Current Street probe reminiscent of '78 federal sting

Mayor John Street has claimed he will emerge from the current Federal Bureau of Investigation probe smelling like roses -- just like he did nearly 25 years ago when the government launched Abscam, a sting operation to trap corrupt officials throughout the country.

In 1978, when Street was a novice city councilman, FBI employees posed as Middle Eastern businessmen and solicited bribes from politicians -- including Street -- as part of an elaborate FBI operation to recover stolen art and securities.

The nickname "Abscam" was derived from the name of the fabricated company -- Abdul Enterprises, Ltd. -- for which the FBI employees claimed they worked.

Three of Street's fellow councilmen and two Philadelphia congressmen -- among other public officials across the United States -- were caught engaging in illicit activity as a result of the investigation.

Street, who emerged unscathed when the investigation was concluded in 1980, admonished his colleagues for their disreputable behavior and helped form an ethics committee.

Still, some argue that the effects of such FBI investigations taint city politics, regardless of their effects on individual politicians.

"We again have the FBI engaged in surveillance of prominent and often controversial local political actors," Political Science Professor Rogers Smith said.

He indicated that the current FBI investigation does not represent a divergence from typical city politics.

"The kinds of concerns raised here about whether... governmental contracts are being handed out properly... are chronic problems in urban political life," Smith said.

"If there are real criminal activities occurring... then investigations are appropriate," he continued. However, Smith questioned whether the investigation could perhaps be motivated by the partisan interests of those "looking to discredit political figures."

With regards to the current investigation of the mayor's office, "the way the investigation was conducted -- placing a rather visible, easy-to-locate bugging device" above Street's desk, and doing so "this close to the election is a process that raises questions," he added.

The extent to which the investigation is "driven by legitimate criminal justice concerns" and the extent to which "those concerns may be filtered through partisan interests... remains to be seen," Smith continued.

In contrast, Frederick Voigt, executive director of the political watchdog group Committee of Seventy, stressed the disconnect between the Abscam investigation and the current one.

"They have nothing to do with each other," Voigt said. Abscam resulted in "indictments and convictions. That hasn't happened here... and we don't know if it will."

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