Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20170521

Was headed by lynne abraham, who was labeled americas deadliest d. A. Her tendency to go for Capital Punishment in murder cases. Now you have krasner, who has filed numerous civil lawsuits against Philadelphia Police. Hes represented protesters with black lives matter and occupy philadelphia. Hes never held the office of a prosecutor or been a prosecutor in his career. So, brian, do prosecutors in the d. A. s office right now, and do Police Officers in the Philadelphia Police department have reason to worry about krasner becoming d. A. . Well, as one person in the d. A. s office said, they said, im not sure whether to laugh or to cry when he heard the news, but you should get to know who really won the d. A. s race. The man who won the d. A. s race isnt krasner, its george soros, a mysterious billionaire who put up 1. 5 million. He wasnt born in philadelphia. He has a great backstory in some ways holocaust survivor, et cetera. Hes also the man that paul krugman, the liberal columnist from the new york times, said broke the back of england for his own personal gain, made a billion dollars in 1992 by trading and almost destroying the bank of england. So thats who won the race no connection to philadelphia, funded the race, got an unknown guy named krasner elected, who is super liberal, who has sued the city and the Police Department 75 times, but if you want to know who won the race, george soros won the race, so do some homework. Donna . George . I dont really think thats the case. I mean, the Koch Brothers spend money all over the country, electing people they dont know who support their philosophy. Soros is supporting a guy who supports his philosophy. Untermeyer spent over a million dollars. So its not like the dollars spent were unbalanced. I think that krasners clearly a progressive candidate. He really comes to it with a new mindset. I think thats not bad for law enforcement, certainly from the community that im a part of. They are looking for reform in the criminal Justice System, but i hope that krasner understands that hes also a leader, cause at the end of the day, if you dont address the issues of poverty, if you dont address the issues of education, if you dont change the quality of life in town, the criminal Justice System thats not really the job of the d. A. It is. We elect people to be leaders. In my judgment, we elect people to be leaders, and thats the problem. We say the District Attorney is not supposed to be anything other than a criminal justice he is. He is the second or third highestranking elected official in the city of philadelphia. Hes a leader in town, and he needs to express his voice as a leader. There are a lot of democrats who are torn by this right now. Well, let me just say just from my point of view, i think that we need to be optimistic that krasner will be a good District Attorney because that office has been rife with derision and difficulty, and the people that are doing the daytoday lift, its been very hard for them. So im hopeful that he is gonna be a good d. A. Hes never managed a big office. Thats gonna be a challenge for him. Im fine with his antiDeath Penalty position. I think we spend way too much money on trying to manage all of the appeals, and im happy with if somebody commits a heinous crime no parole, life sentence, but i think the thing that troubles me the most about krasner has to do with some of the things that brian said about the soros money, but i also think that krasner, his win represents something very, very important. There is so much fear in this country and in this city about the authoritarianism that is coming out of washington, and i think that what people are looking for in krasner is somebody who is gonna be a significant force against that. Thats not a small matter. Let me ask you this, dom. Beth grossman, who is the republican nominee, she was unopposed. She has said she might reach out to the fraternal order of police, which is very much against krasners candidacy, and we always say this is such a big democratic city, but we had Arlen Specter serve as d. A. , ran as republican also ron castille was a republican District Attorney in philadelphia. So, does Beth Grossman have any sort of chance of winning this election in november . Well, a, im told there might be an independent candidate. Theyre already looking to fundraise. John mcnesby is not talking about this guy in any political sense, and im not, either. This guy is way off the map on anything possible. So i dont care about what managerial experience he had or not. Hes a radical, and the mob that was with him the night on Election Night was chanting f the police. When that was stopped and quieted down, they were chanting, no good cops in a racist system. Krasner then lectured everybody on freedom of speech and donald trump. He should have apologized, and he should have told those people thats not what he represents. I fear that he does. He was perfectly fine with that under the guise of freedom of speech. How would you feel being a cop in philadelphia today . But he was actually quoted in the newspaper as saying, i dont necessarily believe what those people said. George, though george, isnt that pretty tepid . Do you remember any public figure engaged in this . He should have said he did say it. He said, i defend their right of free speech, but i dont agree with what they said. I dont think that grossman is ron castille. I do think that there are people out there who would traditionally support a democratic candidate would be available to support her, but i think that if krasners smart, if he moves quickly to consolidate the people like ryan boyer and the laborers who didnt support him. There are africanamerican elected officials and ward leaders who didnt support him. If he moves quickly to consolidate that base, it is a base that is looking for a progressive message. Whether you like the guy or not, he has a progressive message that resonates with voters who think that the criminal Justice System has worked against them. There are plenty of progressives in there, and i differ with them like joe khan and others. They were not taking money from george soros, whos doing this to subvert the law. In other words, the Death Penalty is the law. Krasners saying hes never gonna use the Death Penalty under any circumstance. Thats problematic right there. Well, i mean, everybody goes to the soros thing. I mean, the Koch Brothers are all over the place with money. Theyre supporting people who i think are anathema to the community that i represent, but i defend their right to spend their money where they want to spend. Soros spends his money all over the country. George, youre telling me that if the Koch Brothers had given a million and a half untermeyer spent his own money. Youre telling me the Koch Brothers dropped a million and a half into this race, and somebody won it, you wouldnt be upset about it . The Koch Brothers drop a million and a half dollars in congressional races all over the country. But youre talking about here in philadelphia now. If they come into philadelphia and decide theres a candidate that they want to support, i might not like it, but they have a right to do it. Theres not a question about rights or laws, but it is important that people understand where the money came from. Im not troubled by the fact that he spent that money, and i believe krasner would have won without that money. I dont think he would have. I absolutely believe he would. I think he would have. I agree with george. He had the biggest Political Base in this election. That doesnt speak well for philadelphia he would have won. He wouldnt have been able to fund the ground game without that cash. The ground game was for him. The ground game was for him. The biggest wards in town were for him. I come back to what is it like to be a cop in philadelphia . What would you say to a cop . I had people calling me, saying, what are we gonna do as a cop . He is anticop. Its as simple we dont know how hes gonna behave once he gets elected. Wait a minute. George, he ran on this. Was he lying . He ran on a progressive record. He didnt run on anticop. He ran on anticop. This is like if roger ailes hadnt died, taking over msnbc. That would have been like the same thing. He ran, basically, on the same message that khan ran on. I dont think so at all. I interviewed them. All those people ran on the same message. I dont think so. Lets move on. Its a big story. We could talk the whole time about it. Well follow the election in november. A lot of things can happen. You mentioned potential independent candidacy. Well see. Now, a longtime Philadelphia Democratic official found himself primaried. Rebecca rhynhart defeated threeterm incumbent city controller Alan Butkovitz in tuesdays primary. She won a convincing 58 of the vote over butkovitzs 40 . Butkovitz, who, as you remember, considered running for mayor in 2015 and held the endorsement of the democratic party, found himself broadsided. Rhynhart is a new face in the party. She served in the kenney and Nutter Administrations, and perhaps may be a sign of a portion or a portion, george, of the philadelphia electorate is tiring of some of these longtime democratic politicians . Is that your interpretation . I dont think theres any question that people are looking for change. I think you know, and its not just Rebecca Rhynhart. If you look at the Philadelphia City council, if you look at the philadelphia delegation in harrisburg, the next generation of elected officials are almost all in place in those places. Change is taking place quickly, and Rebecca Rhynhart is an example of that. I think she benefited from the increased turnout that probably was driven by krasner in this election. Turnout was only 18 , but the last election was 13 . So theres a 5 increase. And i do think that people are looking for change. People are frustrated and are tired of supporting people based on intent and effort. Theyre looking for outcomes. They dont think theyve gotten outcomes from the existing elected forces, and theyre looking for change. Let me get donna in here. So, a couple things. There certainly was