Tag Archives: Henry Hockeimer

Reed Lawyers Demand Fees from City in Records Case

February 4, 2016 | by Paul Barker

Attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., left, and former Mayor Stephen Reed after Reed’s arraignment July 14 on corruption charges.

The defense team for Stephen Reed has asked a judge to order Harrisburg to pay some of Reed’s legal fees, as part of an ongoing and increasingly bitter fight over access to city records from the former mayor’s tenure.

In his Jan. 29 filing, Henry Hockeimer, of the Philadelphia firm Ballard Spahr, disputed the city’s reasons for withholding documents he is seeking under the state open records law, claiming they are “entirely personal” and without legal merit.

Hockeimer argued the city’s responses have shown “bad faith” and asked the court to require Harrisburg to pay the costs of what he described as the “frivolous litigation” forced by the administration’s withholding of records.

Hockeimer first requested the documents in July, after a state grand jury approved a sweeping array of charges against Reed in an ongoing corruption probe. The city so far has declined to provide them, claiming among other reasons that doing so would force it to violate a judicial gag order and break grand jury secrecy rules.

Hockeimer sharply critiqued those claims in his filing, arguing the city has released similar records to news outlets without complaint. He cited four news stories, including one published by TheBurg, that he said proved the city denied him access “solely because he represents Stephen Reed.”

Two of those stories, one appearing in the Patriot-News and one on abc27, refer to right-to-know requests partially granted by the city this year, although for much narrower sets of records than those requested by Hockeimer in July.

TheBurg article, published in the spring of 2015, detailed receipts of Reed’s purchases that were provided to the magazine by a different entity altogether. Hockeimer’s filing claimed the city provided the receipts, though they were, in fact, provided by Capital Region Water, the successor agency to the Harrisburg Authority.

Reed submitted the receipts to the Harrisburg Authority to support his request for a $33,000 reimbursement in 2003. The article identified Capital Region Water as the source of the documents, but that information was omitted in the legal filing.

The filing similarly mischaracterized a 2012 Patriot-News article, which referred to Harrisburg Authority documents provided in response to a right-to-know request. Nick Malawskey, the article’s author, confirmed Thursday the records were provided by the authority, not the city.

Hockeimer also said the city discriminated against Reed because of his “alleged criminal conduct.” He cited a prior filing in the case, in which the city said it was “fundamentally unfair and unjust” to force the costs of a vast records request by an alleged criminal upon a purported victim of the crime.

City solicitor Neil Grover stood by that argument Wednesday night, saying that the rights of victims of alleged crimes were also relevant in the case, and not only questions about open records laws.

Grover also denied the city had acted in bad faith and said Harrisburg would “fight a question about the awarding of fees as far as the courts will allow us to go.”

“We have acted in good faith,” he said. “If there’s anyone who’s acted in bad faith, it’s the requestor.”

A representative of Ballard Spahr said on Thursday that Hockeimer is out of the country until next week. Terence Grugan, another attorney at the firm identified as also representing Reed on the Jan. 29 filing, said he had no comment.

Findings of bad faith by an agency in records requests do occur, but are exceedingly rare, according to Erik Arneson, director of the state Office of Open Records. Of the 13,000 or so requests that have been appealed to his agency, fewer than 10 have later resulted in a judge making a bad faith finding, Arneson said.

Arneson said he was “extremely confident” in his agency’s prior analysis, which held that at least some of the records, which would have been deemed public prior to any criminal investigation, did not suddenly become privileged because of their more recent connection to a grand jury probe.

At the same time, he said the intersection of open records law and laws regarding grand jury secrecy was “not a settled area,” and that he understood why the city appealed his agency’s finding.

“I don’t fault the city for making the arguments they’re making,” Arneson said. “They’re being cautious. I get where they’re coming from.”

Judge Kevin Hess heard arguments last month on the records case, after the city appealed the Office of Open Record’s prior finding.

Hess is a former Cumberland County president judge who was appointed to oversee Reed’s criminal case after Dauphin County recused itself. He asked the city to submit a legal brief on the records issue, which he is also overseeing, by this Friday.

September News Digest

September 30, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Tax Hike Suggested

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse last month proposed tripling the local services tax to help close an estimated $6 million budget gap for the year.

Papenfuse introduced the idea during the annual State of the City address, saying that the Harrisburg Strong financial recovery plan needed to be amended because some revenues, including parking revenues due to enforcement snags, have fallen short of projections.

Under this plan, the local services tax would increase from $1 to $3 per worker per week. The increase would generate about $4 million a year, according to the administration.

