ERIE, PA. Councilman to seek probe into land deals

The mayor says he has no connection to the land deals.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- Some city council members calling for a criminal probe by the attorney general's office said that Mayor Rick Filippi should resign unless he comes clean about land purchases by people close to him.
Councilman Joseph Sinnott and Council President Jim Thompson, who has already called for an ethics probe, said questions linger about the possible release of insider information about four properties around the site of a proposed $80 million horse racing track and entertainment complex.
Filippi said council members should not "rush to judgment" and maintained he has no connection to the land deals.
He had been the lead negotiator for the acquisition of 213 acres along Lake Erie at the former site of a paper mill. He stepped down from the post after council decided last month to ask the State Ethics Commission to investigate whether Filippi's ties to the deals represented a conflict of interest.
The Erie Times-News reported in Saturday editions that a contractor who did renovations on adjacent properties said he received checks for his work from the Filippi Partnership, of which the mayor is part-owner with his brother and father.
Checks in question
Contractor John Miles said he went to the home of Filippi's then-chief of staff Jeff Bucci to pick up checks for his work that were drawn from the account of Aiko Acquisition, the company owned by Rolf Patberg, the mayor's law partner, and Eric Purchase, his former campaign manager.
On Saturday, Thompson said he will now ask the state attorney general's office to start a criminal investigation.
"I think we've gone beyond the ethics thing now," Thompson said. "It might be time for law enforcement to be involved."
Through his spokeswoman, Tina Mengine, Filippi said his response "remains the same as to this entire controversy."
"I stand by my statements previously made that neither myself nor my family had any ownership interest in Aiko and that no confidential information was provided to anyone, as there was none to provide," Filippi said.