City Council candidate unfazed by fraud conviction

Lou Lanni, Republican City Council candidate in the First District, says it was a favor to a friend that led to his conviction for insurance fraud back in 1996.

He also says he is working on clearing his name.

But he's going to have to act fast if he wants that Council seat.

Laws clearly forbid anyone convicted of any felony or crime that involves falsification, such as fraud, to hold office, said Abbe Fletman and Kevin Greenberg, election-law experts at Flaster Greenberg.

Lanni explains his conviction, first reported in the Port Richmond Star, this way:

He often let a friend borrow his Jeep Cherokee. He realized the friend had drinking and drug problems and told him that he couldn't use the vehicle anymore. The friend, whom Lanni would not name, took it without telling him. Lanni reported it stolen.

Eventually, he saw the friend with the Cherokee and took it back. That same day, his insurer snapped pictures of Lanni in the Jeep before he'd had time to report finding it.

"I had every intention of calling the insurance company and telling them, 'Look, somebody had it,' " Lanni said.

The friend, who had a criminal record, did not want to come forward. Lanni's lawyer advised him that the most practical solution was to accept the district attorney's offer to pay what he believed was a $5,000 civil fine, so he did. The friend paid him that amount over time.

Lanni thought it was just a civil penalty and did not realize there was a criminal conviction.

Now Lanni has hired a new lawyer, Larry Otter, to help him clear his name.

"I think there is a way for him to solve the problem for him to hold office," Otter said, declining to elaborate. - Miriam Hill

Blackwell aide quits to run for bench

Christmas could be coming to your local polling place in May, as a top Council aide seeks a seat on the Court of Common Pleas.

John D. Christmas, chief legislative counsel for West Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, resigned his $113,101-a-year post Friday for a run in the Democratic judicial primary.

The last time he resigned involved less auspicious circumstances. In 2004, Christmas, then an aide to Mayor John F. Street, was indicted in a government fraud case - part of the FBI's "Bug" probe of pay-to-play in Street's administration. Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali was convicted and Council aide Steven Vaughn pleaded guilty in the case, but Christmas was acquitted at trial. He joined Blackwell's office as a top adviser in 2005.

Asked how that episode would affect his candidacy, Christmas said it might help him should he reach the bench.

"I benefit from the experience of having someone sit in judgment over me . . . and perhaps I'll have greater empathy for those over whom I might sit in judgment. I was wrongly accused, and all 12 jurors saw it that way."

Christmas, 46, who earned his law degree at Boston College, said he would like to move back closer to the practice of law, as his current job is heavy on politics. - Jeff Shields