a wave of change. Its important to remember that this is the first election thats been held in philadelphia since Donald Trumps election, and there is so much pentup energy among women who are angry that donald trump is president , among people who are angry and upset that the status quo has now become something that they need to fear, and i just want to say a word about Alan Butkovitz. I mean, alan has served admirably as a Public Servant in the legislature, in the Controllers Office for three terms. He has never even been accused of any impropriety with anything of serious measure, other than the very unkind things that Michael Nutter said about him. He engaged in a series of adhominem attacks on Alan Butkovitz that i found stunning. Now, that said, Rebecca Rhynhart was the beneficiary of Michael Nutters anger with the butkovitz episode. Going back to the. Yes. Yes, exactly. So, but all of these things conspired, i think, to produce an outcome in which a young woman who is talented, by everyones account, is going to be the next city controller. So i think that the wave of women who wanted to see Something Different and even the inquirer endorsement was interesting because they described Alan Butkovitz as having served adequately. I think he did a better job than that, but to the points that have been made here previously yes, its changing, its getting different. Theres a new youre connecting the dots with krasner rhynhart as a direct response to president trump. Absolutely. I think its a couple other things, too. I would add that rhynhart, being a new face, a woman supported by nutter, had been in the kenney administration. Ive yet i mean, Alan Butkovitz, he served admirably, but ive yet to find a butkovitz like, i love Alan Butkovitz. You know, he just didnt generate that kind of passion, and in this kind of a race with a high turnout and this and that and a woman and a person you could see alan was vulnerable and is vulnerable. My only question is, what is she going to do thats so much different than what he did thats gonna be a pushback against donald trump . And or if youre tired of all the type of stuff that goes on in philadelphia, maybe a diversity of ideas . I dont see too much different id like the controller to be the controller, to be honest with you not so much worry about donald trump. I would like them to make sure the moneys being spent right and that those sorts of things are being done right. What she has said is that shes gonna audit every department every year. Which is what butkovitz did, anyway, with the resources available. But the question is, everybody wants to know how objectively all thats been done. For better or for worse, and i have a huge amount of respect for Alan Butkovitz, but he was historically seen as a part of the party process, and so people questioned at times his objectivity on some of that, but i think he is i want to say one thing about the machine that everybody is so angry about, because you keep hearing, antimachine, antimachine. Heres what happens on election day. All of those polling places that everyone takes for granted are run by the machine the committee people, the judges of elections who work for the week before the election until after the election. They work from 5 oclock in the morning getting the polls set up until 10 oclock that night. So people need to understand when they are against the machine, they need to have a little bit of respect for the people who actually do the work, and if the machine were to go away tomorrow, i dont know who would man the polls. Nobody has more respect for the machine than i do, and i think people, when they talk about the machine in this context, its governing. Its not the people running the election on election day. Mike tomlinson is facing an uphill battle. He is a Republican City controller candidate, and he faces rhynhart in november. In allentown, the status quo will continue to be uncertainty at city hall. Mayor ed pawlowski fought off six challengers in the democratic primary to win the nomination and run for a fourth term. He will face republican nat hyman in november. Youve heard about all these things going on there. Pawlowskis office has been under an fbi investigation for two years in a paytoplay scheme. Its produced six guilty pleas, and some wonder even if pawlowski is elected in november, or reelected, he wont be be able to even serve his full term because of an indictment, and hes even been questioned on this himself. So, dom, did ed pawlowski just write the book on how to win a primary under insurmountable odds . I dont know that theyre insurmountable. Its the machine again, and politics seem to be there. Hes a known quantity. It was a very low turnout, and he had all those challengers. Im really not surprised by this. I dont know that allentown is a bastion of lets change the system, lets push forward. I think theyre content, and he had enough supporters, i assume, who think hes gonna weather this, and they want to bet on that guy versus some unknown. Yeah 92,000 election, too, so its not a lot of money, but you do feel good that theres a farm system for philadelphia just like the reading phillies are. Weve got it in allentown, too the same level of corruption and acceptance and tolerance of that. Its great. Its like a minor league. The fact is, he just snuck through. I mean, its not like he won in over he got, what, 29 . There was another guy with 26, another person with 22. One of the people in the 20s said they werent gonna support him in the fall, so i think its a tossup in the fall. More political discussions coming up next. 