Waste of the Day: Taxpayers Front Salaries for Corrupt Penn. Officials

Topline: The City of Philadelphia recently hired three former elected officials convicted years ago in high-profile corruption cases. They will collectively earn $235,000 in salary this year, according to records obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia and its white-collar convict officials

Key facts: Two of the employees work directly in Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration. 

Former traffic court judge Willie Singletary is earning $90,000 as the deputy director of community partnerships in the Mayor’s Office of Community Economic Opportunity.

Singletary was kicked off the bench in 2011 for sexual harassment. In 2015, he was convicted of lying to federal investigators during a probe into judges allegedly erasing traffic tickets for their friends and family, and sentenced to 20 months in prison. Singletary himself also racked up $11,000 in traffic tickets, according to the Inquirer.

Former State Rep. Leslie Acosta is making $70,000 at a community outreach job in Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce.

Acosta resigned from the legislature in 2018 after pleading guilty to money laundering. She admitted she accepted checks from a mental health clinic for services she did not perform, and was sentenced to seven months in jail.

Former State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell is earning $75,000 as a public information officer in the sheriff’s office. 

In 2020, prosecutors claimed she had embezzled $500,000 from Motivations Education & Consultation Associates, a nonprofit she founded, to buy herself fur coats and a Porsche. Johnson-Harrell served three months in prison as part of a plea deal.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Why are such people eligible?

Background: The City of Philadelphia boasted a payroll of just over $2 billion last year, according to records obtained by OpenTheBooks.com.

Then-Mayor James Kenney made $261,497, and Mayor Parker will earn the same amount after replacing him earlier this year. 

Ten people outearned Kenney last year. They were: Chief Executive Officer Atif Saeed, who led the payroll with a $335,000 salary, two deputy managing directors, and seven medical examiners.

Summary: If a conviction for corruption does not disqualify someone from receiving a taxpayer salary, then what does?

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RCI and made available via RealClearWire.