PHA board to meet on Greene scandal today

The Philadelphia Housing Authority's five-member board meets today at 3 p.m. for an update on the ongoing investigation of suspended executive director Carl R. Greene.

Among the items of business, commissioners will vote on executing contracts with eight law firms, only three of which had previous business with the authority.

Last Friday, PHA chairman John F. Street suspended all legal work by outside law firms, saying the board needed to get its arms around agency spending on legal fees.

At a Wednesday news conference, Street had accused Greene of a deliberate cover up to withhold from the board the scope and details of sexual harassment complaints against him. The former mayor suggested that some senior staff and outside lawyers may have abetted him in keeping the board in the dark.

He told reporters yesterday that the agency would have to resume some outside legal work to complete essential business. PHA has spent $33 million on outside legal work in the past three years.

The board will vote to execute contracts with Ballard Spahr; Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot; Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney; Archer & Greiner; Bowman Kavulich; Margolis Edelstein; Fox Rothschild and Reed Smith.

The PHA board recently disclosed that Buchanan Ingersoll attorney Elizabeth Malloy had worked on one previous sexual harassment complaint against Greene and a pending complaint filed this year.

Buchanan Ingersoll, however, had not been identified by PHA as being among its roster of outside law firms.

When asked about this, Nichole Tillman, a spokeswoman for PHA, said today Buchanan Ingersoll did not previously have a contract with PHA.