Inside Politics

Philadelphia story

A week after an FBI bug was found in the office of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, Republican challenger Sam Katz accused Mr. Street of helping to create an atmosphere of corruption and cronyism in city government.

Mr. Katz yesterday said Mr. Street is “innocent until proven otherwise” regarding anything connected to the FBI probe, but suggested he’s helped lead the city to a culture of corruption, the Associated Press reports.

“I would like to suggest that the conditions we find ourselves in today are exactly the product of John Street’s making,” Mr. Katz said in a debate aired on KYW-AM yesterday morning.

The tight rematch between Mr. Street and Mr. Katz has been thrown into turmoil since police found hidden listening devices inside Mr. Street’s City Hall office Oct. 7, exactly four weeks before Election Day on Nov. 4. The FBI said the bugs were not connected to the campaign but declined to release further details.

Mr. Street again maintained in yesterday’s debate that he is not a target of the investigation and has done nothing wrong.

Declaration of war?

“The anchors and White House reporters for the national networks weren’t too pleased by President Bush trying to go around them by conducting interviews on Monday with reporters from local affiliate station groups,” the Media Research Center’s Brent Baker reports at www.mediaresearch.org.

“CBS’ John Roberts intoned: ‘It was the public relations equivalent of a declaration of war aimed at the national media, President Bush claiming the American people aren’t getting the truth about Iraq.’

“Roberts contrasted Bush’s claims with reality: ‘In interviews with regional television outlets today, which the White House feels will go easier on the president, Mr. Bush all but ignored the daily attacks on U.S. troops and personnel, instead telling Hearst-Argyle television the news about Iraq is good.’

“Over on ABC’s ‘World News Tonight,’ Peter Jennings similarly contrasted the day’s violence with Bush’s claims: ‘On a day when the Army confirmed that three more American soldiers had been killed, Mr. Bush said that the news media, and he meant the national news media, is too heavily focused on the violence.’ Terry Moran called it a ‘a rare outburst for a president who likes to cultivate friendly relations with some White House reporters.’”

Unscientific survey

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