Politico Leaking PA Judge’s Private Emails Also Has No-Bid Contract from Sheriff’s Office

If there is one person who is an example of why the Sheriff’s Office needs radical reform, it is Ken Smukler.

Smukler [Flickr]

Today the Inquirer has published a story involving Ken Smukler, a political consultant.

Smukler somehow got hold of [non-pornographic] private internal e-mails of Northumberland County Common Pleas Judge Barry Feudale.  District Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who is facing criminal charges, had released these e-mails which were between Feudale and two reporters for the Inquirer.  It turns out that the Attorney General likely got a hold of these emails through illicit means.

These e-mails were then pitched by Smukler to the media.

But because Kathleen Kane has hired Smukler to do damage control for her, and none of the e-mails were ever sent or received through state computers, the Inquirer now wonders how Kathleen Kane got a hold of them as well as Smukler.

Smukler is a who’s-who of political operatives.  He’s often in the employ of prominent local and state politicians.  He’s handled communications for Congressman Bob Brady.  Smukler also runs a small network of free newspapers in Philadelphia under his company, Liberty City Media.

Smukler came to my attention when I was investigating the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office.  With the help of my lawyer and the PA Right-to-know law I had forced the Sheriff’s Office to release an invoice and a canceled check to show how much money runs through Smukler.   It’s significant:

The check paying for invoice (above)

Liberty City Press is run by Ken Smukler.

This check reflects a single invoice for just one half of one month of Sheriff Sale advertising in Smukler’s papers.   The ads are all published in papers where nobody reads the ads, and Smukler sits as a middleman collecting from the contracts.  My conservative estimate in 2013 was that Liberty City Press alone is billing the Sheriff’s Office well over two million dollars, possibly three million.

Today that figure might be even higher.

One of the reasons the Sheriff’s Office can be easily reformed is because of this kind of fruitless spending.  It can easily be reappropriated to more worthwhile activities such as paying for the equipment and software to do transparency and to fund a unit to triage foreclosure writs as they come in to divert homeowners in foreclosure to outreach and support and to boost the efficiency of the Office.

Do we really need to keep paying Ken Smukler money off the backs of poor people who get their homes foreclosed on so that way he can continue to run his other business; doing damage control for crappy politicians?

I don’t think so.

By pressing button 225 in next Tuesday’s election (November 3), you will get Ken Smukler’s crony contracts terminated.

Click here to find your polling place.

Reducing Gun Violence Begins and Ends at One Place: Sentencing

This is a picture some of you might be familiar with.   On the left is Rafael Jones.   On the right is P/O Moses Walker, deceased.

Rafael Jones murdered Officer Walker.

This table is Rafael Jones’ rap sheet.  Each line is a criminal case in the courts in Philadelphia County.  Jones began his criminal career in 2007 leading up to Walker’s murder in 2012.

This is the first case Jones was ever charged with:  aggravated assault.   This is typical of charges involving fights and shootings.  Jones received his first gun charge, carrying a firearm without a license in Philadelphia.

A month later, Jones was apprehended again for possessing marijuana, and he was found with a gun on him yet again.   This time an additional charge was added (§ 6105 Person Not to Possess/Use Firearms) since he was already facing a felony (aggravated assault is a first or second degree felony in PA).

Rafael Jones plead guilty to all this and was assigned time and parole.   He then violated probation.

Rafael Jones was specifically ordered by the judge to surrender his firearms.   While on parole…

This is the third time Rafael Jones is carrying a firearm illegally and this time it’s even more serious: robbery.

Then finally…

The murder of P/O Moses Walker.

Other than the murder of Officer Walker, the rest of Jones’ rap sheet is not an unusual pattern in Philadelphia.   We have specific gun laws.  People violate them routinely, yet gun violence is a problem here.

One thing this pattern does reveal time and time again is that gun charges are not taken seriously by our courts.   This progression of Rafael Jones’s criminal history is actually better in some ways than most gun offenders; the gun charges were not dropped from most of Jones’s cases like they happen for others.

At the time Officer Walker was killed, a lot of blame was placed on Rafael Jones not having a probation ankle monitoring bracelet on him, allowing him to travel anywhere in the city undetected.

