Carl R. Greene suspected John F. Street's aide was a PHA no-show worker

Months before the current scandal broke and the two powerful men squared off, Philadelphia Housing Authority chief Carl R. Greene hired private detectives to conduct surveillance on an aide to PHA Board Chairman John F. Street.

Greene suspected that Street's aide, lawyer Kafi Lindsay, was not showing up for work. It could not be learned Wednesday night whether tax dollars paid for the surveillance, which included following her throughout the city.

Greene's attorney, Clifford E. Haines, said that the investigation confirmed that Lindsay was "rarely in attendance at PHA" and performed private legal and real estate work while on the agency payroll.

Street immediately fired back, saying Lindsay works full-time for him. "He's desperate," the former mayor said of the embattled Greene.

Lindsay said she showed up for work "every day." Hired for the $55,000-a-year job at Street's request and with Greene's reluctant approval, Lindsay said she and Street often worked outside the PHA offices.

Lindsay said she feared she was being dragged into a fight between two political heavyweights.

In a twist, Lindsay is now helping Street conduct an investigation by the PHA into Greene's tenure as executive director.

Street and his four fellow board members suspended Greene last month with pay for 30 days following allegations that he sexually harassed at least four women, and that he settled three of those claims for $648,000 without the board's approval. The fourth, also negotiated without board approval, has been tentatively settled for $250,000, although no settlement papers have been signed.

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia is investigating whether federal tax dollars or charity funds were misspent by PHA, as well as whether vendors felt obliged to donate to charities Greene favored.

To perform the surveillance of Street's aide, Greene did not hire the detectives directly, sources said. Instead, he hired the Schnader law firm and the cochair of its government practice, prominent Philadelphia lawyer James Eisenhower, to investigate. Schnader earned $3.5 million in fees from PHA from 2007 to present, according to PHA records.

Eisenhower's firm hired a Newtown Square detective agency, Auld & Associates, which is made of up former FBI, IRS, and Drug Enforcement Agency agents and Philadelphia police officers.

An Auld spokesman declined to comment. Eisenhower did not return a phone call and e-mail message Wednesday.

Typically, detective agencies hired by law firms produce factual reports and do not necessarily provide conclusions. Lawyers who hire detective agencies do not always tell investigators who their clients are.

Greene was not available for comment Wednesday.

His lawyer, Haines, said Street "insisted" that Greene hire Lindsay.

"Carl wrote a letter to John F. Street expressing his concerns and reminded Street that this person would be paid with federal money and it was critical that she perform her job," Haines said.

In the letter, dated Dec. 15, 2008, Greene warned Street that Lindsay's duties would be limited to those "directly associated with administration, operation, and maintenance of public housing."

Greene also ceded to Street the responsibility for certifying Lindsay's timesheets.

Asked why Greene did not take action against Street or Lindsay once he concluded from the investigation that she was not showing up for work, Haines said:

"If there is in fact a person who rarely shows up, and that person was hired because Mayor Street pressed the executive director to act, what is Carl supposed to do? Go to the governor? The mayor? There is nowhere else to go."

In an interview Wednesday, Street confirmed that he instructed Greene to hire Lindsay.

"Absolutely, I asked him to hire her," he said. "I can't be the chairman of this board and have no one to talk to."

Until he was able to hire Lindsay, Street said, he was dependent upon Greene to get basic staff work performed. "If I wanted a phone call made or answered, I had to get someone in his office," Street said.

Lindsay, who worked for Street when he served as mayor, read PHA reports, answered letters, and handled monthly agendas, Street said.

Street confirmed that Greene objected to the hire: "Carl didn't want me to have any resources. He wanted everything to come directly through him. . . . I didn't want someone who reported back to Greene. I didn't think it was unreasonable."

Lindsay said her desk, which is next to Street's, is on the sixth floor of the PHA's Market Street office. The desks are in an unoccupied section of the building around the corner from other PHA offices. She said that she passed people on occasion when getting water or using the restroom, but that it would not be uncommon for her to see few people in the course of her day.

"People do not come into my section of the building," she said.

Lindsay was hired in December 2008, left on maternity leave in January 2010, and returned in late March.

A graduate of Howard University School of Law, Lindsay said she took the PHA job after being laid off from a real estate firm during the housing bust.

"It's ironic because even while I was on unpaid leave after having a baby, I kept in communication with the PHA," she said. She said she did some consulting work while on unpaid leave. She said she had also done legal work, but never on PHA time and all of it without pay.

Lindsay first began working for Street during his 2003 mayoral campaign. Lindsay earned $12,240, records show, writing policy papers for Street from August 2003 through January 2004.

After Street won, Lindsay began working in the Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning in 2004 as a special assistant to Planning Commission Executive Director Maxine Griffith. She left in August 2007 at an annual salary of $53,593.

After PHA hired her in 2008, Lindsay started her own law firm, the Lindsay Law Group, listing an address at a property she owns on West Tioga Street, according to state records.

Lindsay is also a licensed Realtor. As her employer, she lists a company called Independent Custom Realty L.L.P. Lindsay said she does not work for the company, but lists it because she wants to keep her real estate license active.