediately convinced. All I know, hes at Janney Montgomery

and outright payments. Firms that regularly took Kemp out for dinner, hired White as a consultant, gave the men tickets to sporting events or contributed money to the mayors re-election campaign were favored, and those who didnt were shut out, prosecutors claim. White died in November while he was under indictment. Kemp is scheduled to go on trial next month, along with two executives from Commerce Bank. Two former executives at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. were scheduled to be tried along with Carlson, but decided instead to plead guilty. They were accused of trying to curry the administrations favor by arranging to pay White $50,000 for work he never performed. Other defendants, indicted separately, include a city council aide, a Muslim leader and a mayoral aide accused of rigging a city debt collection contract.

Denis Carlson, formerly a senior vice president at Janney Montgomery Scott, is charged with lying to federal agents about his attempts to drum up more business for his firm in the city. The charges are among the more minor filed in the sweeping federal probe of alleged corruption in city government, but the trial will feature the first public airing of FBI recordings made during the investigation.

Scott, and he cant give us any money, and Janney doesnt give, Burrell said. They dont even arrange for us to get money. The probe of city government was first made public in 2003, when police discovered an FBI bug inside Streets office. Street has denied any wrongdoing and has not been among those indicted. The mayor has acknowledged repeatedly

Prosecutors plan to play dozens of excerpts from telephone conversations between city bureaucrats and Ronald A. White, a top political fund-raiser for Mayor John F. Street, who seemed to have extraordinary influence over which companies got city contracts.

that political allegiances and campaign giving play a role in whom the city chooses to hire. But he has insisted no one is hired to perform work that isnt necessary, and no company gets work that is not qualified. Street may be asked to make that explana-

In one recording, White can be heard arguing with Street aide George Burrell about whether Janney Montgomery Scott should get a potentially lucrative job working on an upcoming city financial transaction. The company was then known in political circles as a donor to Republicans, not Democrats like Street, and Burrell said he couldnt swallow hiring them. They get every Republican deal thats done

tion again at the trial. Carlsons attorney subpoenaed the mayor to appear as a defense witness, and Street said last week that he is willing to testify and answer any questions that are asked of him. The broader focus of the FBIs case are allegations that White and the citys treasurer, Corey Kemp, conspired to create a corrupt system in which companies were selected for various city jobs based on a system of favors

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