The increase must be passed by City Council and approved by the Commonwealth Court. Papenfuse later said that Fred Reddig, a state official and the city’s Act 47 coordinator, supports the idea.

During his speech, Papenfuse also urged Harrisburg-based businesses to help the city financially by ceasing to use private haulers for trash collection. In addition, he floated the idea that the city should consider Home Rule, which would allow it to have greater control in its own affairs.

Papenfuse said that Home Rule was the “only real way out” of Act 47 financial oversight. Many municipalities in Pennsylvania, including Carlisle, have Home Rule charters, but achieving Home Rule would take years.

Reed to Stand Trial

The criminal case against former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed will go to trial, a judge determined last month.

Following a daylong preliminary hearing, Senior Magisterial District Judge Richard Cashman said the state could proceed with a case against Reed on all 485 counts against him, covering a wide range of alleged corruption.

At the hearing, the prosecution presented evidence that Reed had violated numerous laws, including that he had kept in his possession hundreds of artifacts purchased with city money. Reed allegedly bought the artifacts for several museums that he had proposed building in the city.

The defense team, led by Henry Hockheimer of the Philadelphia-based firm of Ballard Spahr, refuted those charges, stating that the property rightfully belonged to Reed.

Separately, Reed’s attorneys last month filed a motion asking the court to dismiss more than 300 counts against him, claiming they were not valid because the statute of limitations had expired.

Sinkhole Application Favored

The state has ranked Harrisburg first in Pennsylvania to receive federal sinkhole mitigation funds, the city learned last month.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency sent a letter to Harrisburg saying its application for a federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant for sinkhole remediation had been ranked No. 1 in the state.

The city is seeking grants for sinkhole repair and home demolition and buyouts in a hard-hit area of S. 14^th Street.

The state support, while positive, does not guarantee that Harrisburg will receive the award, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Only state emergency management agencies are eligible to apply for grants under the program, but awards are not allocated on a state-by-state basis.

LED Project Gets Green Light

Harrisburg’s plan to upgrade all of its streetlights with long-lasting LED lights is set to begin this month after the City Council approved funding for the project.

Council last month voted unanimously to borrow $3.2 million from M&T Bank for the LED conversion project, the city’s first major borrowing since the financial crisis shut it off from the credit markets. Council then voted unanimously to contract with The Efficiency Network, based in Pittsburgh, to perform the citywide installation of about 6,000 lights.

The administration estimates that the upgrade will save the city about $500,000 annually in energy costs, which should cover the cost of the financing. As part of its contract, The Efficiency Network guarantees the savings for a 10-year period.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said much of the work would be done this fall, but probably would not be completed until early next year.

Council also authorized the administration to apply for a $3.6 million grant from Impact Harrisburg, a nonprofit set up as part of the city’s financial recovery plan to assist its infrastructure and economic development efforts. Impact Harrisburg is in the process of hiring an executive director, which it must do before considering applications for grants.

If Harrisburg receives the money, the city would pay off the loan early and use the savings from reduced energy costs for other purposes, Papenfuse said. The loan carries a prepayment penalty of 3 percent.

The city already has received a grant of $500,000 to offset some of the cost of the LED project.

Campbell Gets Probation

Former Harrisburg Treasurer John Campbell last month was sentenced to three years of probation for stealing money from three nonprofit organizations.

As part of his sentence, Campbell turned over a restitution check for $26,230, which will repay Historic Harrisburg Association, the Capital Region Stonewall Democrats and Lighten Up Harrisburg for the thefts.

In all, Campbell pled guilty to one misdemeanor and two felony counts.

Campbell was executive director of Historic Harrisburg and a volunteer treasurer for both Lighten Up Harrisburg and the Stonewall Democrats when the thefts occurred. He was not charged with any crimes in his capacity as city treasurer.

Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Scott A. Evans is allowing Campbell to serve his probation in the Washington, D.C., area, where he now lives.

Bar Loses Appeal

A Midtown Harrisburg bar targeted for closure by the city has lost its appeal, and now has taken its case to court.

The city’s License and Tax Appeal Review Board rejected the effort by the Third Street Café (formerly Club 1400) to retain its business license and continue operating from its building at the corner of N. 3rd and Calder streets.

The three-person appeals board unanimously sided with the city, which alleges that the bar attracts criminal behavior, especially drug activity.

“The owners and operators of the Third Street Café consented to or allowed behavior on and around the premises that constituted crimes under federal, state and local laws,” concluded the board in its Aug. 28 decision.

The city has tried for months to revoke the bar’s business license. In late March, it sent owner Tony Paliometros a letter stating it planned to revoke the license, giving him 30 days to cease operations. Paliometros appealed the revocation, and a one-day appeals hearing was held in late May.

