Don’t retry Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson and his wife | Jenice Armstrong
It's time for the city to move on.
The fact that a deadlocked jury failed to convict Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson and Dawn Chavous is a considerable victory — not just for them, but for their constituents and supporters as well. Federal prosecutors have vowed to retry them, but for the good of the city, I really hope they won’t.
Taxpayers have paid handsomely for lawyers on both sides of this case in which federal prosecutors sought to prove that $66,700 was funneled to Johnson through Chavous. The payments, prosecutors said, were designed to aid Universal Companies, a South Philadelphia-based nonprofit, by garnering Johnson’s support for one of its development projects.
Despite deliberating for 25 hours over the course of four days, the jury deadlocked, and on Tuesday, a federal judge declared a mistrial for Johnson and Chavous, who were each facing two counts of honest services fraud.
The ugly specter of this case — one councilmember facing trial less than six months after another, Bobby Henon, was convicted on bribery charges — has hovered over Philadelphia since the FBI started investigating Johnson’s dealings in 2016.
It’s time to move on and let Johnson get back to the business of focusing on being a councilmember.
Hopefully, Johnson and Chavous have learned some valuable lessons.
Going forward, the three-term Democrat from Point Breeze needs to be more mindful about ensuring that he’s free even from the appearance of any sort of impropriety — even if that means Chavous, an educational consultant, has to forgo certain work.
Avoiding potential conflicts of interest goes with the territory of being married to a public servant. It’s why Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff quit his law firm shortly before she was sworn in; he now teaches law at Georgetown University.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas might not be facing renewed calls to step down had it not been disclosed that his wife, Ginni Thomas, had contacted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows 29 times to discourage former President Donald Trump from conceding after the 2020 election.
Political spouses must steer clear of positions that could make it look as if they are unduly influencing an elected official, even though that’s what they have done since back when Abigail Adams in 1776 implored John Adams and other members of the Continental Congress “to remember the ladies.”
“The onus is primarily on the public official to make sure that if there’s a question as to whether there’s an ethical or legal line that could be crossed to seek guidance on it,” said Patrick Christmas, a policy director with the Committee of Seventy, the local nonpartisan good-government group. “At least from what’s reported, that never happened.”
Chavous is a smart, accomplished person in her own right, having earned her political chops during the years she spent working for State Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D., Phila.). As I waited for jurors to render a verdict, I reviewed the recordings of the two different interviews I conducted with Chavous — one in 2019, the other in 2020 — before the indictment was handed down.
» READ MORE: Wife of indicted Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson: ‘I haven’t done anything wrong’ | Jenice Armstrong
This time around, some of the things she told me hit a little differently, including her recounting of work she did in exchange for the $66,700 contract from Universal.
During the five-week trial, prosecutors called Chavous’ contract a “low show” deal and alleged that she worked fewer than 40 hours for the payout. Maybe Chavous was overpaid, but she gave me examples of the effort she put forth for the nonprofit.
“The work that I did with Universal was specifically around supporting their charter schools,” she said. “They had seven at the time.”
During our conversations, Chavous talked about organizing an elaborate anniversary gala for Universal that was canceled; she said she also helped the nonprofit access capital for its schools. She recalled introducing Universal officials to local political stakeholders and to business leaders such as Jeffrey Brown, owner of the ShopRite supermarket chain. During this month’s trial, Brown, who testified for the defense, said, “I thought she worked hard in my interactions with her.”
“They didn’t have a strong presence in Harrisburg,” Chavous said of Universal in the 2019 interview. “What I mean by that is most charter schools have people who are monitoring the legislation that is affecting them ... One of the reports I did was telling them who were their elected officials, what districts were they in.”
Granted, none of it sounded like a heavy lift, but the contract was for $66,700 — a relatively modest sum in consulting circles for a multiyear contract. I’m aware of companies that have paid considerably more for consulting but are unable to point to any tangible results.
After her contract with the nonprofit ended in 2014, Chavous said she turned her attention to Williams’ unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2015. In other words, she got back to the business of doing what she did before becoming romantically linked with Johnson. Maintaining her professional brand is one of the reasons Chavous kept her maiden name after marrying Johnson in 2012.
“I had an established career before I ever married him, and I was involved in politics and this work long before him,” she told me.
It’s not fair, but onlookers often assume that the work political spouses get is a result of their relationship with an elected official, which may or may not be true. I look forward to the time when City Council finally adopts a system that closes the current loophole and requires the review of the incomes of members’ spouses. Until then, the city’s local lawmakers and their family members must still tread carefully. The last thing Philly needs is another scandal in City Hall like the one we just went through.