Mayor Street's press release on the Corey Kemp matter

From Mayor John F Street's press release:

For Immediate Release: May 9, 2005

Statement from Mayor John F. Street

After reviewing all the evidence, a jury found a former member of my Administration and four private citizens guilty of violating a variety of Federal laws. We respect that verdict. It is of little comfort that not all of the defendants were convicted on all counts.

These convictions should send a strong message that people who violate the public trust will be prosecuted, tried and convicted. That is the way it should be. As Mayor, I am deeply saddened to know that a former member of my administration was found guilty of violating the public's trust.

As I have said from the first moments this investigation was discovered, my administration has always had a zero tolerance for corruption and, as promised, we have fully cooperated with the federal prosecutors throughout this process. We have turned over hundreds of thousands of pages of materials to the United States Attorney's office and spent thousands of hours working with them to ensure full examination and deliberation about the allegations.

Today's verdicts highlight the need for Council to pass the comprehensive ethics proposals I have submitted, which include restrictions on outside income and eliminates nepotism as well as increase financial disclosure.
The proposal creates an independent ethics board which will drastically change the way government business is done in our city.

It is important for all Philadelphians to have confidence that their government is doing the right thing for its citizens.

I'm all in favor of governmental reform, and if this is the start of it, I say, huzzah!