csua.org/u/4nt -> www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10289333&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6
The three officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the FBI was responsible for the bugs, but refused to comment on whether Street is a target of an investigation or to provide any details about the nature of the probe. The devices were found Tuesday by police conducting a routine sweep of Streets City Hall office suite. Arlen Specter, a Republican, were among several politicians who called on the FBI Wednesday to tell the public what it knows about the eavesdropping equipment. I think given this extraordinary situation with four weeks to go in the campaign, it is incumbent upon the FBI to say why they planted the device, said Rendell. I think theyve got an obligation to the people of Philadelphia to tell why they planted it. Specter also cited the enormous public importance of the election in calling on the Justice Department to release all information on the bugging, so long as no potential defendants rights are compromised and no harm will come to any pending investigation. Street is a locked in a bitter rematch against Republican businessman Sam Katz, and the campaign has been marked by charges of intimidation and race-baiting.
FBI spokesman Linda Vizi said the equipment was not connected to campaign espionage, but she refused to say whether Street was being investigated or whether the FBI planted the device. At a meeting with reporters Wednesday, Street said for the second day that he didnt know who bugged his office, or why. I havent done anything wrong, and I dont know that anybody in my cabinet or in my staff around me has done anything wrong, Street said. Streets campaign suggested the bugging was instigated by the Bush administration Justice Department for political reasons. What the campaign does find incredibly curious is that the FBI could so quickly leap to the conclusion that this was not related to the mayoral campaign in any way, shape or form, said Street campaign spokesman Frank Keel. The timing of the discovery of these listening devices seems incredibly strange, seeing that we are four weeks out of the election, and we have a Democratic mayor ahead in the polls, and we are on the eve of the first mayoral debate. Keel went on: Do we believe that the Republican Party, both at the federal level and state level, is pulling out every stop to get Pennsylvania in 2004? US Attorney Patrick Meehan, the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, declined to say what federal agents might know about the bug, but denied politics plays any role in his offices decisions. The United States Attorneys office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of doing its work without regard to partisan politics. That was the practice of my predecessors, and it is my practice as well, Meehan said in a statement. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said the security sweeps of the mayors office have been going on for decades. An aide to Street, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that more than one microphone was found and that all were within the mayors office suite. Officials would not say how long the equipment was believed to have been in place. But police said a similar sweep done in June found nothing suspicious. Katz called the discovery breathtakingly shocking, and joined the calls for the FBI to reveal more.
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