After losing the appeal, Paliometros immediately appealed that decision to the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas and was granted a stay to remain open. The court appeal is scheduled for Oct. 9.

Housing Market Stable

Housing sales and prices were relatively stable in August, compared to the same period last year.

Throughout the region, 783 houses sold at a median sales price of $165,000, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors. In August 2014, 781 houses sold for a median price of $165,000.

In Dauphin County, 265 houses sold at a median price of $144,900. In Cumberland County, 268 houses sold for a median price of $179,900 and, in Perry County, 27 houses sold for a median price of $165,000.

So Noted

The Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District and Recycle Bicycle last month launched a Downtown Bike Library, which allows people to borrow and then return a bike, a helmet and a lock at no cost from the HDID office at 22 N. 2^nd St. This program is considered a pilot program to the Bike Share Harrisburg initiative that is in the works to bring a bike share program to the city.

The Millworks last month started a lunch service, which begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday to Friday. The Midtown Harrisburg restaurant and art space opened in March for dinner, Tuesday through Sunday. It then added weekend brunch hours.

Bricco halted its lunch service last month in favor of expanding its catering business with Ciao! Bakery, in an endeavor now called Bricco-Ciao! Catering. The menu consists of both Ciao’s sandwiches and Bricco’s Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Bricco, at the corner of S. 3^rd and Chestnut streets, remains open for dinner.

The Kitchen at H*MAC last month announced new lunch and brunch hours. The restaurant, located at 1110 N. 3^rd St., Harrisburg, now is open for lunch on Monday to Friday beginning at 11 a.m. and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.

Arepa City, which specialized in the Venezuelan sandwich called the arepa, closed last month after more than six years in downtown Harrisburg. Owner Daniel Farias said customers didn’t follow the restaurant after it moved into larger space further down N. 2^nd Street. Farias said he plans to continue his catering business.

Frederic Loraschi Chocolate opened a retail location and production facility at 4615 Hillcrest St. in Colonial Park. For years, the chocolatier has made his high-end confections from a converted kitchen in the basement of his Hummelstown home. The new shop allows consumers to buy directly from him.

Changing Hands

Berryhill St., 2101: R. Pickles to D. Maxwell, $96,500

Calder St., 116: M. DePhilip to D. Goldman, $150,000

Chestnut St., 2100: W. & K. Richards to H. Trauffer, $65,000

Curtin St., 543, 2135 N. 4^th St., 1949 Berryhill St., 545 Benton St. & 2314 N. 4^th St.: Susquehanna Bank to MBHH RE LLC, $107,000

Graham St., 118: B. & K. Elgart & Cartus Financial Corp. to P. Furlong, $219,900

Green St., 1924: D. Miller & R. Finley to G. O’Loughlin, $214,900

Hale Ave., 428: Metro Bank to T. & K. Vu, $42,500

Herr St., 409: W. & F. Moore to D. Jordan, $106,000

Industrial Rd., 3360: Conewago Contractors Inc. to Norfolk Southern Railway Co., $7,500,000

Kelker St., 319: K. Hancock to J. Marks, $60,000

N. 2^nd St., 1311: J. Feldman to T. Gray, $78,700

N. 2^nd St., 1406: F. Magaro to C. Albers, $149,000

N. 2^nd St., 1520: E. Spaar to N. & R. Masterson, $94,000

N. 2^nd St., 1708: D. Shreve to J. Seigle, $171,300

N. 2^nd St., 1829: E. Stuckey to M. Nolt, $126,000

N. 2^nd St., 3206: R. & P. Kotz to S. Margut, $178,000

N. 3^rd St., 1606: Fannie Mae to Anselmo Brothers Partnership, $52,500

N. 3^rd St., 2243: Kusic Financial Services LLC to A. & M. Collins, $58,000

N. Front St., 2609: Supreme Forest of Tall Cedars to A. Hartzler, $225,000

Penn St., 1820: Bayview Loan Servicing LLC to PA Deals LLC, $50,250

Penn St., 1917: S. Stauffer to S. Cline & J. Lemon, $118,500

Penn St., 1920: WCI Partners LP to C. Clabaugh, $159,900

Rudy Rd., 2141: A. McKenna to M. McNelis, $142,900

Rumson Dr., 2586: Beneficial Consumer Discount Co. to PA Deals LLC, $43,299

Schuykill St., 518 & 522: M. & A. Parsons to J. & B. Readinger, $37,500

S. 15^th St., 347, 1529 Catherine St., 1615 Naudain St., 30 Balm St., 1822 Park St. & 22 Balm St.: I. Colon to C. Harp, $30,000

