Philly Dems Linked To Election Forgery

Gee, I am just shocked and appalled.

AN ELECTION-fraud prosecution in Erie, pursued by the state Attorney General's Office, is sending tremors into Philadelphia, where two state House members and a state Senate candidate submitted scores of apparently bogus signatures on recent nomination petitions.

Attorney General Tom Corbett announced last week that he was filing criminal charges against former state Rep. Linda Bebko-Jones, 61, a Democrat who had represented Erie in the state House for 14 years, and her former chief of staff, Mary Fiolek.

Wow, and I thought forging signatures and voting more than once was just a Philadelphia Democrat problem.

In Philadelphia, two incumbent House members - Tony J. Payton Jr. and Thomas W. Blackwell, both Democrats - are accused by opponents of turning in petitions with dozens of forged signatures, among other problems.

The same charge is leveled against Lawrence M. Farnese Jr., one of four Democratic contenders for the state Senate seat now held by Vincent Fumo.

I can forgive Farnese. I mean, he's running to succeed a corrupt piece of detritus, so he has to act like a corrupt piece of detritus, right?

In Philadelphia, it can be a difficult hurdle for Republican candidates, who usually have to be armed with street lists to identify registered GOP voters. But it's easier for Democratic candidates, with three out of every four voters registered Democrats.

Still, a Daily News review of the three Philadelphia Democrats' petitions shows that in each case, scores of names and addresses appear to have been written in the same hand.

It's probably just a Republican ploy to divert votes from the chaste Philly Democrats, just like that federal wire tap that George Bush installed in Mayor Street's office to try and help Sam Katz to victory. Never mind that many of Street's inner circle were charged with corruption, it was still a Republican ruse!

"The reason that you collect more than the number that you need," Farnese said Friday, "is that sometimes the voter has moved, sometimes he's not registered, sometimes he's not in the right party . . . I am confident we have more than enough signatures and we will be on the ballot."

In a telephone interview with the Daily News, Farnese would not address the handwriting similarities in hundreds of his signatures. His campaign manager, Renee Gilinger, had acknowledged the similarities in a prior interview.

Blackwell did not return calls placed last week by the Daily News. A week earlier, when his opponent, community activist Vanessa L. Brown, filed a challenge against his petitions, Blackwell had treated it as routine.

"It's a case of the outs wanting to be in," Blackwell said. "I'm not worried about it . . . I had people in charge of [collecting signatures]. They looked fine to me."

Are you a handwriting analyst, Mr. Blackwell? Then of course they are going to look fine to you, moron! Mark my words: this man will be mayor of Philadelphia someday.

At least 20 people are listed as signing Blackwell's petitions twice - with different signatures, Bonin said. (H/T - The Philadelphia Daily News)

Welcome to Philadelphia, where we make Chicago politics look legitimate. Here's a quick story:

Just after I was promoted to detective, I had a run-in with The Committee of 70, Philly's election watchdogs. While investigating an aggravated assault, I checked the voter database for a current residence on a defendant. After putting in the name and date of birth, I received two matches.

Both had the same name, address, and month and day of birth, but one was born in 1969, and one was born in 1970. And both "brothers" voted in every election since 1992.

So, this person would have you believe that he was born in 1969, then his parents had another child that was born on the same day, one year apart, and gave him the exact same name!!! The BMV check was negative for the evil twin, so I send a letter to the Committee of 70 and told them to look into this obvious case of voter fraud. After a few weeks, I still had not heard from them, so I decided tom give them a call and inquire on the investigation's progress.

The woman I spoke to - besides being terribly rude - said that their investigation found no irregularities in the person's voter file. When I asked her if she thought that two brothers, born on the same day (a year apart), given the same name, and voting regularly despite there being no record of the other brother in any other city database seemed odd to her, she replied, "No."

Remember that on April 22 when the Committee of 70 states there were no founded instances of voter fraud in Philadelphia.