But whether he had a monitoring bracelet or not, Rafael Jones ignored court orders and police instruction to not have a firearm on him at any time.  He was sentenced multiple times for violating firearms laws.  This did not work.  This led to a death of a Philadelphia Police Officer.

If we are to take gun violence seriously, we need to address this core issue—sentencing of repeat gun offenders.

If we do not do this, then we are being hypocritical to our own safety.

Sheriff Candidate Christopher Sawyer Receives Endorsement from Firearms Owners Against Crime

I am very pleased this morning to announce that Firearms Owners Against Crime, one of the several pro-Second Amendment organizations in Pennsylvania has recommended me as a candidate for Sheriff of Philadelphia County.

I am a unique choice in many ways. The first one that boggles the mind is that I am one of the few gun-rights supporters who have participated with CeaseFirePA, specifically their CourtWatch program. While I do not agree with the rhetoric that comes from anti-gun groups, the CFPA CourtWatch gathered people who live close to places where violence has occurred and puts those people directly in the courtroom during a perp’s sentencing for repeatedly violating the Uniform Firearms Act; a violation also known as a “VUFA” in law-enforcement lingo. When a repeat-VUFA offender is being sentenced, the public sitting in the gallery gets an opportunity to deliver impact statements to the judge before the sentencing is issued. I witnessed with my own eyes how some judges, like Common Pleas Judge Rayford Means, routinely issues inexplicably light sentences to violent offenders who have repeatedly been charged with violating the Uniform Firearms Act. This judge is literally killing people with his actions.

One area where gun control supporters and opponents agree is that existing firearms law violations are not being sentenced in a manner that sends a consistent message; that violating our existing firearms law is not taken seriously. I live in a region where urban violent crime had traditionally occurred at a higher rate than elsewhere in Pennsylvania and I have witnessed how district attorneys and the Court of Common Pleas in the First Judicial District handle VUFA charges.

Where the groups differ is that gun-control advocates believe a tsunami of more gun control laws is the answer to reducing gun violence with no evidence to back it up, then they direct vitriol against legal firearms owners with both sides talking past one another. Legal gun owners such as myself would prefer to see reforms in the criminal justice system to directly address sentencing of repeat firearms violators and measure the effectiveness of sentencing reform before any discussion of burdening legal firearms owners should be proffered.

I have also worked to dispel misinformation about self-defense options that emanates from Philadelphia politicians, anti-gun supporters and even the Philadelphia Police Department. I have tried to be a voice of reason in such a long-contested and heated issue.

Philadelphia is unique in that the carry permit system is unusually obtuse in this county and denials of LTCF applications are heard by the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections, which has had a scandalous reputation as building inspection and permit issuing agency, plus its staff who sit on the gun permit board are not qualified to hear justice appeals nor does it publish meaningful statistics about its denial and reversal rate. All permit applicants in Philadelphia who are initially denied have no choice but to spend money hiring an attorney as an open court hearing is the only way to put the process back into a forum which has a little more objectivity. As Sheriff, I would advocate to Harrisburg legislators to once-again pass legislation that will remove the geographic restrictions placed on Pennsylvanians on where they can apply for an LTCF permit [which is a Commonwealth permit, not a local permit], either to coadjacent counties or to all county Sheriffs offices in the land.

As a firearms owner for 20 years and with 30 years of firearms experience, I know the pros and cons of firearms ownership. It is a useful tool for defense of one’s person and one’s home. No other tool can rapidly reverse a dangerous situation into a survivable outcome like a firearm can. I have responsibly encouraged and trained others in the use of firearms and have brought new people into the gun-owning community. I will continue to advocate positive messages about legal firearms ownership as Sheriff and I will serve as a counter-voice to those with an agenda determined to broadbrush all legal firearms owners as maniacal lunatics who deserve to have their rights embodied in the Constitution taken away from them.

For LGBT people such as me, firearms and defensive sprays are about the only tools available to protect ourselves from violent attacks. Even in Philadelphia, even in the most richest areas of Pennsylvania, gay and lesbians are still targeted with violence. Escape is not always an option that is available. Law enforcement takes time to get to you. A violent encounter can start and be over with in minutes. A week ago we just had a transwoman killed in our city. She might have stood a chance had she been armed with a defensive spray or with a firearm and knew how to use them. All the lawmaking in the world will not bring her back. Hate crime legislation will not make her un-dead. She had no chance to defend herself from multiple men, one who has been caught has a rap sheet that will empty the toner in your laser printer.

