PHILADELPHIA In debate, rival and mayor trade jabs

The mayor is a subject in an FBI probe, according to a federal official.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A week after an FBI bug was found in Mayor John Street's office, his Republican challenger accused him Tuesday of creating a corrupt city government that was bound to attract scrutiny.
While acknowledging that he doesn't know what the FBI investigation is about, businessman Sam Katz accused Street of establishing a "pay to play" administration, in which lucrative city business is funneled only to people who have given money to the mayor or his allies.
"I would like to suggest that the conditions we find ourselves in today are exactly the product of John Street's making," Katz said in a debate broadcast live on KYW-AM on Tuesday morning.
"This system of cronyism, this system of no-bid contracting, this system of giving business to your friends consistently, through the Street administration, has led to a corrupted process," Katz said. "The city is not supposed to be run, John, for 500 people. It is supposed to be run for all of Philadelphians."
In turmoil
The campaign has been thrown into turmoil since police found hidden listening devices inside Street's city hall office Oct. 7.
Street again maintained in Tuesday's debate that he is not a target of the investigation and has done nothing wrong.
"There could literally be hundreds of subjects of this investigation," Street said. "I'm not a target, and that's the thing that's most important to me."
Throughout his time in office, Street has acknowledged that people who give money to his campaign are more likely to get city contracts, and he defended that patronage again Tuesday as a harmless tradition.
Street also noted that Katz has had legal problems of his own. Three of the Republican's former business partners have filed a lawsuit accusing him of embezzlement. Montgomery County prosecutors reviewed the allegations and declined to prosecute, but the civil case is not expected to be decided until after the election.
"You are a person, Mr. Katz, who has consistently operated on the fringes of the law," Street said. "I don't think you have any moral grounds to criticize."
Is a 'subject'
A federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has told The Associated Press that Street is a "subject" in an FBI probe. The legal term is used to describe a person whose conduct is within the scope of a criminal probe, although they themselves may not be suspected of breaking the law.
Authorities have declined to say what they are investigating, but in recent months federal agents have subpoenaed city agencies for thousands of pages of records having to do with various city contracts, including a $13.6 million maintenance contract at the city-owned Philadelphia International Airport.
Cautios earlier
Katz's criticism of the mayor contrasts sharply with his cautious remarks in the first days after the bugging was discovered. Initially, Katz said he was unwilling to speculate about the reasons for the probe, and suggested that the FBI's refusal to explain itself was unfair to the mayor and to the city.
This year's election is a rematch of the 1999 race when Street, who is black, defeated Katz, who is white, by fewer than 10,000 votes, with the vote falling along racial lines. Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city 4-to-1, polls show this year's rematch is close. The election is Nov. 4.