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. Back with inside story. The Democratic National convention in philadelphia was very successful and very profitable, and that actually has turned out to be a problem. The dnc committee earned a 4million surplus from the event last summer. The inquirer reports a quarter of it was spent on bonuses for staff and volunteers, and that has angered not only state senate republicans, who want an audit, but also governor wolf, who suggests the money should have been returned to taxpayers, and the p. A. Auditor general himself wants to do an audit, or at least look into it. Should the money have been returned to taxpayers, donna . Ive heard a number of different stories about where the money came from, what the decision process was, and i think its important to hold judgment before all the facts are out. So, one of the narratives that is coming out of this is that the people who led the effort to put this in play, to actually make this happen, work for over a year with no pay. I mean, so they were betting on the idea that they might be able to pull this off. The Nutter Administration had completely dropped the ball. No one in the Nutter Administration was working on this, so there were external phenomena that drove the convention into philadelphia, and those people should be compensated, but i think that one of the things that has happened is that when governor rendell set up that nonprofit, i think there was a lot of uncertainty about the parameters under which people would be compensated, and as a consequence, when you go back and do the lookback, because you havent laid that out properly, it ends up looking like something that is untoward. Were getting a differing view from brian. A couple different things. A terrific event, made the city look great as the pope was visiting, and the republican National Convention all those things, so great great economic impact. I understand if i was a republican in harrisburg, id be like, i want to know about this, and i could understand if i was governor wolf, whos probably sick of hearing people say how great governor rendell is, id like to get into it. But heres the facts. There was a separate bank account set up for the state money. It went into that. It was specifically targeted for wells fargo center, construction all those sorts of things. That money was spent for that. There was another 75million writ given by individuals, corporations. Im hearing nobody in that group whos upset about it. So the state money was in a separate bank account. It was for specific things. It was spent for specific things this part doesnt seem to get out too much and it was actually the state gave them a clean audit a few months ago saying, congratulations. You guys did it really well. Heres the 10 million. So i think its politics. I understand the politics of it if i was the governor. I understand the politics if i was the republicans up in harrisburg. You know, id be doing the same sort of thing. But thats the facts behind this. The ordinary joe that i hear from is disappointed by it. I mean, at the end of the day, folks get into the political process, and they take risk that if you win, youre gonna get a benefit out of winning that, and there is no clear determination of how these numbers were decided, and just the ordinary joe is disappointed. I would agree. The money should go back to taxpayers. The other thing, i think, to donnas point, when people are involved in this, i think theyre gaining something, if not direct compensation. In other words, theres all sorts of networking and other things that go on, and if we traced each one of them, they wanted to do that, i think theres gain for their brand if nothing else. Lets talk about the amtrak case. D. A. Seth williams, as you know, declined to file charges against the amtrak engineer involved in the deadly crash in Port Richmond two years ago. Then a philadelphia judge said, no, youre filing charges, and it ended up in the hands of attorney general josh shapiro, whose office filed Involuntary Manslaughter charges. Brandon bostian was actually arrested and charged and released on unsecured bond this week. So, brian, why not the d. A. Filing charges in this case and why has it fallen in the hands of the state attorney general . Why didnt Seth Williams just file charges . Well, they didnt, and then the court said and they bumped it back, saying that weve already decided, so were going to the attorney general. The attorney general josh which people have tremendous respect for, republicans and democrats had, i think, just 24 hours to