Three weeks ago my campaign treasurer heard gunfire outside his home, only to rush outside and discover his neighbor, a longtime friend and who had bought a run down house to renovate it, someone who had boosted his local neighborhood and was a very charitable man had been robbed and then shot. Adam held his neighbor while EMT arrived, dying in his arms.

Gun violence is very real and it is horrific. But common sense tells me that antagonizing legal firearms owners while willfully ignoring those who repeatedly violate existing firearms laws is tragic and it results in more deaths. I have seen those deaths up close, far beyond what most of you are comfortable with.

We need less violence and to have less of it we need smarter ways of approaching this problem than blasé attitudes and politically-charged talking points filled with malapropisms. The criminal justice system in Pennsylvania is in desperate need of change and it is a place that his highly resistant to change and this is the place where we can do the most about violent gun crime.

I am honored that FOAC has considered me as their recommended candidate for the Philadelphia Sheriff. I would be humbled if you could support me as Sheriff so I can use my position to advocate where the public should focus its attention.

My Statement on The Plea Arrangement of Two Of The Center City Gay Attackers

Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams

A while back I had posted on Philadelinquency the full names and home addresses of the three accused (now two pleading guilty) of a brutal aggravated assault at 16th and Chancellor Street in Center City.

Some bloviators in Philadelphia were determined to make a mockery of my outing of their identities.

I got a lot of negative feedback from a LOT of people over it. In a gesture of dark humorous goodwill I sent a delicious and quite expensive ($70!) fruitcake to the family of Katheryn Knott as a token of my sympathy for the scrutiny she must be facing with a public outraged by her behavior and her clear evidence on social media of blasé attitudes towards gays and lesbians.

People were more upset over me ordering an Internet confection than they were with one of the two assaulted men being sent to hospital and having his jaw wired shut for a month.

Critics were quick to point out that guilt/innocence wasn’t settled with these three and that “outing” them was premature and would incite violence.  But that claim is said after the commission of every single crime to the point of being a cliché.

To date, the lives of Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams have never been remotely threatened, much less have they spent any significant span of time in jail. A decade from now after this incident has long faded from the public mind, these three will have a computer record haunting them around and might encounter some difficulty finding an employer who is bad at Google.

I do know directly from several friends of some of these three families that they were absolutely terrified that I had posted their addresses on Philadelinquency, which I obtained from the Philadelphia Police crime blotter and Bucks County tax records and is public information.  It literally took two minutes to locate the handsome suburban properties all three perpetrators live in, all owned by their parents.

At least for a brief tiny little moment the critics who were upset with me and were happy to embrace these bigots’ actions were afraid.

They should be.

I had sent out confection fruitcakes because I knew in advance that there wouldn’t really be any possible justice here and receiving a fruitcake addressed from me would at least signify one thing:  “LGBT people are paying attention to your actions, and we don’t like them”.

If you are attacked as a LGBT person in Philadelphia you really only have two options: flee or defend yourself. Your attackers may only see long prison sentences if you die. If you survive, your attacker(s) are likely going to see sentencing outcomes like this one is sure to turn out. If you defend yourself with whatever means necessary you might face redistributive prosecution, but at least you will be alive. It’s better to be alive and swirling through the criminal courts than to be dead.

This is why I prefer to be armed. The deaths that have occurred and from a beating I witnessed has cemented my view that defense is a primary option for me when faced with bodily injury or death because of who I am. I am not alone in this view. There are many other LGBT individuals who have resigned, most of them reluctantly, to this conclusion.

I will not be beaten and left for dead with the last words I ever hear being gay slurs hurled at me. Where I cannot carry a gun I carry chemicals. Where I cannot carry either, I limit my time on the street. Violent bigots are just one additional threat on top of another heap of people who are willing to assault and murder for such little gain that active defense is still necessary.

Matthew Shepard had to become a martyr for our society to recognize that attacking LGBT people solely because of who they are is morally reprehensible. We do not need any more martyrs. What we need is less tolerance of this really foul behavior.

The incredulity I witnessed from people stretching their spineless backs trying to justify and dismiss the attack on Chancellor Street is a sure sign that society is still broken and LGBT people still live in danger which can come at any time. Even if we manage to secure hate crime laws, which there is opposition in Harrisburg, it won’t stop the attacks although it may improve the chance that some method of tangible punishment arises.

