Street accuses Greene of "full-blown cover up"

Former Mayor John F. Street leveled the strongest charge to date against the executive director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, accusing him Wednesday of conducting a "full-blown cover-up" to keep sexual harassment settlements from the board.

During a 55-minute news conference, Street also said two more women had come forth to complain about Carl R. Greene. That raises to eight the number of women who have accused the now-suspended director of improper behavior, including three who filed formal complaints and reached secret settlements for $648,000.

Street said Greene's cover-up extended over several years and may have involved some PHA managers and outside lawyers. He declined to name them but said some senior staff "may have to go."

"They had to go to great lengths to get around . . . board policy," Street said.

The charges leveled by Street came a day after Greene filed a federal suit in which he accused the five-member board of effectively firing him and denying him due process. Greene, 53, who was hired in 1998, was suspended Aug. 26 while the board investigated the secret handling of sexual-harassment complaints filed since 2004.

The widening inquiry has drawn federal investigators and produced an internal examination of all contracts and consultants.

Aside from the three women who reached settlements, a fourth is in negotiations and four more have approached Street himself. One of the women who recently came forward was a former PHA attorney, according to a person familiar with her situation.

"There are other women who after years of holding this stuff in are saying, 'It happened to me,' " Street said. "If a woman wants to come to talk to us about this, I would be very supportive. In fact, I would encourage it."

Greene's attorney, Clifford E. Haines, called Street's disclosure of yet more women coming forth with complaints "irresponsible and inappropriate."

"I have a great deal of difficulty with John F. Street telling you there are allegations of sexual harassment but their identities are not going to be disclosed," Haines said. "How do you defend against that statement?"

Haines said that the only way Greene could be fired for cause was if the board proved that his behavior caused injury or damage to PHA.

"I'm not suggesting if there are claims of sexual harassment, you simply ignore them," Haines said. "What I am suggesting is, the answer is not going to be Carl Greene is gone."

Street dismissed Greene's lawsuit as a tactic aimed at forcing a negotiated settlement. He said that under Greene's contract, the board could terminate him for cause. If none is found and the board still wants him to go, "we'll have to pay," Street said.

Greene's salary last year was $306,370, and he received a $44,188 bonus. He has two years left on his current contract.

"I feel betrayed by Carl Greene because we gave him every support any executive director would want or need," Street said. "We put our trust and confidence in him because he was delivering."

Street described an environment at PHA where women were afraid to speak up, knowing that Greene would immediately find out about anyone who complained about him.

The three women who settled all had to sign confidentiality agreements, which Street said may not have been valid or legal.

The three sexual-harassment settlements were handled for PHA by Mark J. Foley, an outside attorney now with Cozen O'Connor.

Thomas "Tad" Decker, president and chief executive of Cozen O'Connor, said that in one case handled by Foley, Greene and top management asked him to prepare a resolution for the board authorizing a settlement for $200,000. Decker said Foley "assumed it was going to the board."

For the next case, involving a settlement of $350,000, Decker said he became personally involved. He said Foley and Robert Fiebach, who chairs the board's ethics committee, advised PHA that the board would have to be informed of the settlement. Decker said Greene and a PHA attorney were told by Cozen attorneys that "the management team had to inform the board, or we would."

Shortly after that, Decker said, the firm was terminated by PHA.

Decker would not name the PHA attorney he was dealing with. The current PHA general counsel, Fred Pasour, declined to comment.

Fiebach said the firm had turned over to Street its files on two of the cases Foley handled while working for Cozen O'Connor.

"I am confident that our firm complied fully with all ethical obligations and that we have fully disclosed all of the facts to . . . Street," he said.

Street has stoutly defended the board from criticisms that its oversight of Greene was lax. At Wednesday's news conference, he said that if the sexual harassment complaints had not come to light, Greene would be still held in high regard for his work at PHA.

"Imagine if the first person with a sexual harassment complaint was brought to the board," Street said. "We would have taken definitive action to get rid of him, or assure that it wouldn't happen again. But we wouldn't have done nothing."

Street also said that in granting Greene wide authority, the board may have gone too far.

"Too much power? I think so," he said. " A fair answer is, over a period of time we ceded too much power to him."

The board meets at 3 p.m. Thursday to discuss the status of the investigation. Greene remains at an undisclosed medical facility for treatment for stress-related issues.

In a move instituted Friday to get a handle on outside spending, Street stopped payment to 22 outside law firms and consultants.

Street said that the services of some law firms and consultants performing essential work had been resumed. But he did not identify which ones.

Incomplete documents released by PHA Wednesday gave some details on the consultants and service providers.

Nora Dowd Eisenhower, the former secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Aging, has been paid $471,209 since early 2009. She left her state job in the fall of 2008. She could not be reached for comment yesterday.

James Eisenhower, her husband and the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for state attorney general, has served as an attorney for PHA.

Kroll Inc., the huge international risk-consulting firm, was paid $2.4 million between 2007 and this year.

Edgemere Consulting Corp., which provides to public housing authorities services such as managing a subsidized unit, was paid $3.4 million since 2007.

Grant Thornton, a major international accounting organization, was paid $263,267 in 2010.

Duvernay & Brooks L.L.C., a consultant to public- and private-sector developers of affordable housing, as well as a developer on urban revitalization, was paid $1 million since 2007.

Blosky & Associates, a certified public accounting and management consulting firm specializing in the subsidized housing industry, was paid $474,000 since 2008.