S. Front St., 555: Ashbury Foundation to D. Ogg, $82,500

State St., 115: Pennsylvania Bar Association to Commonwealth Strategic Solutions LLC, $172,000

State St., 231, Unit 504: LUX 1 LP to M. & K. Lastrina, $144,900

State St., 231, Unit 505: LUX 1 LP to M & K. Lastrina, $154,900

State St., 1336: D. Pinnock to D. Vining, $37,000

Susquehanna St., 1833: G. & K. Ender to J. Secrest, $42,500

Swatara St., 2416: M. Gaston et al to D. & E. Davenport, $129,600

Thompson St., 1257: Jamil Karim LLC to Harrisburg Housing Authority, $80,000

Woodbine St., 502: K. Bethea to C. Guerrier, $40,000

Harrisburg property sales for August 2015, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Reed, Fighting Corruption Charges, Enlists Open Records Law

August 6, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., left, and former Mayor Stephen Reed after Reed’s arraignment July 14 on corruption charges.

The Philadelphia attorney representing former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed has filed a wide-ranging set of requests for city records, enlisting the state’s right-to-know laws in Reed’s defense against corruption charges, TheBurg has learned.

Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., of the Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr, sent the open-records requests to city hall between July 20 and July 28, a week after Reed was arraigned on racketeering charges stemming from a state grand jury probe.

He asked for a vast array of documents, including Reed’s correspondence with various officials and advisors, minutes and agendas of several years’ worth of meetings, files related to city borrowings and current Mayor Eric Papenfuse’s communications with law enforcement and reporters.

The requests, themselves a matter of public record once submitted, were provided to TheBurg in response to a right-to-know request.

The purpose of the records request is not clear. Under state law, requesters are not required to provide their reasons for seeking records. Hockeimer, reached late on Thursday, had no immediate comment, except to say he had filed an appeal for parts of the requests the city had denied.

But in building their cases, defense attorneys sometimes assert the right to review government records to survey the evidence gathered against their clients and build stories that counter the ones told by prosecutors.

“The state’s investigation is the state’s investigation. It’s not the defendant’s investigation,” said Ion Meyn, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin law school and a former faculty member at the Wisconsin Innocence Project. “To rely just on what the state has investigated would be a mistake.”

The state’s initial disclosures about a case “should trigger successive, targeted, and written demands that are reiterated on the record, deepening accountability,” Meyn wrote in 2014, in an article for GPSolo, a publication of the American Bar Association. “A counter-investigation is essential to checking the state’s work.”

Nonetheless, the use of open records requests by defense lawyers does not appear to be widespread in Pennsylvania, according to Erik Arneson, director of the state open records office.

In part, that may be because one of several exemptions in the law, pertaining to records of a criminal investigation, is “broad enough that there’s not much to be gained” from making such requests, Arneson said.

At the same time, records that were deemed public before their connection to any criminal investigation generally remain public after charges are filed, he said.

In Reed’s case, Hockeimer sent a series of four open records requests to Harrisburg city hall, asking for documents in detailed lists that appear to stem from allegations in a grand jury report that was made public July 14.

On the basis of the report, Reed was arraigned that morning on 17 criminal charges encompassing 499 individual counts, including theft, bribery, deceptive business practices, criminal solicitation, evidence tampering and misapplication of entrusted property. Topping the list was a racketeering charge, a first-degree felony.

The report alleged that Reed, the seven-term mayor of Pennsylvania’s capital, used public borrowings to divert fees to pet projects, like acquiring Western-style and other artifacts. It portrayed the former mayor as heedlessly leading the city deeper and deeper into debt in the service of personal interests with little or no public benefit.

Reed, speaking the morning of his arraignment, said he had not been a part of any crime. “I devoted my life to the city of Harrisburg, and I look forward to waging a vigorous fight against these charges,” he said.

In his requests, Hockeimer targeted documents that appear to be related to specific allegations. For example, he asked the city for files related to “the City Council special projects fund created in 2003,” which the state has alleged was created as a bribe to secure council votes for a new borrowing on the Harrisburg incinerator.

In another example, he asked for the personnel file and travel records of Richard Pickles, a former city police captain whom Reed allegedly deputized to collect artifacts on cross-county road trips that were paid for by the city.

Some of the requested records are likely to be voluminous. One list includes a request for “all records including, but not limited to, documents, notes, correspondence and files” related to eight separate years of bond offerings. The closing documents alone for a single bond offering can run to many hundreds of pages.

In the case of some records, it’s not clear on what basis Hockeimer believes them to be in the possession of city government. For instance, he asked for records that current Mayor Eric Papenfuse provided to the Patriot-News, the FBI, the state police and the state attorney general between the fall of 2007 and the present.

