February 8, 2009

Dear Friends:

In all my years in public life, I have never seen a politician appear to incriminate himself at somebody else's trial.

But that is exactly what Commissioner Bruce Castor did two weeks ago when he testified for the defense at the criminal trial of former Senator Vince Fumo.

The good news is that Castor's astounding admissions have opened the door to the most significant reforms of our county Ethics Code since I helped establish the code 15 years ago.

Under a withering cross examination by the federal prosecutor, Commissioner Castor admitted under oath that when he was DA and running for Attorney General he directed a subordinate attorney in the DA's office to perform political activity and political fundraising on county time.  Further, Castor admitted using his county office for political meetings with his campaign manager and his fundraiser and using the county email system to schedule the meetings and invite his subordinate to attend, again on county time.

This activity is wrong on so many levels.  It violates our county Ethics Code and probably several state and federal criminal statutes as well.  The stunning irony of the testimony is that Castor seemed to be admitting to the same offense for which Senator Fumo is on trial:  defrauding the government of the honest services of a subordinate employee by directing that employee to perform political work on government time.

You can hear the audio tape of this jawdropping testimony on the website of the federal court for the Eastern District of PA through the PACER account (Public Access to Court Electronic Records).

I called on our new DA, Risa Ferman, to investigate Castor's activities, knowing that the Republican powers in Montgomery County would try to sweep this controversy under the rug.  DA Ferman immediately tried to do that very thing, criticizing me for grandstanding and - with no investigation - stating she saw no criminal activity.  Since then the DA and I have met to discuss the matter.  She is considering my request and I still hope that she will conduct a serious investigation, but I am not holding my breath.

At last Thursday's public meeting I offered several reforms of our Ethics Code for a future vote.  In addition to updating the code, requiring more financial disclosure and improving enforcement, we need to de-politicize the everyday workings of county goverment. I suggest we prohibit key policymakers and employees with discretionary legal and financial authority from running for office or fundraising for any candidate.  This would effect well over 100 employees, such as the commissioners' senior staff, key department heads, and lawyers in the offices of the Solicitor, Public Defender and District Attorney.  This reform would be similar to political bans in place in the Philadelphia and Manhatten DA's offices, U.S. Attorney's offices nationwide, the Governor's appointees in state government, and our own county court.

Simply put, the proper use of discretionary government power is too easily corrupted, in fact and appearance, by the demands of political campaigning and fundraising.  We must shield these critical employees from the political process and from political bosses.

Montgomery County government needs ethical reform and I will keep fighting for it.  Stay tuned and I will keep you posted.  And please let me hear from you!


Sincerely,