Governor's old Rendell '95 PAC swells and shrinks

It's the gift that keeps on giving: Gov. Rendell's 20-year-old political action committee from his days as Philadelphia mayor.

Every so often, the PAC, named Rendell '95, comes to life again, taking in sizable contributions - usually from Rendell's gubernatorial PAC - and dispensing the dollars to a select few groups.

For instance, earlier this year, the mayoral PAC had a mere $27,000 on hand - before getting a fresh $50,000 to spend from the gubernatorial PAC.

The beneficiaries of the fatter bank account included several state representative candidates. But the biggest recipient by far was the Democratic City Committee, which received $37,500 on May 10 - eight days before the primary election that included races for governor, as well as about 3,200 Democratic committeeman spots.

But while the Rendell PAC expands and deflates in any given year, there is one constant: $65,490 in outstanding debt, thanks to four loans that Rendell hasn't repaid since the early 1990s, according to his campaign finance reports.

"Those loans have been forgiven, and his report should have been amended to reflect that," Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma said Friday. "They will do it next time they file."

That response matched the recollection of two of the contributors who gave the loans, businessmen Michael Karp and Mark A. Turnbull.

"In my mind, it was a contribution to the future of the city of Philadelphia, regardless of how they booked it," said Turnbull, who gave $10,000.

Karp, who gave two loans totaling $40,000, said that Rendell, after he was elected mayor, asked him to make the loan a contribution, and that he complied. "I was happy he won, and all excited," Karp said.

The fourth loan was made by Tom Knox, who spent $12 million of his own personal fortune in an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2007. He also withdrew from the governor's race earlier this year.

He said the loan was indeed a loan.

"You'd think he'd pay me back after 20 years, huh?" Knox said Friday of the $15,490 he believes he is owed. "Since he is going out of office and if he has the money there, he ought to do it." - Marcia Gelbart

For someone with a self-described "street education without graduation," Bobby Lemons says he knew what was coming.

On Tuesday, The Inquirer published a story outlining a dispute over permit parking on the 900 block of McKean Street in South Philadelphia.

In the article, Lemons - who lives on the block and owns Rosie's Market on South 10th Street - blasted the permit system and accused City Councilman Frank DiCicco's office of improperly intervening in the permit voting process.

So it came as no surprise to Lemons that, three days after the story appeared, an official from the Department of Licenses and Inspections paid him a visit at his corner store, informing Lemons he needed to renew the rental license at his residency.

A half-hour later, according to Lemons, another L&I official dropped in to say he'd need to renew his food license within 30 days. She told him to expect a knock from health inspectors in the near future as well.

Lemons has received a handful of notices from L&I in his 18 years at Rosie's, he said, but never a flurry like this. The last visit, by his estimate, came more than three years ago.

"There's all kinds of violations in this neighborhood, and they're squashing the little guy," said Lemons, who acknowledged the violations were valid. "They may force me out, but I'm not going to dance for anybody." - Matt Flegenheimer

Seth Williams has not only improved relations between the District Attorney's Office and City Council, he has also transformed a former adversary into an ally.

Council members were impressed when Williams invited all of them to his office shortly after his inauguration in January, introducing them to his staff and outlining his agenda.

Council's majority whip, Darrell L. Clarke, said he had never seen the inside of the D.A.'s office - and Clarke has been in office since 1999, when he replaced his old boss, Council President John F. Street, who left to run for mayor. Clarke was an aide to Street in Council for more than a decade before that.

Williams told them he would enforce Council's gun-control legislation - including a requirement that gun owners report lost or stolen firearms; his predecessor, Lynne Abraham, had said she could not enforce those statutes because they were unconstitutional.

Most remarkable, however, was Williams' pairing with Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. recently on funding for witness protection and relocation. While the bill never passed, it provided the leverage to get Mayor Nutter last month to contribute $200,000 for witness protection, the first time city money was allocated for that purpose.

Not long ago, however, Williams was Jones' chief tormentor.

As the city's inspector general, Williams in 2007 launched an investigation into Jones' severance deal with the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp., a now-defunct, publicly funded nonprofit that Jones once headed and left to run for Council. Jones, who could have waltzed from the Democratic primary through the November election, found himself fighting off allegations of wrongdoing. Williams would issue a report on his investigation in late 2007, shortly before he left office. The report raised more questions than answers, and Abraham later scorned its findings and cleared Jones.

Jones was one of the few black politicians in town not to back the man who would become the city's first African American D.A. But things have changed.

Jones said he was first taken by Williams' invitation and presentation to Council, and then by Williams' policies, which meshed with his own. The two worked closely on the witness-protection bill, and today Jones calls Williams a friend.

"You can't harbor ill feelings like that - it's too much work," Jones said. "He's doing a good job. . . . It's time to move on. I know I am." - Jeff Shields