make the decision. Look, on the one hand, this young fellow is clean on drugs and this and that, and he had an exemplary record. On the other hand, eight people are dead, and many, many more injured, so the thought that somehow theres a review and nothings happening, it seems appropriate for the next level of inquiry, and i think the attorney general did a good job. Now, you take bribegate remember that case a couple years ago . Kathleen kane didnt want to prosecute that case, and then Seth Williams jumped on it in a matter of seconds, and thats kind of a role reversal here, wouldnt you say . I think that was clearly political. I dont think this is political. I think that josh shapiro has a real commitment to wanting to restore the integrity of the office. I think he didnt want to have questioning. Hed rather go through a legitimate Legal Process and let the facts come out. Right. Well, i think people want to know how did it happen . What happened with this guy . We heard that he got a lawyer almost instantly, and i still dont know the story. Was something thrown at the vehicle . Is that what happened . Why would you end up with this kind of carnage and not get an answer . Its gonna be a tough case. The only facts that we do know that have been reported are that there were no substanceabuse issues. He was tested for everything. He was not on his cellphone, which is what a lot of people wondered about whether or not it was an episode of distracted engineering, if i can call it that. But i also think that, to the point made earlier on the subject of there are eight people dead and a lot of people injured, and he was at the helm. So whats intriguing to me and i defer to the lawyers here. I dont understand it makes sense to me that there would be a review, but, to my knowledge, to have a judge say and direct essentially direct the Attorney Generals Office to bring charges, i think, is unusual. So maybe theres something there, but hopefully the courts will reveal it. Got to go to inside stories of the week. Well be right back. 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. Four fresh inside stories of the week. We start with george. In the supercharged political environment that were in, david hyman, my good friend and i, were talking the other day how we made political decisions in that we would first decide what was right and then try to maximize the political benefit or minimize the political damage. Today people seem to decide whats right politically and go from there. Thank you, george. Dom. My inside story, given the antagonism that i see toward cops in philadelphia, im working with john mcnesby to honor those rookie trainees who were aboard the bus in maryland, who, according to accounts, didnt even wait for their bus to stop before they jumped off, rode to the rescue of those children with the bus that was overturned. Thank you, dom. Donna. In the spirit of renewing the machine, the democratic machine, that is, i want to acknowledge the tremendous turnout in wards well beyond what we would have imagined in this election, and in the 9th ward, 11th division, in which im a Committee Person, im gonna be retiring from that role. So i am soliciting anyone who lives in the 9th ward, 11th division, if you want to be a Committee Person and be part of the new machine, send me an email. Thank you, donna. Brian. I think theres a chance for great peace in washington, d. C. , and im really looking forward to next week, because wawa is supposed to announce next week their first store in washington, d. C. So what could bring people together to hold doors for each other after a terrific announcement this past week in east market, but that they may have the first delivery to apartments from that store . Now in washington. Peace and good coffee will be coming there. You mentioned holding the doors. The weird thing about wawas, everyone holds the door for you, but then they try and go past you with their cars when youre trying to get out of there in the parking lot. But then youre back on philadelphia streets. Yeah. It could be the biggest thing to happen in washington since airconditioning. I think so. A lot of people say congress is doing too much, but well see. I mean, hoagies for both sides of the aisle. Yes, sirree. Thats it for inside story. Well see you next week. Ill see you monday morning on action news at 4 30 a. M. Goodbye. Im gray hall, coming up next on him action news, a woman five months pregnant is found dead following a suspicious fire. We have the latest on the developing story. A community in shock after an overnight fire killed three people in wynnfield. President donald trump makes historic speech in saudi arabia. Youll hear what he said about the global fight gains terrorism. Those stories against terrorism. Those stories and the exclusive accuweather sevenday forecast is all next on action news. Thank you for joining us, sunday may 21 im gray hall. Innydia han is off. Heres some of the stories were following on action news. Were following developing news a pregnant woman was found dead after a suspicious fire in north philadelphia