Donna Reed Miller's City Hall Office Raided By Ethics Board
The Philadelphia Board of Ethics is currently visiting the third-floor City Hall offices of Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and officers from the Philadelphia Police Department's Civil Affairs Unit are guarding the door. We hear Miller is not in the office. Board of Ethics staffers have been there for at least an hour.
Donna Reed Miller's City Hall Office Raided By Ethics Board
Catherine Lucey & Chris Brennan
The Philadelphia Board of Ethics is currently visiting the third-floor City Hall offices of Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and officers from the Philadelphia Police Department's Civil Affairs Unit are guarding the door. We hear Miller is not in the office. Board of Ethics staffers have been there for at least an hour.
A City Hall source says Miller's office is being investigated for allegedly using city-owned printers to produce materials for the Verna Tyner campaign. Miller, who in January announced that she would not seek re-election, endorsed Tyner on Tuesday.
"While many Eighth District candidates are bogged down in idealism, they offer no real solutions," Miller said in her endorsement. "Verna knows what it takes to make things happen in city government."
David Dunphy, a political consultant helping Tyner's campaign, said Miller has not been using her office to help Tyner.
"To my knowledge, there’s been absolutely no coordination between Donna Reed Miller’s Council office and Verna Tyner’s campaign." Dunphy said.
Dunphy acknowledged that Miller's endorsement was sent out Tuesday from her City Hall office, on her Council stationary, an oversight he blamed on Miller's City Hall staff. "It went out from the wrong place and the wrong computer," he said.
Charles Gibbs emerged from Miller's office, identified himself as her attorney, and said she was not available for comment. Gibbs said Miller would be releasing a statement later today.
UPDATE, 2:40 pm: Shane Creamer, executive director of the Board of Ethics, just left Miller's office and declined to comment. Miller's attorney issued a statement saying she was cooperating with the investigation but would have no further comment.
I'm not impressed with this story, it's like the bouncing dog's head, on the inside of the back car windows. All of the School District stories are much juicier and more costly.— paulfromtheoblongtable- Well, actually, she wasn't in her office. How would this Councilwoman know what it takes to "make things happen" in the district? She never represented the residents. She was and remains a political hack. Please name one piece of legislation that put through. Tell us what projects she oversaw. Nevermind....— Getinline
- Wait a minute...Donna was influential in the proposal for having criminals (like her staff), not be discriminated against ..and given a second interview!— veritasvinum
- How much does it cost to maintain Mr. Creamer and his office staff. What a waste of taxpayer's money.— cehank
- Let's raid all the offices and VOTE THEM OUT!— TheShadowKnows
- John OConnell - leader of 9th ward democratic committee in Chestnuthill which is full of real estate guys from that group of Germantown Ave 5000 block offices of Chestnut hill real estate developers-- who also
endorsed Verna and supported the crimes- environmental and hate crimes at a Mt Airy development along with the help of Miller and Tasco staff. Copy machines? The NW real estate and poiltical machine has no interest in busting up the real corruption. The real estate and money leaders of the NW will find a new puppet and continue their abuse and scams and kill off citizens who cant defend them self. They will pull the wool over the publics eye and continue to steal money from the whomever they can.— maggieanne 
Comment removed.- There is a commenter on Philadelphia Speaks who is suggesting that the Board of Ethics confiscated computers in DRM's office. If so, things may start to get very interesting.— sputnik
- The ethics board is surely out of touch with the real problems on the third floor. Instead of taking orders from other members of city council who are trying to play bad politics, you should do what you were intended to do, rid the city of scum like M. Tasco, F. Rizzo Jr. and M. Tartaglione.— sgarcia
- A printer...ahahahahahah how about the city using the peoples city wage tax for political endorsments What do u call that??????... get a life— noncents
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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