The election of Rufus Seth Williams to District Attorney of Philadelphia in 2009 was a cause for celebration. Succeeding Lynne Abraham, he won with more than 75 percent of the vote to become the first African-American District Attorney of Philadelphia. His campaign phrase was, “A new day, a new DA.”
On Friday, Williams announced he will not run for a third term as District Attorney.
His announcement comes after reports surfaced of an FBI and IRS investigation into his personal and business finances. In January, he paid a record $62,000 to the Philadelphia Board of Ethics for his failure to report income and gifts.
[pullquote]“His turn of fortune is almost Biblical… he was somebody we should have been able to be proud of for a long time.”
Jay McCalla, former city deputy managing director[/pullquote]
Williams apologized for “regrettable mistakes in my personal life and personal financial life that cast an unnecessary shadow over my office” during a press conference on Friday. He did not take questions, but he indicated plans to stay in office until the next election.
“I think he saw the handwriting on the wall,” said Linn Washington, professor of Journalism at Temple University. “A re-election would be the proverbial uphill struggle, if not mission impossible.”
An American story
Williams’ rise to District Attorney is a local American success story. Born in 1967, he was put up for adoption. Young Seth was placed into two foster homes before being adopted by Rufus Williams, a Sulzberger Middle School teacher, and Imelda Williams, a Philadelphia Naval Shipyard secretary.
Williams grew up in West Philadelphia and attended Central High School before attending Penn State.
He was very active as a student, serving as the president of the Penn State Student Black Caucus and the Undergraduate Student Government. In 1987, Williams led a 102-mile student march to Harrisburg to protest Penn State’s investments in apartheid-era South Africa.
“I actually coined the phrase that ‘Apartheid Kills and Penn State pays the bills,’” Williams said, according to an interview transcript from the Penn State “African American Chronicles.”
Williams graduated from Georgetown University Law in 1992 and joined the District Attorney’s Office as the assistant district attorney. He first ran for District Attorney in 2005, and lost with 46 percent of the vote. Following his loss, Williams served as the Inspector General of the City of Philadelphia. His responsibilities included investigating corruption within government officials and corporations in the city.
After winning the race for District Attorney in 2009, Williams promised his office would apply justice equally to the criminals in the streets and in office suites.
“If you shoot someone while trying to rob them, or if you’re involved in a conspiracy to move pedophile priests from one parish to another, we’re going to prosecute you for it,” Williams said in a 2015 interview with The Tribune. “That’s what I want Philadelphians to know; if crime happens on the streets or in the suites the same justice applies.”
Record as D.A.
During his time as District Attorney, Williams prosecuted cases against a Philadelphia abortion provider accused of killing infants born alive and against three priests accused of sexual abuse.
He received heavy criticism in 2015 for refusing to fire prosecutors associated with sharing pornographic, anti-women and racially insensitive email in a scandal known as “Porngate.”
Black community leaders such as Washington and Attorney Michael Coard also criticized Williams for prosecuting Black elected officials such as State Reps. Vanessa Lowery Brown, Harold James and Louise Williams for “conflict of interest” and “failure to report” violations.
“He in fact prosecuted them for the same thing he did,” Washington argued.
Outside of the courtroom, Williams served as an inspiration for the young people in the Black community. He started Philadelphia’s own Back on Track program, which helps low-level drug offenders get their GED and job-skills training. Williams often visited schools and encouraged kids to graduate.
“I understand what it means to have a second chance because I was given a second chance,” Williams said in a Tribune interview.
“What made the difference in my life was being adopted by Rufus and Imelda Williams,” he said. “My dad was a teacher and worked in recreation centers. Every summer he ran a day camp in Fairmount Park. His life was committed to children. I felt as though I had to be part of the solution.”
‘Good riddance’
Even with his and ethical failings, Williams was at one point one of the most popular Democrats in Philadelphia according to Jay McCalla, the city’s former deputy managing director.
“His turn of fortune is almost Biblical …he was somebody we should have been able to be proud of for a long time,” McCalla said.
In a statement, Attorney and member of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition Michael Coard had a stronger opinion of Williams’ fall from grace.
“I say good riddance to bad rubbish,” he said. “I also say that it’s a new day, and we need a new D.A.—one who doesn’t victimize Black people for political gain or racial self-hate or both.”
For McCalla, Williams’ decision not to run is a cause for worry in the Black community. His worry is not for the loss of Williams as an individual, but more the loss of the value that comes with having a Black District Attorney.
“We need somebody who knows us,” he said. “We need somebody who sees us, who feels us. I don’t see that in anybody in this race.”
Looking towards the future, Washington said the city needs a District Attorney who is not concerned about getting convictions like getting another “notch in their belt.”
“The primary mission of a prosecutor is to seek justice, not seek convictions,” he said. “Most prosecutors take the latter and seek a conviction at all costs, whether it means bending or breaking the law.”
As for Williams’ legacy, Washington said his achievements will always be clouded by the federal ethics investigations that led to his downfall.
“He will be remembered as a person who had some severe ethical failings, and what good he did will be canceled out by these ethical issues,” Washington said.
@MayaEarls
https://www.phillytrib.com/news/the-rise-fall-of-seth-williams/article
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