Clout: Seth Williams' summer of discontent
PHILLY CLOUT
POSTED: Friday, August 28, 2015
DISTRICT ATTORNEY Seth Williams must feel like he's caught in some crazy summertime rip current.
Things had been going so well on the political front. But then, out of nowhere, the Inquirer broke news last Thursday that a federal grand jury had subpoenaed his political campaign's financial records to see if he'd spent money on personal expenses - like $2,175 on membership dues for the Sporting Club at the Bellevue.
Williams, a Democrat, immediately began swimming parallel to the shore. He hired a Republican crisis-communications firm out of Harrisburg and blamed the whole thing on Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
Kane was charged this month with leaking confidential grand-jury material to embarrass Frank Fina, a former state prosecutor who now works for Williams. Williams dissed Kane by resurrecting a slam-dunk corruption case that Kane had wrongly dismissed as unprosecutable.
Everything was calm for a few days. Seth put on a snazzy bow tie and went back to work.
But then on Wednesday, the Supreme Court released a bunch of porny, misogynistic, racist emails that Fina had sent or received on his government email address prior to leaving the Attorney General's Office.
The emails included the "New Office Motivation Policy Posters," which showed a woman having anal sex with the caption "Take advantage of every opening." Another one said, "Making your boss happy is your only job," with a pants-less woman on her knees, performing oral sex on a man.
Suddenly, Williams was on the defensive again. This is bad. He has ignored questions about what he knew about the Fina emails and when he knew it. Before he hired him or after?
(Coincidentally, Frank, we got a press release yesterday from a company in Newark, Del., called "Analtech." Apparently, they're under new management. Possible employment opportunity?)
Williams, of course, is no stranger to awkward questions about nude photos.
In 2013, the Daily News noticed that Williams' official Twitter account, @DASethWilliams, was following two accounts called @RateMyLatin and @RateMyEbony, both of which constantly tweeted graphic nude photos.
The accounts were suspended by Twitter, and Williams' handlers spent several days concocting increasingly bizarre explanations for how the D.A. ended up following the porn accounts, with the crux being that he couldn't have possibly followed them himself.
Williams was on Twitter yesterday, jawing with @ChiTownLionPSU, who was calling for Fina's firing. Williams didn't say what's next for Fina, but he dragged former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky into the mix.
In other words, he continued to swim sideways.
"Sandusky was guilty and needed to be prosecuted for sexually assaulting children ACCEPT THAT," Williams tweeted.
When we asked Williams about his political future a couple months ago - his name has been floated for U.S. Senate, House and state attorney general - Williams said he was flattered.
But, he added: "I am very interested in opening a jazz and cigar bar in Key West."
Yeah, maybe now is the time to do that. The water is much calmer down in the Keys.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/p...summer_of_discontent.html#b5FhkcfCs4JRmAut.99
And here's a Daily News editorial:
PHILLY CLOUT
POSTED: Friday, August 28, 2015
DISTRICT ATTORNEY Seth Williams must feel like he's caught in some crazy summertime rip current.
Things had been going so well on the political front. But then, out of nowhere, the Inquirer broke news last Thursday that a federal grand jury had subpoenaed his political campaign's financial records to see if he'd spent money on personal expenses - like $2,175 on membership dues for the Sporting Club at the Bellevue.
Williams, a Democrat, immediately began swimming parallel to the shore. He hired a Republican crisis-communications firm out of Harrisburg and blamed the whole thing on Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
Kane was charged this month with leaking confidential grand-jury material to embarrass Frank Fina, a former state prosecutor who now works for Williams. Williams dissed Kane by resurrecting a slam-dunk corruption case that Kane had wrongly dismissed as unprosecutable.
Everything was calm for a few days. Seth put on a snazzy bow tie and went back to work.
But then on Wednesday, the Supreme Court released a bunch of porny, misogynistic, racist emails that Fina had sent or received on his government email address prior to leaving the Attorney General's Office.
The emails included the "New Office Motivation Policy Posters," which showed a woman having anal sex with the caption "Take advantage of every opening." Another one said, "Making your boss happy is your only job," with a pants-less woman on her knees, performing oral sex on a man.
Suddenly, Williams was on the defensive again. This is bad. He has ignored questions about what he knew about the Fina emails and when he knew it. Before he hired him or after?
(Coincidentally, Frank, we got a press release yesterday from a company in Newark, Del., called "Analtech." Apparently, they're under new management. Possible employment opportunity?)
Williams, of course, is no stranger to awkward questions about nude photos.
In 2013, the Daily News noticed that Williams' official Twitter account, @DASethWilliams, was following two accounts called @RateMyLatin and @RateMyEbony, both of which constantly tweeted graphic nude photos.
The accounts were suspended by Twitter, and Williams' handlers spent several days concocting increasingly bizarre explanations for how the D.A. ended up following the porn accounts, with the crux being that he couldn't have possibly followed them himself.
Williams was on Twitter yesterday, jawing with @ChiTownLionPSU, who was calling for Fina's firing. Williams didn't say what's next for Fina, but he dragged former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky into the mix.
In other words, he continued to swim sideways.
"Sandusky was guilty and needed to be prosecuted for sexually assaulting children ACCEPT THAT," Williams tweeted.
When we asked Williams about his political future a couple months ago - his name has been floated for U.S. Senate, House and state attorney general - Williams said he was flattered.
But, he added: "I am very interested in opening a jazz and cigar bar in Key West."
Yeah, maybe now is the time to do that. The water is much calmer down in the Keys.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/p...summer_of_discontent.html#b5FhkcfCs4JRmAut.99
And here's a Daily News editorial:
