As FBI probe continues, Street says he is not target

Mystery and controversy continue to surround the recent discovery of an electronic listening device in Mayor John Street's office as Federal Bureau of Investigation officials remain tight-lipped about the situation.

Street said last night that the FBI is also in possession of his BlackBerry wireless handheld computer.

FBI spokesmen have so far refused to release any details about the bug or the subsequent raids of local businesses, fueling speculation that the mayor himself is a chief suspect in the investigation.

However, Street said in a press conference last night that his friend and adviser Arthur Makadon told him he was "not the target of any investigation."

This assurance does not rule out the possibility that Street is a subject of investigation. A target and a subject are legally distinct designations.

A target is someone who is likely to be indicted, whereas a subject is less serious, referring to any person whose actions could be investigated by a grand jury.

Makadon, an attorney, learned that Street was not the target after speaking with the U.S. Attorney's Office, according to comments the mayor made on Wednesday.

"We have stated very clearly to both Mayor Street and his attorney the mayor's status in this matter," U.S. Attorney spokesman Robert Manieri said. He would neither confirm nor deny that Street was a subject, but indicated that the mayor knew where he stood.

However, Street's spokesmen insisted that they were still unclear about the mayor's status. Campaign spokesman Frank Keel said it was "absolutely not true" that Street was told he was a subject of the investigation.

"No indication has been given to the mayor or the campaign that he is in any way being looked at in this investigation," Keel said. "It's unfair to the mayor, and unfair to the entire electoral process."

"I have had no personal conversations with anybody in the Justice Department," Street said at a press conference last night.

"I know that I have done nothing wrong," he added. "I have told you everything I know."

The fact that there is an investigation, he said, "doesn't necessarily mean I've done anything wrong."

Street spokesman Mark Nevins also criticized the FBI for not providing more information, saying that "their disclosures have been insufficient. They need to make a public statement."

Philadelphia Police discovered the bug during a routine security sweep of Street's offices on Tuesday.

The FBI has since confirmed that it planted the bug, and has discredited rumors that it was the work of Republican Sam Katz's mayoral campaign.

The bug was placed directly above Street's desk, which indicates that the FBI wanted to record all the mayor's important conversations, said former court-appointed Philadelphia U.S. attorney J. Clayton Undercofler.

Undercofler said that a T-3 warrant, the kind the FBI obtained to plant the bug, requires the permission of a federal judge.

"Either someone went to the FBI or they went to someone... [and they found] there is a crime likely to be committed in the office where the bug is," he said.

"A T-3 warrant means that a federal judge thought there was probable cause," he added.

He believed that the FBI was investigating some form of corruption, but declined to speculate on the specifics.

In fact, no one is quite clear on what the investigation is looking for.

Theories have ranged from general corruption to improperly granted contracts, according to numerous reports. However, most of the evidence seems to link Shamsud-din Ali, a Street supporter and prominent Muslim leader, to the controversy.

Federal agents raided Ali's business, Keystone Information and Financial Service Inc., on Wednesday, less than a day after the probe was discovered.

Ali and other Keystone representatives declined to comment, but the Philadelphia Daily News reported that the authorities carried off nine computers and a number of boxes of papers.

The immediacy of the raid might indicate that Ali is involved.

Undercofler said that "the prosecutors who have this case are probably in high gear now."

Street awarded Keystone a contract in 2002 to identify businesses that owed the city back-tax money. The contract is still in existence.

Ali also appeared with Street at a campaign stop last Friday, and has been involved with the campaign for a while. However, mayoral spokeswoman Christine Ottow said his contributions to events were "fairly infrequent."

Ottow said she could not comment on the raid, because it is an ongoing federal investigation.

People across the political divide have rallied around the mayor to protest the FBI's silence.

Governor Ed Rendell's spokeswoman, Kate Philips, said that Rendell believes "the FBI should reveal what they are investigating. They owe it to the people of Philadelphia to come clean, to tell them why their City Hall has been bugged."

Keel said that Street had received calls of support from a number of state Republicans, as well as Democrats.

Even political opponent Katz was sympathetic to the mayor's plight.

Earlier this week, he called the FBI's nondisclosure "unfair to the mayor."

However, Katz is beginning to become suspicious of the conflicting information coming from the Mayor's Office and other sources close to the investigation.

"All along, I've said this process should be fair to John Street," Katz said at a press conference yesterday. "But John Street has to be fair with Philadelphia, too. There is a confusion between what the mayor is saying and what the federal authorities are saying."

Staff writer Garrett Young contributed to this report.

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