Women's group: D.A. needs to address porn scandal NOW

THE LOCAL chapter of a national women's group is losing patience with District Attorney Seth Williams, who has not taken action against two prosecutors embroiled in an email porn scandal.

Last week, the Supreme Court released a trove of pornographic emails discovered by Attorney General Kathleen Kane, including some sent and received on state computers by Frank Fina and Marc Costanzo, two former state prosecutors now working for Williams.

Yesterday the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for Women released a statement denouncing the "demeaning, misogynistic and racist emails," and noting that Fina's involvement in prosecuting sex crimes makes the scandal "all the more egregious."

Some of the Fina emails released Wednesday include faux motivational posters showing a pantless woman performing oral sex on her boss, and another engaged in anal sex with the caption, "Take advantage of every opening."

"I have no idea what these men are thinking when they're doing things like this," said Nina Ahmad, president of Philadelphia NOW. "What possesses people to do this?"

Williams has refused to say what knowledge, if any, he had of the emails prior to hiring Fina and Costanzo.

"That would be a good question to be answered," Ahmad said. "Who had what knowledge at the time of hiring people like this? Was it overlooked? Or maybe they didn't know?"

Responding to Philadelphia NOW's statement yesterday, Williams spokesman Cameron Kline said the office is still reviewing the matter.

Kane and Williams have been battling ever since Williams resurrected a slam-dunk corruption investigation that Kane had secretly shut down and deemed unprosecutable. Kane was charged criminally in August for allegedly leaking grand-jury information to strike back at Fina, whom she blamed for leaking news about her botching the corruption investigation.

Ahmad said yesterday that Fina and Costanzo should be held accountable in order to end a workplace culture that is hostile to women and minorities.

"I'm extremely disappointed, extremely saddened that we can't trust people that have been put in charge of making sure we're safe," Ahmad said.

Failing to take action, she said, would "set a precedent that it's OK to do this with impunity and say, 'Boys will be boys.' It creates a climate of fear."