THE ‘BUG’ THAT UPENDED AN ELECTION

How the discovery of an FBI bug and the political spin that followed changed the course of the last competitive race for Philly mayor.

The FBI “bug” was small but still landed like a bombshell in City Hall — exactly four weeks before the 2003 general election for mayor in Philadelphia.

Was this the end for Mayor John Street, a Democrat seeking a second term?

Was it a windfall for Republican nominee Sam Katz, whom Street narrowly defeated four years earlier?

What would turn out to be the last competitive general election for mayor in the city was suddenly, staggeringly nationalized.

Republicans hoped the listening device discovered in the mayor’s office, revealing a secret federal investigation into Street’s administration, would push Katz to victory.

Democratic Party leaders — including then-U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Al Gore — rushed to Philadelphia to stump for Street.

Some of them accused Republican President George W. Bush of allowing his Department of Justice to interfere in a local election.

That election interference message — so uncommon 20 years ago, so very common now — won the day as Street secured reelection.

Then, as we see in present-day politics, FBI agents and federal prosecutors were caught in a conundrum, trying to do the often-secret investigative work that can lead to indictments while facing very public political attacks.

It all began when it went public that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson had ordered the search that found the FBI listening device in the ceiling above Street’s desk on Oct. 7, 2003. The feds had to acknowledge the investigation — an incredibly rare occurrence — while keeping obscure what they were probing.

Katz and his advisers stalled on their messaging, with the first televised debate scheduled to take place two days after the bug became the center of the race.

Street insisted his administration was honest while pushing the accusations about federal interference in the election.

Ultimately, 20 people were convicted in what widely became known as the “City Hall corruption probe” by the local media. Former City Treasurer Corey Kemp took the biggest hit with a 10-year prison term.

Street, who was never charged with a crime, declined to be interviewed for this story.

But new interviews with others involved in his administration and campaign, as well as Katz and the federal prosecutor involved who oversaw the case, offer a fresh look two decades later at the discovery of the bug — and how the political spin unfolded behind the scenes.

Pat Meehan, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia

Meehan, a Republican appointee as the top federal law enforcement official in the city in 2003, said the bug, which was never switched on, was meant to remain a secret until well after the election.

A federal judge had set clear parameters on what investigators could listen for. Those conditions never occurred before the bug was discovered.

Meehan said the FBI followed the trail of street-level drug dealers to an imam active in politics, Shamsud-din Ali, who led them to a Street political ally, attorney Ron White, who was indicted on charges alleging that he bribed Kemp but died before his trial started.

Once the bug was found, the perception of DOJ interference was compounded because then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was in Philadelphia for a conference in the days after the discovery.

Meehan, who went on to serve in the U.S. House, recalled that Frank Keel, then a spokesperson for Street’s campaign, suggested Ashcroft could have approved the bug to help Katz and, ultimately, Bush.

Ashcroft declined to comment for this story.

Pat Meehan

Former U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia

“I know Frank well from over the years. He’s an adept political guy. He was trying to turn that, in hindsight, into an effective way to counterattack the implications of the bug itself.”

“The full balance of the evidence and the subsequent prosecutions was that around Ron White there was a whirlwind of activity proven to be in some measures corrupt.”

Barbara Grant communications director for the Street administration

Grant had heard there might be a bug in Street’s office and told George Burrell, then a senior adviser to the mayor, who ordered the search.

As the chaos unfolded after the discovery and the media spotlight turned so very bright, Grant worried that she had killed Street’s political career by sharing the information.

But even 20 years later, Grant refuses to divulge who told her about it. “I have never, ever told anyone, except maybe the grand jury, who told me,” she said. “I can’t do it. I’ll never tell.”

Burrell said Grant may have gotten her information from Karen Simmons, who was then a lawyer on the police commissioner’s staff and is now a Municipal Court judge.

Sources speaking to The Inquirer on the condition of anonymity in 2013 identified Simmons as Grant’s tipster.

Meehan told The Inquirer last month that “appears to be a fairly valid and likely way that some things unfolded.”

Simmons did not respond to recent requests for comment. Johnson, Street’s police commissioner who ordered the search to find the bug, declined to comment, saying, “There’s a lot of things that are very sensitive, even today.”

