Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20160814

Well, first of all, it shouldnt come as a surprise because we have become the perpwalk city, where politicians just this is groundhog day, right . We have these raids all over the place. But it was a bit surprising in the sense that when dougherty was raided 10 years ago, nothing came of that. And the people in the sort of power constellation concluded that that meant he had friends in high places and that he was teflon. This is a nick in that teflon. And is it surprising because many people consider him a kingmaker, such a big power broker, that he also reportedly helped our current mayor get elected jim kenney and to have people in high places and to still have that kind of weakness, i guess, or vulnerability . And i do wonder what the 76ers must have paid for that product placement. I mean, that logo endorsement was just terrific, you know . But anyway, the look, Johnny Dougherty is at the corner of so many Different Things in the region. The fact, though, that he was raided 10 years ago and nothing came of that, i would find it obviously, there has to be some sense of probable cause or you cant get the warrant, but at the same time, there has to be also id be shocked if something comes of this, being honest with you, cause hed be a fool after being raided 10 years ago by not dotting every i and crossing every t. And theres a relationship he and a former political power broker, vince fumo, were archenemies, if you will. One was the nemesis of the other, and fumo served time. So do you think that theres an alleged paytoplay issue that theyre researching, some political financial contributions by local 98 to campaigns, maybe even to the mayors . Thats the allegation anyway. We dont know the details. And its so technical how Campaign Finance works in philadelphia or works in pennsylvania, and its convoluted. And so, you cant contribute directly to a candidate, so they establish Political Action committees. And these Political Action committees in turn then contribute to the candidates, and that allegedly, or its been reported, that thats what theyre looking into. But it does speak to the broader issue of transparency in how we fund our candidates, campaign limits. And interestingly enough and why id be surprise, too, if theres more to the story here is in philadelphia, since the ethics board was created shane creamer in the last decade, no city public officials, city politicians have been indicted. Its all been at the state level, so thats something to look for here, as well. And for the record, Johnny Dougherty says he has nothing to hide, completely innocent on all counts, and the mayor says no ones asked him for any records, and he has no clue what theyre up to. So, it is just a matter of someone who maybe has too much money, too much power, a John Dougherty . You know, John Dougherty, or johnny doc as everyone knows him, he just tapdances everywhere, and hes in so many different corners. And i wanted to just turn it back, also, to city council because bobby henon, when he first came to city council, a lot of people looked to him as just simply a johnny doc plant. But hes really evolved into a really effective constituent Service Person and, really, a leader in city council. So even with that, its somewhat disturbing and troubling as far as what the impact is going to be as were moving into the fall session. I wrote a piece this week for the citizen about we have to start thinking differently about how we handle political corruption cause the groundhog day nature of this is just getting tiresome. And theres a group called Transparency International that is a coalition that fights corruption globally by promoting integrity rather than just focusing on punishment. And they come in and do audits of your governmental systems and give you the weak points on integrity. Thats what pennsylvania needs. And would you say at the very least, even if no one is charged or convicted of anything at any point, does it take the shine off a new mayoralty . Its only seven months that jim kenneys been in office. But it builds on larrys point. This goes back to civic education, what our expectations are of our public officials. Yes, i mean, if were looking at this and say, wow, kenney might be embroiled in a whole bunch of ugliness, again, what is it that citizens expect of their elected officials . And we have not expected that much because philadelphias fat and contented. Ill tell you one thing, too. Will bunch had this a few days ago in one of his columns, too. The other thing that the city desperately needs and theres no easy way to get it, and i know people are trying to is a more vibrant twoparty system. When you have just one party. Hear, hear. Thats true. That would be the best thing. You need a competition of ideas, but true ideas and not ideology and craziness. All right, lets move on to talk about d. A. Seth williams, has been able to set or get a retrial set for monsignor william lynn, a catholic official who an interesting case thats gone on now for years. First was convicted of harboring sexual predators, if you will, or at least allowing it to continue. He was not convicted himself of the act, but just of being the person in charge of moving a priest around who was known allegedly to have