Seth Williams In Worst Feud Ever

Seth Williams — former Inspector General of Philadelphia and permanent District Attorney of the Internet — was lambasted by DA Lynne Abraham yesterday for his “baseless” charges against City Councilman Curtis Jones. Uhm, okay.

Abraham said the info Williams passed on about Jones was “poorly done” and based on “flawed reasoning.” Oh snap! Jones took some shots at Williams as well, claiming, “You want a fair and nonsensationalized investigation.” Ooh, an even bigger shot! Erhm, okay.

Seth Williams, any response: “It’s unfortunate that the district attorney is taking a political shot at me through this vehicle. Investigating fraud and waste in Philadelphia is a full-contact sport.” Boy, this sure is a heated political feud.

[Photo via Julie19144 on Flickr]

Councilman Has President Do His Bidding

Tuesday, the White House announced some sort of plan to help people from losing their houses. Fair enough. But City Councilman Curtis Jones saw the news and sent out a release to let everyone know he cared about the mortgage crisis when it was underground. Nay, he wasn’t just in on this on the ground floor, he was the catalyst for President Bush’s idea!

Addressing a problem identified by Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. in a January 31st resolution, President Bush on Tuesday announced a program entitled “Project Lifeline” an opportunity for those who are 90 days behind in their mortgage payments and face imminent loss of their homes. [...]

“While I am glad the President and the Democratic presidential candidates are finally realizing this is an issue affecting millions of everyday Americans, I have been concerned about this issue for many years, I look forward to examining the subject in depth during the hearing next week. President Bush and Senators Clinton and Obama all agree this is a national problem not seen since the Great Depression,” said Councilman Curtis Jones.

“While I am glad the President is finally realizing this is an issue, I have been concerned about this for many years, I would like to use this to make myself look better as a politician in a run-on sentence.”

Meanwhile, other City Council members are solving the problem of house stealing (122 cases in 2006!) by forming a task force, of course. Hey, Curtis, can you maybe get the Pope to look into this?

Curtis Jones: I beat George W. to the punch [Heard in the Hall]

Curtis Jones Admits He Only Has Hairdressing Degree

Looks like new City Council member Curtis Jones isn’t all that much different, annoyance-wise, than the woman he unseated, (de facto) appointed City Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell. (At least she fought for disability issues.)

Jones, who once yelled at an old lady on camera, said he had a masters from the University of Alabama. But, whoops, it turns out it’s actually a certificate from a series of workshops he attended. Technically, he is a Master Compliance Administrator, a note of completion from the American Contract Compliance Association.

His bio on the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp. said he also attended Boston University, but they have no record of him as a student. The contract compliance course has taken place at Alabama, but Jones was never a student there, either. Jones doesn’t even have an undergraduate degree, but was able to take four courses at Penn’s Fels School of Government.

“I take full responsibilitiy [sic] for any inaccuracies in the wording of my educational accomplishments,” Jones said in the statement. Unsure if that [sic] was in the actual statement or the Daily News just typed it wrong, but would it surprise anyone if Curtis Jones never took spelling class?

Update: Aww, it was a DN typo.

Clearing up a degree of some confusion [Daily News]
March 26: Get Ready For More Of This In The Coming Weeks

Get Ready For More Of This In The Coming Weeks

Last fall, five security cameras were installed along the 54th Street corridor. Hooray, everyone said. Government surveillance in the name of protection! But it wasn’t exactly government surveillance, as the cameras were run by the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp. And it also wasn’t exactly government surveillance because the cameras don’t really work.

Well, they work, but only sometimes. But the cameras are only checked every two weeks to make sure they’re working, so it’s sort of a pointless exercise even if the cameras are working. Naturally, the former head of the PCDC, Curtis Jones, is running for City Council (against Carol Campbell in the 4th District). And so, surprise!, here comes a story about Jones’ PCDC, less than two months before election time.

Of course, Jones didn’t do himself any favors by telling an old lady she was a liar on camera and later finding out that, no, the camera wasn’t working. The link comes from the YouTube user DontVoteCuritsJones, who one can only assume is against Curtis Jones as well.

Security Cameras Not Always Working [6 ABC]
Curtis Jones Freaks Out (and Lies) To Old Woman [YouTube]