Mayor Says Bug Part Of Political Attack
NBC News has confirmed that it was federal investigators who placed an electronic device in Philadelphia mayor's John Street office.
NBC News correspondent Pete Williams said that several sources confirmed to him that the device was placed in the office by the U.S. government.
However, a law enforcement official cautioned that the presence of the bug there does not necessarily mean that the mayor, himself, is under investigation. Officials confirmed to NBC News it was put in place by federal investigators, though they won't say specifically whether it was the work of the FBI or another agency.
The Associated Press in published reports said its sources indicated that the FBI planted the hidden listening device in the mayor's offices, but that fact wasn't confirmed by NBC's sources.
Williams said it was unclear if the surveillance was directly related to two ongoing federal investigations in Philadelphia.
One current investigation involves a no-bid, $1 million-a-year airport-services contract between the Street administration and a company owned by the mayor's brother, Milton Street.
The other investigation is related to an alleged parking-ticket fixing scandal involving more than 125,000 parking tickets between 1997 and March 2003. News of the federal parking-ticket probe first surfaced in March 2003.