attacked children. Then served 33 months, and that conviction was overturned, and now were gonna go through a retrial. And some folks are saying that time served means even if there is a second conviction, he wont serve any more time. Is it just that this is an example for a deterrent measure so that people in places of power wont harbor alleged sexual predators again . So, first of all, i know monsignor lynn. I wasnt involved in representing them during any of the time that this was going on, so i wanted to kind of get that out there first. Look, if im the d. A. , i want to go back and prove i was right in the first place. The problem was the first conviction, they went back to cases in the 1940s, before lynn was even born and threw that on there. And thats where you get this feeling, which i think is legitimate, that the jury was likely tainted by things that had no relationship to the matter as it relates to monsignor lynn. So now well go through this process again. As you said, hes almost served three years in prison, 18 months before that on house arrest. And well see how the process goes forward. That is an era of time poorly handled there, also poorly handled in many Public Schools in this state. 85 , 90 of the child abuse is occurring publicschool situations in pennsylvania. So well see what happens going forward. But the other thing i was gonna say monsignor lynn has always maintained that he was basically a scapegoat, that he didnt have the ultimate power, that that ultimate power lay with anthony bevilacqua, who is now deceased. And so, hes basically being punished. He tried to do the best he could. Now that theyre having a second trial, i think that he may have another opportunity to paint himself as a more sympathetic figure in that instance and saying, i served time. Isnt it an expensive proposition, though, to go through a retrial if the point is simply and im asking the question, i dont know the answer if the point is simply to straighten out the record and prove that the state knew or the city knew something ahead of time . I think the point from a Historical Perspective is accountability. So, i understand going forward. I dont understand the incompetence that led that was practiced in the first trial. They put on trial a culture instead of a criminal. So i think in the second trial, what youll see is focusing on one case the father avery case. But i see your point, but i do think there is probably societal value in airing this out. And the fact of the matter is what im concerned about is the alleged victim, you know, has to relive his past. And the bottom line is the defense attorney, bergstrom, has said he has found new evidence that casts doubt on the alleged victims claims. So were gonna retry this young man hes 28 years old now when the three priests in question, one deceased, have either pled guilty or were convicted. And thats really what this case should not be about. It should be about monsignor lynn. All right, speaking of court cases, a battle in norristown, not far down the road. Our attorney general, Kathleen Kane, the highest political lawyer in the state, is herself in the cross hairs. And the case has been interesting a couple of twists and turns this past week, including a former political consultant, who now flipped stories and said that she knew and, in fact, directed, reportedly, him to leak material and blame it on a former lover of hers. Is it all getting to be too messy and he says, she says . Or do you think theres enough here that we could see a serious case and a real conviction . Theres been plenty of he said, she said and the mess. I mean, it is a hot mess, has been for some time. And then the players, very few of them are really sympathetic. There stands to be an opportunity who ever puts on the best narrative is going to win this one, truly on either side of this. And as i was saying a little bit earlier, this is really a bad year for attorney generals overall. I mean, the Kathleen Kane case is crazy. Theres a case down in texas ken paxton, whos the attorney general there, whos up on sec fraud charges. In florida, you have pam bondi, attorney general there, being looked at and investigated for possible misuse of her office. So across the country, were having some issues. And right here in pennsylvania compiling with all the rest of these corruption issues and such, it is not a good look as we move into november, particularly as we have to turn out the vote for this election and pennsylvania being a swing state. But, larry, her allegedly getting revenge and now the state getting revenge on her revenge where does it end . Yeah, beats me. This narrative is just amazing, and thats what we have on all those other cases. Weve got an original script here. But i talked to bruce ledewitz, the law professor at duquesne recently, who said he doubts that she gets convicted of the felonies here perjury cause any prosecutor will tell you, its really hard to convict someone of perjury. Because you have to prove intent. You have to prove intent. There can be no shades of gray. There can be no misunderstanding, you know . So, thatll be interesting because the leak, which its kind of clear from the testimony that she did have a role in this grand jury leak, but thats a misdemeanor. So thats gonna be interesting to watch. The