misc.consumers.frugal-living, sci.med.dentistry

OFF TOPIC: Stealing dental welfare funds ......unfrugal.

Cory Kemp, convicted City Treasurer writes:

"When you walk in to the city on day one and you're hired," he said,
"there's no meeting to say, 'Here's what you can do, and here's what you
can't do. This is what you can take, and this is what you can't take.' "

REPLY

Precisely. This is my point for mentioning all the fraud and deceit I see in
the dental industry going on even as we speak. What I am surprised at is how
little interest there is when people are stealing welfare funds.

Joel M. Eichen D.D.S.

Here is more about Ron White, as "dental consultant."

PAY: $1.7 million for two years.

Read the background here:

http://www.dentalcom.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1958

Cory Kemp - City Treasurer who got nabbed with city bond issues.
Ron White: Power lawyer into everything, now deceased.

******

Today's Inquirer:

Posted on Sun, May. 15, 2005

On taking the rap, and taking responsibility

By Nancy Phillips

Inquirer Staff Writer

Former City Treasurer Corey Kemp seems bewildered by his spectacular fall
from grace.

"I never imagined in my life that I would be on trial as a criminal
defendant" - let alone found guilty, Kemp said Friday in his first interview
since a jury convicted him and four others in a corruption scheme
prosecutors say epitomized the city's "pay-to-play" culture.

The federal jury concluded that Kemp surrendered his authority as treasurer
to the late Ronald A. White in exchange for $10,000, trips to the Super Bowl
and the NBA Finals, travel on chartered jets, stays at luxury hotels and
other gifts.

"I wish I didn't do some of the things or go to some of those places because
my life isn't worth a trip to the Super Bowl," said Kemp, 35, a North
Philadelphia native who now lives in Reading. "My life ain't worth a lunch."

Facing years in prison for his conviction on 27 counts of conspiracy, fraud
and other offenses, Kemp agreed to be interviewed Friday. But on the advice
of his lawyers, Will Spade and L. George Parry, he declined to comment on
most aspects of the criminal case.

A married father of three, Kemp said he looks back on his once-promising
career and wonders where it all went wrong.

When he became treasurer of the nation's fifth-largest city three years ago,
Kemp was fresh from a job as treasurer and director of finance in West
Goshen Township, a bedroom community of 20,000 in the middle of Chester
County.

The contrast in how the business of government was conducted was striking,
he said.

In Philadelphia, Kemp oversaw $1.5 billion in deposits and $1.5 billion in
annual borrowing.

West Goshen was a different scale.

"You're not going to see bankers running out to West Goshen Township, trying
to get business," Kemp said. "You'll have local bankers competing."

In his new city job, Kemp said, his phone rang constantly with calls from
bankers and financial advisers clamoring for his attention and inviting him
to lunches, dinners and sporting events.

Kemp said he was happy to oblige.

"I wanted to be accessible," he said. "These bankers were doing their job.
Their job was to call me and try to get on my calendar."

Kemp said he quickly learned that accepting gifts was part of the culture at
City Hall. What he didn't learn were the limits.

"When you walk in to the city on day one and you're hired," he said,
"there's no meeting to say, 'Here's what you can do, and here's what you
can't do. This is what you can take, and this is what you can't take.' "

He described White as a friend and mentor who helped him understand the
confluence of city government and politics.

He said he admired White, who also grew up in North Philadelphia, and viewed
him as a role model because he had risen from poverty to become a
millionaire and a top fund-raiser for Mayor Street.

Kemp and White talked on the phone several times a day - and the FBI was
listening in. At trial, the jury heard dozens of conversations in which the
two men discussed city business deals and talked about which firms should
get the work. In one particularly damning conversation, Kemp told White:
"You've got your boy in the treasurer's seat."

White, according to trial testimony and scores of wiretapped phone calls
played for the jury, often told Kemp which firms contributed money to the
mayor's campaigns and urged him to hire them to work on lucrative bond deals
and other transactions.

The six-week trial and the federal investigation that preceded it have put
Philadelphia's pay-to-play culture under the microscope and have led to
calls for reform.

City Council is considering strengthening its ethics rules to limit
gift-giving to public officials, require elaborate disclosures by firms
winning contracts, and ensure that the awarding of lucrative bond work be
done in a transparent manner.

Asked about Council's efforts, Kemp said he agreed that tougher state and
local laws are needed.

"Obviously, there needs to be a change in laws," said Kemp, who was treated
to expensive meals by White and others who did business with his office. "In
terms of the wining and dining, there should be limits to that."

Through his lawyers, Kemp insisted that he never took official action in
exchange for a gift.

The jury, however, concluded that the gifts were designed to influence his
official decision-making.

Also convicted were Commerce Bank executives Glenn K. Holck and Stephen M.
Umbrell, and Detroit businessman La-Van Hawkins. The jury found that they
conspired to corrupt Kemp and deprive Philadelphians of their right to his
honest services as treasurer. All four said they plan to appeal.

The other defendant in the case was businesswoman Janice Knight, White's
longtime girlfriend. She was convicted of lying to the FBI.

White had been the lead defendant in the case until he died of cancer late
last year.

Kemp is to be sentenced on July 18. His lawyers have said he may spend as
many as seven years in prison.

He said he feared prison and worried about how he would support his family.

"There's some days where it really gets to me," he said. "Some days, I can't
go to sleep because I know I'm going to dream about it, and then I don't
want to wake up because I know I've got to live it."

Gone is Kemp's $225,000 home in Birdsboro, Berks County, financed with what
prosecutors called a "sweetheart" loan from Commerce Bank designed to sway
Kemp. As it turns out, the city treasurer's credit rating was so bad that he
couldn't get a loan for a vacuum cleaner. He and his family now live in a
rented townhouse in Reading, where he works in a catering business.

"It's trying," said Kemp. "It's tough. To go from making close to six
figures to trying to make it, it's tough."

This was not the path Kemp envisioned when he joined the Street
administration and quickly became one of its rising stars. A native of North
Philadelphia, Kemp avoided the perils of a neighborhood gripped by drugs and
violence.

"It was a rough neighborhood," he said.

His mother and his aunt, anti-drug activist Jean "Gee Gee" Hobson, pushed
him to take a different path. He went to Alvernia College and later earned
an MBA from West Chester University. By age 25, he was treasurer of the City
of Reading.

On Friday, Kemp invited a reporter to the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood
where he grew up. With pride, he pointed to a mural of his aunt that said:
"Put down the weapons. Pick up the books. Save our children."

As Kemp walked the streets of his youth, he was greeted warmly by neighbors.

"Hey, Corey, how are you?" asked Randy Jenrette, 35, a former schoolmate.

"I'll be all right," said Kemp, who was wearing a black suit, crisp white
shirt and gold cuff links.

"I'll be there for you," said Jenrette, who offered to be a character
witness for Kemp at his sentencing.

"All right, baby," Kemp said. "Love you, bro."

As he walked down sidewalks littered with broken glass and past rowhouses
with broken windows and tattered screens, Kemp said he felt lucky.

Despite his conviction, he said, "I still feel blessed. You have to look at
the positives. I grew up here, so where I am now, it's a step above."

Contact staff writer Nancy Phillips at 215-854-2254 or
nphillips@phillynews.com.