All five female members of Philadelphia City Council have joined forces with the local chapter of the National Organization for Women in urging the termination of three prosecutors involved in a pornographic email ring.
The prosecutors are Frank G. Fina, E. Marc Costanzo and Patrick J. Blessington. They received and/or sent racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails while employed at the state Attorney General’s Office.
They’re currently employed at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where they earn six-figure salaries.
D.A. Seth Williams refuses to fire them, though he said they’ll receive sensitivity training. The prosecutors at issue didn’t respond to a PGN question as to whether they’ll resign.
They also didn’t respond to a question as to whether they should have informed Williams of their prior involvement in the porn ring, before he hired them.
The emails associated with the men contain degrading depictions of lesbian sex, along with content that ridicules gay men and demeans women and African-Americans.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Cindy Bass said she feels strongly that the prosecutors should be terminated.
“There’s no place for racism, sexism or homophobia in today’s culture, and certainly not within the D.A.’s Office or any place in Philadelphia,” Bass told PGN. “We’re a very progressive city, one of the most progressive in the nation. And we expect more from our elected officials and from those who serve under them. These three individuals serve at the pleasure of D.A. Seth Williams. So he does have the authority and power to terminate them as employees, because of their unacceptable conduct.”
Bass said she reviewed the pornographic emails, and she’s outraged.
“This is something you would expect from a frat boy or a young teenage boy — certainly not from seasoned prosecutors who stand in judgment of others and determine if cases move forward,” she said. “They really hold other people’s lives in their hands.”
Bass said she’s discussed the situation with Williams.
“He appears to have dug in his heels,” she said. “We certainly hope he’ll rethink the situation, and the more he hears about it in the future, the more thought he will give to the issue. This situation is not going away. We’re going to keep it going.”
Bass credited state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane for unearthing the emails.
“Say what you will about Kathleen Kane, but if it weren’t for her, those emails would have been swept under the rug.”
Bass added: “No matter what people may think of Kathleen Kane, we all have to acknowledge she did do a service by releasing those emails, which call into question the judgment of these public servants, who are held to a higher standard because of the positions they hold.”
Cameron Kline, a spokesperson for Williams, had no comment for this story.
Former state Rep. Babette Josephs questioned whether Williams would have hired the men if he knew about their prior association with pornographic emails.
“I’d like to know whether Seth Williams would have hired these miscreants, if he knew about their misbehavior,” Josephs told PGN. “If he says no, then he needs to fire them. If he says yes, then we know something about Seth Williams’ character or lack thereof.”
Nina Ahmad, president of the local chapter of NOW, said the group is circulating an online petition demanding the prosecutors’ termination.
She also noted that the email scandal exposed by Kane encompasses some members of the judiciary.
“Public trust is further eroded by the fact there is a widespread, private relationship between prosecutors in both criminal and civil matters and the judges they appear before in those cases — since these emails were traded with a wide swath of people, including judges,” Ahmad told PGN.
She said a special prosecutor should review the email scandal.
“It’s time for the [state] Supreme Court to appoint an independent special prosecutor to examine the extent of this practice,” Ahmad said. “The special prosecutor should have the power to interview the senders and receivers of these emails — and the judges and prosecutors who received them — to determine what private relationships exist.”