other thing is as wacky as she is, and i think shes, like, totally out there, she has inadvertently and selfservingly done a service by bringing to light that horrible email chain that all these people in the judiciary were sharing. And to that extent. Yeah, but i got to tell you, thats an inadvertent part of this whole process for her. One of the things that you talk about in our business and your business is the news cycle. And here you have a situation of somebody who didnt just understand its a onetime thing, let it go, but was consumed by vindictiveness and anger, et cetera, to the point of its her own undoing. There was some talk about, you know, revenge should be served up cold, not hot. She was serving it up steaming hot, and it will be a great madefortv, at least, movie. A trail of text messages, emails, phone calls. I mean, theres plenty of follow the dotted line, if you will. Im looking around the table at expert, expert, expert, expert, expert, and all of us know when you put something in email, when you put something on a text, now when you Say Something on the phone, pretend its in the newspaper or, in this day, twitter probably, that night or the next morning. Are you okay with that . Right. She clearly didnt understand that rule. All right, another aide is perhaps diming out a boss. This is across the river in new Jersey Governor Chris Christie where a former aide says, in fact, that he did know about bridgegate and called him a liar when he was saying before cameras that he knew nothing about it and had not directed it. So, is this a case of be careful who you choose for aides . [ laughter ] or be careful what you say yourself. Maybe look at your own actions. Again, somebody else who you know, when you see the governor and the swagger that he exudes, et cetera, and that sense of bravado, this is all kind of reflective of that personality. So he invites that kind of yeah, when you think about all of this public corruption, every one of these cases, even with the archdiocese one, its consuming the news. Its people who thats a great point. The through line on a lot of these cases is individual hubris, right . I mean, ego. Like, actually, Kathleen Kane could have this all could have gone away if right after the leak, she said, you know, i did it, and i really regret it. cause that was then just a misdemeanor. It was the coverup. And we see that all the time. But wouldnt experts argue it takes that kind of hubris to get to that level of office. To a degree, yes, but youre also supposed to listen to the smart people around you. Thats why you bring smart people around you. When you historically and consistently ignore those smart people and the advice, then you end up in the news consistently. And governor christie there are a lot of people in new jersey that are running out the clock and saying, can we let this guy go . Can we just let this happen . Hes on a Kamikaze Mission since he tied his anchor to team trump. Right. His popularity is down in trump land in some respects in terms of the 20s. And lets talk about the fairness formula for the schools in new jersey, which he is tied to. Its an acrosstheboard flat rate per student. So you divide 9 billion state Education Funding by the number of students, and it comes out to 6,600 a head. But is that fair in the poor districts where they really dont have the ability to get other monies to supplement . So a quarter of the money in some of the districts is going to drop. They dont have the extra money to make up the differential. Other districts are gonna end up getting more because they werent getting as much since they had more outside resources. Is it fair . Look, im a republican as you guys may have heard. [ laughter ] but no, it doesnt make any sense. There shouldnt be wide gaps, and it shouldnt be that were subsidizing politicians who arent doing the right job by trying to bring in jobs and Economic Development in their communities. At the same time, to make it a flat rate, you know, really you know what . You could make the case, too. It doesnt just penalize those towns and cities. It penalizes the state of new jersey cause 20 years from now, youre gonna have a less educated workforce youre gonna need to compete. And new jersey had always been an educational leader, so to go from being like one of the top states to whats going to likely happen if this kind of formula goes into place, it is a decimation possibly of Public Education right there. In fact, critics call it rolling it back decades of progress. It definitely can hurt so many families and children who have nothing to do with the craziness of whats happening in trenton. All right, last comment, larry. A bigger issue, i think, is that education is not necessarily all about money and what you spend. We just had the mayor of rochester, new york, lovely warren, in philadelphia, and shes a reformist mayor. Their kids are failing, and yet theyre spending 27,000 per pupil. So shes doing things around the system to get around the School District that she doesnt control, and those reforms are seeing so, i just want to caution that theres a bigger debate here. All right, were gonna take a break. Inside story continues right after this. Inside story is presented by Temple University. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. Its a Pretty Simple question is pat toomeys agenda your agenda . Toomey voted seven times to defund planned parenthood. He even tried to shut down the federal government in order to eliminate funding for planned parenthood. And toomeys against a womans right to choose and supports overturning roe v. Wade which would allow states to criminalize abortion. Pat toomey hes focused on his own agenda, not us. Majority forward is responsible for the content of this advertising. Welcome back to inside story. Lets talk about a directive from governor wolf. There is a new effort to get 20 centers to treat opioid addiction across the state, which is an explosive problem now. 20 million was set aside, 15 million of it state money. 5 million is federal matching funds, so the legislature only came up with 15 million of the 34 million he originally asked for, but the centers are gonna open in october. Thats the good news. The bad news is this is an epidemic that is reaching beyond crisis proportions. It has quadrupled thats four times the number of opioid overdoes in just 16 years. Where in the world are we headed with this . Well, and 23 increase in deaths from the year 2014 to the year 2015. The rising increase in prescriptions for pain and then these folks and this doesnt discriminate. These could be kids, highschool athletes with concussions. These could be moms after pregnancy. These could be anyone and everyone. They dont know where to go after it ends, and they have to go to the black market or on the streets. And this is absolutely an epidemic. Society is finally catching up to it, though, because again, in certain communities across this country, across this commonwealth, this has long been an issue, but those people were seen as those people, the dregs, the people who were weakminded. Again, when you look at this proposal, it accounts to maybe about 6,000 per person. Do we think and do we value our fellow human beings as about 6,000 . If we say yes, then this is what we do, and its about time. I mean, whether youre chester county, montgomery county, philadelphia, erie, wherever, there are instances, and too often, theyre being shoved into corners because of shame and abuse. And this needs to stop here and now. And we know that theres at least a temporary palliative in narcan, the drug that if administered to someone undergoing an overdose, reverses the effects. And kudos to the governor for extending narcan to police and fire, but also to the tuttleman family foundation, which is really pushing locally funding for narcan widely. 26 deaths per 100,000 statewide. Berks county only has 13 per 100,000, half that rate, because they have more a comprehensive program. But follow the money. One of the real reasons for what were facing now, which isnt discussed, is in the late 90s, maybe around 2000, the federal government started to talk about the cms said that pain was your fifth vital sign. So you can measure temperature, you can measure heart rate. They added pain to that, which cant be measured. Hospital reimbursements and funding comes from how well you manage pain. Therefore hospitals are gonna make sure you have no pain. At the same time, purdue is pushing things like oxycontin and things like this. So that is a real part of it. To say that somehow pain measurement on the outside, which cant be measured, is gonna part of the reimbursement, thats part of our problem. And this money would go to counseling and more than just reviving a person because 80 of them have a recidivism rate right back to the hospital with more addiction. All right, lets talk quickly about the Pennsylvania Senate race Katie Mcginty and pat toomey. And he is claiming that because pennsylvania is a harbor state for illegal immigrants, that we, in fact, have caused criminality to happen. And hes pointed to the case of a rapist that was charged with attacking a preteen, a 12yearold. That person was supposed to have been removed from the area, but, in fact, was released by Philadelphia Police instead of being removed from our country altogether. What do you make of it . Is this just trying to deflect the trump factor in his party . Or is it, in fact, a legitimate point pennsylvania should not be a harbor state . I think hes trying to gin up the base and hype up the fear. Unfortunately, i wish that he would focus more on his accomplishments, particularly when it comes to economics. That would be a stronger argument. The fact of the matter is if Hillary Clinton does well in pennsylvania, Katie Mcginty more than likely is gonna go to d. C. Thats just the pure numbers. I know we do a ticket splitting here in pennsylvania. However, in this case, with this particular nominee at the top of the ticket, its not gonna bode well for senator toomey. So, i actually disagree with nia on this one because i think this issue and youre gonna see it in ads is visceral. It may not be widespread, but when you have this case, where this man who should have not been let go allegedly raped a preteen, i mean, that is visceral. Thats the conversation he needs to have. I know its negative and so forth, but mcginty is smart in running saying shes not running against toomey. Shes running against trump. Absolutely. So she has to avoid calling him an awhatever as she said publicly, or she sounds like donald trump, as well. In