Papenfuse did not take office until 2013, though he was briefly a board member of what was formerly the Harrisburg Authority, a governmental entity, before resigning in the fall of 2007. In 2009, during a campaign for city council, he claimed publicly that he had been assisting the FBI’s public corruption unit with an investigation into Reed.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane gave credit to Papenfuse’s persistence when she announced the charges against Reed last month. “Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and he wouldn’t let it go,” she said.

Harrisburg solicitor Neil Grover said Thursday that he could not comment on the requests, saying the city was in the midst of a legal review.

The grand jury probe, which was extended by court order to January 2016, is ongoing.

Defiant Former Mayor Reed Faces Charges for Theft, Bribery

July 14, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., left, and former Mayor Stephen Reed outside a district courtroom Tuesday.

Stephen Reed, Harrisburg’s seven-term former “mayor for life” who oversaw a renaissance of the Pennsylvania capital as well as its descent into an all-consuming debt crisis, was arraigned Tuesday morning on criminal charges resulting from a long-running state grand jury probe.

Reed, 65, arrived at the Linglestown offices of Dauphin County District Judge William C. Wenner around 8 a.m., wearing a dark suit and glasses. He was accompanied by attorney Henry E. Hockeimer, Jr., who leads the white-collar defense practice of the Philadelphia firm Ballard Spahr.

The pair pulled into the parking lot a few seconds behind Clarke Madden, the prosecutor in the attorney general’s office who is said to be leading the probe.

“Surreal,” Reed said in response to a question about how he was feeling, as he crossed the lot and entered the court building. When asked if he had done anything criminal, he replied, “Not that I know of.”

Less than an hour later, Judge Wenner read out a list of 17 charges in the criminal complaint against Reed, encompassing more than 400 counts that included theft, bribery, and evidence tampering.

The counts covered actions related to the Harrisburg Parking Authority and the Harrisburg School District, as well as actions connected to city government. Several of them also name Richard Pickles, a former Harrisburg police detective, whom the complaint alleges was involved in criminal solicitation and theft of service.

Wenner said that accompanying the complaint was a “voluminous” grand jury presentment that more specifically detailed the individual counts, and referred to a set of exhibits that would outline the individual claims of receiving stolen property.

After reading the charges, Wenner said he would set bail at $150,000 unsecured, meaning that Reed would not have to post bond. He also said he would ask Reed to forfeit his passport and would restrict his travel to within state boundaries.

Following the arraignment, Hockeimer and Reed each read from prepared statements outside the court building defending Reed’s motives and integrity.

“For 28 years Steve Reed served the people of Harrisburg with energy, commitment and love for the city,” Hockeimer said. “He loved his job as mayor and he poured his heart and soul into it. Mr. Reed also had a deep respect for his position as a public servant and carried out his role with dedication and integrity.”

Hockeimer said Reed would be fighting the charges, which he suggested were “inspired more by political agendas than by anything else,” and said the former mayor “looks forward to his day in court.”

He also expressed concern about how media initially learned of the charges, saying it was information the grand jury process should have protected.

Reed also spoke briefly, saying that “misperceptions and politics are very much intertwined” in the accusations against him. “I regarded service as mayor to be a sacred trust and a calling to a high and noble purpose.”

He went on to compliment the staff that worked with him and to point to the city’s progress as his administration’s legacy. “I devoted my life to the city of Harrisburg, and I look forward to waging a vigorous fight against these charges,” he said.

Neither Hockeimer nor Madden gave any statement in the courtroom. A press release from the office of Attorney General Kathleen Kane said there would be a “major announcement” about the grand jury investigation at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the state capitol, but did not provide further details.

Reed had been presumed to be a target of the probe since its existence was first confirmed in 2013. The grand jury has reportedly been investigating the origins of a debt crisis tied to a city incinerator that nearly pushed Harrisburg into bankruptcy.

Past reports suggested the probe may have expanded into other areas of governance under Reed, a mayor who has been both praised for his vision and work ethic and criticized for reckless spending and an autocratic governing style.

In particular, investigators were said to have taken an interest in how Reed used the Harrisburg Authority, a municipal financing entity, as a kind of checking account for pet projects, such as acquiring artifacts for a hoped-for network of museums.

In early June, investigators raided Reed’s home on Cumberland street in Midtown, hauling away boxes and numerous Western-style artifacts, including saddles, barrels and a stuffed coyote. Reed later told reporters that the artifacts removed were all his personal possessions.

Tag Archives: Henry Hockeimer

Reed Lawyers Demand Fees from City in Records Case

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