For now, only self-defense options might stem them, including a gun.

This incident has shown that where you are located in Philadelphia has no bearing on when or where you’ll face bigoted violence.  For that reason I fully-embrace the legal carrying of firearms and defensive sprays.    Nearly all of our firearms ranges and stores in Philadelphia and in the suburbs are LGBT-friendly.  I am a member at several of them.

Facing Foreclosure? WATCH OUT – The Sheriff’s Office Can Steal Your Money

There is something much worse that can happen to you than losing your home to foreclosure.   It’s stolen escheat money.

Escheat is money that is left over after an auction after all other known creditors have been paid off.   This typically happens when someone forecloses on a house that’s worth a lot more than the debt that is owed.    In Philadelphia it’s generally working class former-homeowners that this applies to.

In a forensic audit done of the Sheriff’s Office it was discovered that the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office has made off with at least $14,000,000 in escheat money that is owed to former Philadelphia homeowners who have had their homes taken from them.  The current Sheriff has failed to make any public accounting of these funds or how it has gone about settling claims with former homeowners.

Antonio Gonzalez once owned a property on N Front Street.  The property owed $10,000 in municipal debts to the City and sold at Sheriff Sale for $34,500 according to a complaint filed by Mr. Gonzalez.  The Sheriff responded in court in a filing saying that it was immune from lawsuits.  After Gonzalez began preparing an amended complaint, the Sheriff quietly settled with Mr. Gonzalez.

Most former property owners are not so lucky.   For amounts the Sheriff owes to people that are less than $9,000, the legal costs involved in fighting to get your money returned to you can eat up most of that amount.

Escheat is part of the equity that was left in your home.  The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office feels no remorse in stealing it, which it continues to do.

Greater transparency can prevent this crime from occurring, and that includes exposing the property ledgers for every property that enters and exits the Real Estate Unit of the Sheriff’s Office.  Because the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office operates in the dark it is not possible for many disadvantaged people to get restitution.  Only transparency and issuing certificates of disbursement can this practice be stopped.

If we don’t do this we are just beating down people who have already been put down.   This is wrong.  It has to end.

I will end it.

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The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office Could Not Give Two Sh*ts If You Want To Walk on the Sidewalk

As seen today at Broad and Sansom by CityPaper columnist Josh Kruger…

For all the years I used to live around the corner from here, this was one of my irritations.  Especially if I was driving South on Broad Street and needed to turn left to get into the Kinney garage where I used to park my car many years ago.

Notice that there is no Sheriff’s Office insignia or domelights or stripes on any of these personal vehicles.

One of the many reforms that I want to make as Sheriff is to see this come to a permanent end.  Center City has parking garages and Sheriff’s Office employees should be using them, not the sidewalks and medians.  Moreover, there is no real reason to keep the main office in Center City as it’s in an expensive building and there are many other areas of Philly where it can go.

Today is the last day to register to vote in the November 3rd election and I encourage you to Register to Vote today.  You can do it online, here.

My Pretty Block

I live in Kensington, a neighborhood which has been through a downfall and much of it has undergone renewal.   My particular block was never “gentrified” as it’s always been a good block and longtime residents comprise the bulk of my block.  There are many other good blocks scattered about Kensington which survived the decline from 1970, the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and early 90s and the many tragic fires and building collapses of the 2000s.  Other blocks which have declined have been rehabilitated.

Kensington is the most diverse area of Philadelphia by race, by national origin and by income.   We have doctors and lawyers living in Kensington as well as the unemployed and everything in between.   We have black, white, Asian and Hispanic residents.  We are still one of the most affordable areas of Philadelphia to live in, and we are among the best transit-connected neighborhoods.

I live on one block out of many hundreds. Timothy Benston, my neighbor, took these photos of our fronts.   Most of the residents on my block have lived here for generations and we also have some new neighbors.  Between all of us, nearly 50 houses in all, are about 30 children on our block alone.

Nearly every story about Kensington focuses on its decline or crime and the drug epidemic.  I want to show you that Kensington is many things, and one of them is that there are many great blocks with good neighbors who look out for each other, who get together to take care of their properties and who keep our blocks nice and clean.

This is where I live, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the city.