Barbara Grant

Communications director for the Street administration

“I honestly thought this would end the mayor’s political career. And, to tell you the truth, I felt horrible because I was the one the news came from.”

“Once that idea [of election interference] got out there, it really did catch fire. When it turned around, I almost couldn’t believe it.”

Frank Keel, spokesperson for Street’s 2003 campaign

Keel pushed early and often for the campaign to go on the offensive and blame national Republicans for the bug. He got the green light at a preplanned campaign event on the day of the discovery, when Street changed his schedule and did not attend but the media still assembled.

The message was so effective that a struggle for credit bled into federal court a dozen years later. National political strategist David Axelrod, who advised Street’s campaign in 2003, took credit in his 2015 memoir for developing it.

Keel sued Axelrod, claiming the Chicago-based consultant took credit for a “defining moment” in Keel’s career. A judge dismissed that suit in 2015.

Fellow Street campaign staffers Shawn Fordham and Mark Nevins said Axelrod and Keel both contributed to crafting the message that Keel delivered. Fordham recalls wanting to act before Katz and his campaign could “frame the discussion.”

“There was a hole to fill,” Nevins said. “People in the media were asking questions and nobody had any answers. Even guesses from our campaign filled the vacuum and became part of the story.”

Frank Keel

Spokesperson for Street’s 2003 campaign

“The entire idea was mine. And I genuinely believed that the party of Bush and Ashcroft was capable of such political skulduggery. If I didn’t express conviction in what I said in that insane moment on the sidewalk, no one would have bought it. Of course, history revealed what really occurred and why, but I have no regrets. I did my job and the best man won.”

Sam Katz, the Republican nominee for mayor in 2003

Katz was preparing for the debate with his top campaign staffers when, one by one, they stepped outside to take phone calls until he was the only person left in the room.

Word of the bug’s discovery was spreading, with some speculating that Katz’s campaign had planted it.

“I said, ‘Did we?’” Katz recalled. “Then the whole thing, the debate prep, just fell apart. It was clear right away we were in the middle of a completely different story.”

Katz had spent the entire campaign avoiding the national Republican Party, including Bush, who was deeply unpopular in Philadelphia well before the bug was found.

He still cringes when thinking about Bush coming to Delaware County for an unrelated event. Katz’s wife and kids attended while his campaign sent him to Atlantic City to avoid it. Bush still gave him a shout-out at the event that made news.

Katz’s campaign had given permission to filmmaker Tigre Hill to follow him on the campaign trail. Hill’s 2006 documentary, The Shame of a City, captured the chaos that consumed the campaign.

One postproduction twist: Street and Katz became buddies.

Sam Katz

Republican nominee for mayor in 2003

“Street and I are pretty good friends. We talk about a lot of things. We don’t talk about this much. His contention is that this was intentionally leaked by the Justice Department to embarrass him. I gave up trying to find out in 2007 or 2008. It was over.”

Bob Brady, chair of Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee

Brady splits the difference.

He insists Street’s administration was not corrupt, even if some people close to the mayor were convicted. But he acknowledges that claims of Justice Department election interference were just political gamesmanship.

“I was 100% sure — 100% — that there was nothing going on with John Street,” Brady said.

Brady, who was serving then in the U.S. House, said he told Street they would take the lead in defending him if Street wanted to stand back and avoid the fray.

Brady appears in Hill’s documentary, speaking from the pulpit at Bright Hope Baptist Church, with other members of Congress, accusing the Department of Justice while urging voters to support Street.

“We’ve got the last say,” Brady proclaims.

Brady later told a writer for Philadelphia Magazine, in a quote that has resonated for more than a decade in Philadelphia politics, that he was “just spinning the s—” when it came to blaming the Republicans. The gamesmanship continues. Brady pushed back when The Inquirer suggested it was a coincidence that Ashcroft’s visit to Philadelphia was scheduled during the week of the bug discovery.

“Now you’re spinning the s—,” Brady said, then laughed.

Bob Brady

Chair of Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee

”I wasn’t spinning the s — about [Street] not being corrupt. I was spinning the s — about Ashcroft, about the feds coming in trying to manipulate the election with Sam Katz. But they did have a shot at a Republican becoming the mayor in a big city like Philadelphia.”