for BigTrial.net
One of the advantages of being a progressive Democratic public official in Philadelphia is that you can basically lie your ass off, and then count on the progressive Democratic "journalists" at The Philadelphia Inquirer to cover for you.
Over a six-day period earlier this month, we witnessed some blatant examples of this phenomenon. We're talking about lies told by three of the highest ranking officials in the city, as in the mayor, the police commissioner, and the district attorney.
Let's start with the D.A. On Oct. 13th, District Attorney Larry Krasner showed up at City Council to address a Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention. With the city heading toward all-time highs in shootings and murders, Krasner was in a pickle because the police department had just laid out some devastating stats that showed what a horrible job Krasner was doing at prosecuting gun crimes. To make matters worse, those stats came directly from the D.A.'s own "Open Data Dashboard."
The stats showed that the conviction rate in the D.A.'s office for prosecuting gun crimes had fallen from a high of 73% in 2015, when Seth Williams was D.A., all the way down to 35% so far this year under D.A. Krasner.
Meanwhile, the number of gun crime cases that were either withdrawn or dismissed by the D.A.'s office went from 17% in 2015, when Seth Williams was D.A., all the way up to 61% this year under D.A. Krasner.
So how did Krasner explain his horrible performance in office, as testified to by his own office's stats? Well, Krasner basically bullshitted cowed and/or gullible city council members by telling them that they weren't seeing what they were seeing, namely those horrible stats. Then, Krasner told some lies and invented some bogus new stats.
And nobody at the Inquirer, or the City Council, called him on it.
In a story by Anna Orso and Sean Collins Walsh, the Inquirer pretended that the controversy over Krasner's horrible record at prosecuting gun crimes didn't exist by failing to mention the real stats, or Krasner's lies or Krasner's bogus stats.
Instead, the Inquirer quoted Krasner as saying that his office was understaffed, and facing a big backlog of cases because of the pandemic. The Inquirer also quoted Krasner as saying that a recent collaboration with the police department has actually decreased crime in targeted areas.
It was left to Big Trial to sort through Krasner's lies and distortions, to set the record straight on his complete failure in office to prosecute gun crimes. At a time when people are getting shot and dying in record numbers.
After Krasner's BS act in City Council, I sent an email to Vincent Thompson, communications director for City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, the chairman of the gun violence committee, basically pointing out that Krasner had just lied to Johnson and his fellow council members.
Even when people are getting shot and dying in record numbers. It's more important to be a loyal Dem, than do our job, or try and save some lives by holding the D.A. accountable.
So Councilman Johnson immediately fell into line.
"The Council member will not have any comments concerning D.A. Krasner's testimony," Thompson replied. When I pointed out that the council member's silence would only ensure that more people are shot and killed, Thompson replied, "If the Council member has any comments or concerns about D.A. Krasner's testimony, he will speak to the D.A. directly."
I also tweeted my story pointing out Krasner's lies and bogus stats directly to several City Council members, and the predictable response was crickets.
In Philadelphia, this is how the system works. To prove that point, six days later, on Oct. 19th, in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, a judge who used to work for Larry Krasner heard testimony from Inspector Winton Singletary, regarding the question of who gave the final authority on June 1, 2020, to launch tear gas at protesters who were illegally blocking the Vine Street Expressway during rush hour.
From the witness stand, the inspector said that former deputy Police Commissioner Dennis Wilson was in "constant contact" that day with the "on-site incident commanders," whom Singletary repeatedly identified as Police Commissioner Outlaw and Mayor Kenney.
Singletary further testified that he heard Wilson say over police radio that he had received final approval to tear gas the protesters, an approval that Singelary said came not only from Outlaw, but also the mayor.
As reported only by Big Trial, Singletary's testimony completely contradicted the alibi told by Outlaw at a June 25, 2020 joint press conference with Kenney called to issue a formal apology for the teargassing.
At the press conference, Deputy Police Commissioner Wilson claimed he had failed to obtain final permission from Outlaw before giving the order to launch tear gas.
"I didn't call the commissioner, I gave the approval," Wilson said. "And it was me and me alone."
"Falling on the sword," was how Outlaw characterized it.
Nobody in the police department, however, bought that story.
As several cops who knew Wilson told Big Trial, Wilson was the ultimate company man, a cautious cover-your-ass kind of guy. He would have never taken such a drastic action, those sources say, such as teargassing protesters in the middle of a riot, with TV helicopters flying overhead, without first clearing it with his superiors.
So why did Wilson take the fall, along with a voluntary demotion to chief inspector, and an annual pay cut of $30,000? Because, according to police sources, Wilson had been told that the D.A. was planning to arrest him. And if convicted, under Pennsylvania law, Wilson stood to not only lose his pension, but also a DROP bonus of some $800,000.
Since Wilson publicly sacrificed himself to spare Kenney and Outlaw from the political fallout, Outlaw has continued the cover up by repeatedly ignoring requests from her own Internal Affairs Unit to testify about her actions regarding the teargassing. The police tapes from the day of the Vine Street teargassing have also conveniently been removed from public access.
The case where Inspector Singeltary was testifying at was over the firing of former SWAT team member Rich Nicoletti for pepper-spraying three protesters on the expressway. More testimony damaging to Outlaw and Kenney is expected when the Nicoletti case goes to trial as early as next month.
But how did the Inquirer cover the preliminary hearing in the Nicoletti case where Inspector Singletary dimed out Kenney and Outlaw? Chris Palmer, a regular collaborator with official Dems, basically carried Krasner's water by ignoring the evidence that Kenney and Outlaw were lying, and by publishing two BS PR announcements from Krasner.
In the Inquirer story, Krasner claimed that his office was applying "even-handed and equal accountability to people who unlawfully inflict harm on others -- regardless of their title, status, or official position with the City of Philadelphia."
Inspector Singletary testified at a preliminary hearing that amounted to round two in the Nicoletti case. Another judge, William Austin Meehan, had previously tossed all the charges in the case against Nicoletti. Krasner responded by refiling the charges against Nicoletti, only this time with a judge who was more amenable to his progressive BS.
That would be Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell, who formerly worked as an assistant district attorney for Krasner in 2018. It was the appearance of a conflict of interest that Bryant-Powell did not disclose in court, although she did make a big deal out of disclosing that she was overly friendly with the father of Nicoletti's lawyer, a since deceased judge.
So what did the Inquirer do? Why of course they ignored the appearance of a conflict on the part of the judge. They also covered for Kenney and Outlaw by not reporting that the evidence in the Nicoletti case indicated that Kenney and Outlaw were liars.
Finally, the Inquirer printed a second BS PR statement from Krasner, this time trashing Judge Meehan for tossing the charges against Nicoletti.
"Speaking broadly," Krasner lectured in a PR blast, "public confidence in institutions is eroded when people are told by powerful, largely unaccountable figures that something they've seen with their own eyes did not actually occur, or is only a problem when just certain people are the [perpetrators.]"
Hey Larry, public confidence in institutions is also eroded when powerful largely unaccountable figures such as yourself tell public officials and the public that something that they've seen with their own eyes, namely the stats from the D.A.'s office that show what a terrible job you're doing on prosecuting gun crimes, don't say what they do say.
Public confidence in institutions is also eroded when public officials show up at City Council and tell a bunch of lies supported by bogus facts that you just made up.
And as far as the Inquirer is concerned, any newspaper that fails in its public duty of holding government officials accountable is no longer worthy of the public trust.
Or public support.