Chaka Fattah's indictment made national news. If people in other parts of the country needed a reminder that Philadelphia's politics are the kind in which only the crooked rise, they got it. If people here needed a reminder that repeatedly reelecting incumbents who face no opposition results in corruption, they got that, too.
The local and national news both focused on the substance of the allegations against Fattah, which center on the use of public money laundered through a nonprofit organization to pay private debts, and taking bribes. Local political custom holds that death and Federal courts are the only ways an incumbent can be made to leave office involuntarily. As Fattah must realize, he could be forced out.
Other politicians in Philly may also be crapping their pants right now, knowing that they and their staffs behave just as Fattah and his staff are alleged to have done. But do they really have anything to worry about?
I doubt it. The funny thing about Fattah's indictment is the timing. I think it's as important a story as what Fattah is alleged to have done
Much of Fattah's alleged wrongdoing appears to have taken place between 2007 and 2011. It's been awhile since then. Even assuming that it took some time for Fattah's alleged transgressions to be discovered and investigated, four years or more seems like a very long time to wait for an indictment. A potentially career-ending public corruption case against an official as highly placed as a Congressman seems like it might have been a higher priority for the Justice Department.
I suspect that the reason for the wait has to do with an arrangement made a long time ago between President Barack Obama and Mayor Michael Nutter. Twice, Nutter delivered big votes in Philly to Obama, in effect winning Pennsylvania twice for the President. What did he get in return? At one time, it was thought Nutter might join Obama's Cabinet, but that never happened. Philadelphia did prevail in its bid to host the 2016 Democratic Convention, but that was a bone thrown to the City's Democratic Party collectively, not to Nutter personally.
Instead, I suspect Nutter got Obama's commitment some time ago to help him personally this year, in 2015. With Nutter's second term ending, he would be looking for a job worthy of the dignity of an ex-mayor. He or his handlers have been floating trial balloons in the media about his potential suitability for a seat in Congress since last year.
What was needed, though, was an open seat. That's where Obama could help Nutter. With a telephone and a Justice Department at his disposal, a President can create open seats in Philadelphia with relative ease. Few politicians here would likely be found clean on close inspection. But since Fattah's seat is the one Nutter is after, it was Fattah who found himself charged with crimes. The Justice Department won't get its hands any dirtier than it has to in order to see Nutter's path cleared.
If Fattah is guilty, he should go to jail, although I wouldn't bank on that. But if my theory about an Obama-Nutter deal is correct, it's doubtful that anything better can be expected of a future Congressman Nutter. What Philly's politics needs to become cleaner is more competition, not less. But if Nutter arranged to have Fattah displaced at a moment when he was overwhelmingly better prepared than anyone else to grab Fattah's seat by exerting influence on Democratic ward leaders, the result won't be a contest. Instead, we'll see the coronation of a new job-for-life incumbent who needn't answer to anyone other than a Federal court or the Grim Reaper.