many ways, pat toomey is the ideal republican to get elected in a state like pennsylvania. Conservative on fiscal issues, tax issues. Has shown a lot of moderation and ability to work across the aisle with West Virginia u. S. Senator whos a democrat on things like gun violence, et cetera. So i think he has a good now, if trump loses by 10, 12 points, its a different story. And the current poll shows that Katie Mcginty is slightly ahead now in pennsylvania. Its a very tight race. If we go to that graphic, you can see that there is going to be an interesting dynamic, again, because of the national polling. Mcginty at 47 and toomey at 44 is the latest poll. So, well see what happens, larry. And i think going back to your question, both things can be true, right . Toomey could be making an issue of sanctuary cities out of political need. But he could also be right. And i think that democrats just by kneejerk defending sanctuary cities really run a risk because youre right, jeff. It is a really visceral, emotional response to that kind of policy. And Obamas Administration is not in agreement with mayor kenney as it relates to sanctuary cities. Think of that. Youve got a mayor deciding which parts of the federal law theyre going to support or not. Deportation or not. Its outrageous. All right, were gonna have inside stories coming up. Thank you for your thoughts. When we come right back. Stick around. I approve this message. Donald trump i could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldnt lose any voters, okay . And you can tell them to go f themselves you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. You gotta see this guy. Ahh, i dont know what i said, ahh. I dont remember. Hes going like i dont remember for senate, a clear difference. Katie mcginty for background checks, for banning assault weapons, and banning highcapacity ammunition clips. And pat toomey . Against an assault weapons ban and against banning high capacity ammo clips like those used in the orlando massacre. Listen to pat toomey brag i have had a perfect record with the nra. Pat toomey gets an a from the nra. Hes not for you. Senate majority pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. Inside story is presented by Temple University. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. Time for inside stories of the week, and lets start with larry. Monica, back for black history month, Charles Barkley profiled for my philadelphia citizen his africanamerican allstars because he wanted to shine a light on achievers beyond sports and entertainment. Now comes word that hell be debuting on tnt a show called the race card about race in america. I think itll be entertaining and provocative. Mm. Jeff. It was a tough week last week for those in support of the legalization of marijuana and medical marijuana. The Drug Enforcement administration reclassified that marijuana will continue to be a schedule i substance, thus delaying cause i dont think it would be prohibited the legalization and therefore, chances for people who really do benefit from medical marijuana across the country to have those therapies. All right. Nia. The National Association of black journalists and hispanic journalists just wrapped up its joint convention in d. C. As always, we invited both Hillary Clinton and donald trump as the nominees of their parties. Donald trump declined, unfortunately. He had thousands of thought leaders that he could have made his case to. He chose not to. Is there any reason to wonder why . Hes polling at about 2 , only second to barry goldwater. Mm. All right, brian. About 550 athletes down in rio this week, and over 40 of them come from the greater philadelphia area, the tristate area. I think its the action news effect. [ laughter ] and were so proud of team u. S. A. And we also want to give our condolences to the family of captain noah, carter merbreier, beloved member of our action news family, and for years, entertained children. He was a oneofakind and incredible tv icon. We will miss him very much. Thank you all for watching. We appreciate you being here with us on inside story. And to all our insiders, thank you. Have a good week. Well see you right back here next sunday morning. Im nydia han along with gray hall. Coming up next on action news, from passion to Senior Centers folks are doing whatever they can to do what they can in the excessive heat. Milwaukee, folks take to the street and set businesses on fire after a deadly shooting. A car crashes into a Apartment Building where Temple University students live. When does the heat wave come to an end . Well have that next on action news. Fios is not cable. Were wired differently. So we wired the wagners house with 100 meg internet. Which means that in the time it takes mr. Wagner to pour a 20 oz. Cup of coffee, tommy can download 30 songs, and jan can upload 120 photos. 12 seconds. Thats the power of fiber optics. And right now you can get 100 meg internet with equal upload and dowloads speeds, tv and phone for just 69. 99 per month online. Cable cant offer internet speeds this fast at a price this good. Only fios can. Good afternoon, it is sunday, august 14 im nydia han along with gray hall. Heres some of the stories were following on action news, happening right now crews are working to fix a water main