Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania to go on trial on corruption charges

[January 22, 2018]  By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - The mayor of Pennsylvania's third largest city, Allentown, is scheduled to appear at the start of his federal corruption trial on Monday, accused of soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for public contracts.

Mayor Edwin Pawlowski, who was re-elected to fourth term in November despite a sweeping "pay-to-play" indictment, is charged with 54 criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy and fraud.

Pawlowski and Vaughn Spencer, a fellow Democrat who previously served as mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania, were charged in July in a long-running federal corruption investigation.

"Pawlowski and Spencer essentially put a 'for sale' sign on City Hall and sold out to the highest bidder," U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen in Philadelphia said at a news conference when the indictment was unsealed.

Pawlowski goes on trial at U.S. Federal Court in Allentown on Monday with co-defendant Scott Allinson, a lawyer charged with bribery and conspiracy. Judge Juan Sanchez told the jury of seven men and five women selected last week that the trial could last six weeks.

Pawlowski, Allinson and Spencer separately have maintained their innocence and have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Spencer's trial is scheduled to begin on March 5.

Pawlowski is accused of accepting more than $150,000 in contributions to his various campaigns from vendors with the understanding they would receive city contracts in exchange.

The mayor sought to cover up the scheme by deleting emails, instructing his campaign aides to do the same and sweeping his office for listening devices installed by law enforcement, the indictment said.

Pawlowski has also run unsuccessfully for governor and the U.S. Senate.

Several defendants have pleaded guilty in the Allentown and Reading schemes, including James Hickey, a business consultant, and Michael Fleck, a former campaign manager for both mayors.

Early last year, Allentown's former managing director pleaded guilty as part of the investigation and implicated Pawlowski in a $3 million bid-rigging scheme to benefit a campaign donor.

Allentown is Pennsylvania's third-most populous city with about 120,000 residents.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Frances Kerry)

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