There were two prominent Philly-area indictments yesterday- and the one that is considerably less important got a lot less attention.
Britt Reid, the 21-year-old son of Eagles coach Andy Reid, was arraigned Tuesday on drug and weapons charges stemming from a road rage incident in which he allegedly pointed a gun at a motorist. Various guns and drug paraphenelia were found in his car; the same day, in a separate incident, Reid's other son Garrett hit a woman with his car and later admitted to using heroin.
This has been a HUGE story in Philly, with the usual Reid-haters speaking up about how he's a hypocrite to demand discipline from his players when not receiving it from his sons; for this, Reid has been accused of being everything from a bad coach to a bad father, with some even speculating that the incidents will bring about the end of his tenure as Eagles coach.
Meanwhile, State Senator and South Philly political boss Vince Fumo received a federal indictment on Tuesday, including 139 separate counts of fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Among numerous other misdeeds, Fumo is accused of illegally funneling more than $2 million toward his personal use, and of using a charity he founded as his personal piggy bank.
Fumo is also accused of using public and charity employees to do housework at each of his five residences, including
"a mansion in the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia; a beach-block home in Margate, N.J; a bayside condo in Ventnor, N.J.; a 100-acre farm outside Harrisburg; and a multi-million-dollar house in Florida."Which is part of the problem right there- how exactly is a career politician rich enough to have five residences? Some of his constituents, predictably, are already making excuses. Posted by Stephen Silver at February 7, 2007 09:51 PM
Admittedly, I'm not exactly a man of the world, but I have never seen a city with politicians as corrupt as this one.
Posted by: Tom G at February 8, 2007 11:02 AMSteve -
I seem to recall from your prior writings that you are something of a denier of liberal bias in the media. Given that, does it strike you at all odd that in the Inquirer story which you linked ("already making excuses"), there is absolute and total silence on Fumo's party affiliation?
I am guessing that if he were a Republican we would have found that out in the first sentence of every Inquirer story written about him.
Posted by: Benedict at February 8, 2007 11:44 AMYou down with OPM?
Posted by: LilB at February 8, 2007 01:46 PM