Milton Street: DA Seth Williams Is ‘Ambitiously Evil’

Photo | Dan McQuade

Despite postponing his promised press conference about pornographic emails sent by prosecutor Frank Fina, Milton Street still went on a rant about Seth Williams today outside the district attorney’s office. Street called him “ambitiously evil,” among other things.

Street — brother of former mayor John F. Street, a State Representative, perennial candidate for mayor and founder of Notlim Service Management Co. — is angry at Williams for his prosecution of three Philadelphia state representatives in the infamous “abandoned sting” case. Street handed out a flier saying Williams’ prosecution of Vanessa Lowery Brown, Michelle Brownlee and Louise Williams Bishop eliminated “150 years of legacy collectively.”

“Mr. Wiliams seeks to rise on the backs of black female elected officials,” Street said, “while patting the purveyors of pornography, like Frank Fina, on the back.”

Milton Street handed out this flier at Thursday’s postponed porn press conference. It’s now next Tuesday at noon.

Brownlee pleaded guilty and resigned her seat in June. Brown was to enter a guilty plea, but changed her mind at the last second; her trial is forthcoming. Bishop is fighting the charges against her; her lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. says Bishop was targeted because she’s African-American.

The “abandoned sting” prosecutions originated in the office of then-Attorney General Linda L. Kelly, but were secretly shut down by Kathleen Kane when she took office in early 2013. The Inquirer has reported Kane felt the sting was managed poorly and possibly tainted by racial bias. Williams eventually picked up the case and filed charges.

Williams said he was anguished at filing charges against Bishop, whose radio show his mother listened to. Fina, a former state prosecutor whose emails were eventually released by Kane as part of a feud between the two, now works for Williams. The D.A. says Fina and others won’t be fired for sending and receiving tasteless and/or offensive jokes using state email accounts.

Milton Street had promised to show pornographic emails sent and received by Fina today at noon, but said he postponed it to next Tuesday due to rain. (There was only a spotty light mist by noon, for the record.) This was the second postponement of his pornographic press conference.

“We may have some eye-opening material for you then,” Street said. Asked how he was going to show the porn emails in public, Street said: “I don’t know yet, but you’re going to know what they were looking at.”

Despite postponing his press conference about the porn emails, Street gave a freewheeling talk anyway, answering questions from a few reporters. He spent most of it attacking Williams.

“I worked for Seth Williams and I voted for Seth Williams,” Street said. “But I gotta tell you, when I was in the south in the ’60s … and I saw firsthand how prosecutors and investigators would convict people whether they were guilty or innocent, just to get the conviction. Well, my immediate conclusion was, if we can get black district attorneys that are more sensitive the issues, then we can have a level playing field.”

“The only thing I can think is that he wanted to add to his portfolio in order to run for a higher office.” And after all of that, he called Williams “ambitiously evil.”

Philly Mag is reaching out to Williams’ office for a response.

In addition to those comments, he also endorsed Philadelphia mayor-elect Jim Kenney — “He’ll do a good job as mayor or die trying” — said Dwight Evans was “disgusting” for running against recently indicted U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and added that Chaka “Chip” Fattah Jr. made a “stupid” decision by acting as his own attorney. Fattah was found guilty today in his bank fraud trial. “Not paying your taxes is like saying you’re pregnant when you’re not,” Street later said, referring to his own previous troubles with the law.

Street’s new porn email display will be on Tuesday at noon in front of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, catty-corner from City Hall near the Wanamaker Building. Unless, of course, it’s postponed again.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.