A congressman caught in the 1970s Abscam sting is now at the heart of a Philly election fraud probe

[brooklynite]

Philadelphia Inquirer

A central question lingered after federal authorities last week disclosed that a South Philadelphia poll worker had admitted taking bribes to stuff ballot boxes in local elections:

Who was the unnamed campaign “Consultant #1” described in court filings as the man who paid Domenick DeMuro, 73, to inflate vote totals on behalf of favored candidates between 2014 and 2016?

Prosecutors have declined to say. But two sources briefed on the matter and an Inquirer analysis of campaign finance data and court filings in DeMuro’s case point to one man: former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers.

A key figure in the Abscam scandal of the 1970s, Myers represented Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District between 1976 and 1980 — a career that ended with a three-year prison sentence for bribery and a vote by his House colleagues to expel him. He is best known, though, for one of the most enduring lines to emerge from that sting operation, which involved undercover FBI agents posing as representatives of an Arab sheikh offering bribes in exchange for political favors.

Just came across this story from last year; Myers was my Congressman when I was in college; lost in 1980 (post-ABSCAM) to Tom Foglietta, a Republican who ran as an Independent and then became a Democrat.

[cyclonefence]

1. A local columnist back in the day

used to refer to Phila. politics as "Land of the Giants."

Nothing changes, does it?

[whathehell]

2. "Money talks, bullshit walks"

Would that be Ozzie's 'enduring' line?