Office, biz of Rep. Keller raided by feds

Federal agents yesterday raided the district office and a private business of state Rep. Bill Keller, as well as the home and office of Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Bob Mulgrew and the homes of three Keller associates.

Teams of FBI and IRS agents fanned out across South Philly, collecting six boxes of records from Keller's 184th District office, at South 2nd and Greenwich streets, and about 15 boxes and a computer hard drive from a business he owns nearby, K O Sporting Goods, at McKean Street and Moyamensing Avenue. The agents shot video of those locations before leaving.

Keller's attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr., said the agents left with "general business records" after the nine-term state House member offered his cooperation.

"Representative Keller has not been involved in any criminal activity," Perri said. "He's not aware of any criminal activity."

Mulgrew's home is less than a block from Keller's business. Mulgrew, a former staffer for Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who once worked in Keller's South Philly office, did not respond to requests for comment.

Frank Keel, a spokesman for the First Judicial District (FJD) who also works for Local 98 and who worked on Keller's 2006 re-election campaign, said court officials don't know the "nature of the investigation at this time" and would not comment.

"Judge Mulgrew will continue to be assigned cases by the FJD, pending the disclosure of additional information or future developments," Keel said.

Local 98 gave Mulgrew $120,000 in campaign contributions in 2007, when he was elected to a six-year term.

It was not clear what the agents were after. Agents at Keller's office declined to comment.

Also raided yesterday:

_ The South Philly home of Mark Olkowski, who owns K O Sporting Goods with Keller.

"Right now I'm on vacation," Olkowski said when reached by phone yesterday, "so I don't have any comment."

Local 98's business manager, John Dougherty, said yesterday that he is "friends with every single person in the mix" of the raids. He called them all good people.

"The government has a job to do," said Dougherty, whose own South Philly home was the subject of a 2006 FBI search that resulted in no federal charges. "I just hope someone isn't misleading them for political purposes."

Local 98 paid K O Sporting Goods $37,007 for services in 2009, federal reports show. The union's political-action committee paid K O $100,546 last year for T-shirts and other apparel to support several candidates and $17,377 this year for T-shirts supporting U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's failed bid for a sixth term.

_ The South Philly

apartment of

Lorraine Di-Spaldo, Keller's chief of staff, who in May was re-elected to a spot on the Democratic State Committee.

DiSpaldo left that apartment with another woman and an elderly couple yesterday as a Daily News reporter tried to ask questions about the federal raid.

"No one's going to tell you anything!" the woman with DiSpaldo said before they left.

DiSpaldo's apartment building is owned by former state Sen. Vince Fumo, who was sent to federal prison last year after his conviction on corruption charges.

DiSpaldo, who filed for bankruptcy in January, also served as treasurer for the Philadelphia Regional Tourism and Hospitality Council, a nonprofit listing Keller's office phone number and the address of his re-election campaign on federal tax documents.

Those documents say the nonprofit was founded in 2002 to "execute an extensive public relations, marketing and advertising plan" to promote tourism in the Philadelphia region. The nonprofit told the IRS that it had $90,000 in state grant money in 2004 and just $204 in the bank when it disbanded two years later.

_ The Rose Valley, Delaware County, home of Marty O'Rourke, a public-relations consultant who has worked on Keller's campaigns. O'Rourke, who did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily News yesterday, was paid $120,840 by Keller's campaign in 2008.

O'Rourke has also done work for City Controller Alan Butkovitz, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and former state House Speaker John Perzel.

Staff writer Dana DiFilippo contributed to this report.