Grid has uncovered more donations made to Philadelphia City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr.’s campaign from people connected with the Cobbs Creek and Karakung golf course development.
As Grid previously reported, Councilmember Jones received an illegal donation in September of 2021 from the Cobbs Creek Restoration and Community Foundation (aka the Cobbs Creek Foundation), as well as donations from individuals connected to the Cobbs Creek Foundation totaling $8,000 while the lease with the city—and permits to clear the land—were pending. This timing creates the appearance that donors may have intended to curry favor with an elected official who held influence over the golf course development.
John Burnes, who is listed as the Foundation’s board secretary on their 2018 and 2019 990 Forms (annual IRS reports that nonprofit organizations submit), made a donation of $1,000 to Jones’ campaign on July 25, 2018. He also made donations of $100 on July 27, 2019 and on September 23, 2020. Burnes does not seem to have contributed to any other Philadelphia political campaigns in this time period.
While it has not yet been proven that board members of the Cobbs Creek Foundation (as well as the foundation itself) gave money to Jones’ campaign in an attempt to influence approvals critical for the golf course development, it is certain that the foundation stocked its board of directors with people who pay for access to political power.
On June 22, 2017 Councilman Jones introduced legislation to allow the City to negotiate a lease for the golf courses. City council passed the bill and Mayor Kenney signed it on June 21, 2018.
On June 22, 2017 Councilman Jones introduced legislation to allow the City to negotiate a lease for the golf courses. City council passed the bill and Mayor Kenney signed it on June 21, 2018.
All told, from 2017 to 2021, individuals or groups connected with the Cobbs Creek Foundation contributed more than $22,000 to Councilmember Jones’ campaign.
It is common knowledge that businesses and individuals who do business within the city often spread donations to many politicians’ campaigns as a way to access important decision-makers. For example, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP, the law firm representing the Cobbs Creek Foundation, made 96 donations to multiple candidates from 2019 to 2021, including a $1,000 donation to Jones’ campaign on February 6, 2019. (William Sasso, the law firm’s chairman at the time, is on the foundation’s board of directors.)
Several other Cobbs Creek Foundation board members, their employers or other groups they are connected with seem to have donated in a similar way, directing money to Jones as a part of their overall political portfolio. For example, foundation board member Harold T. Epps, the former Commerce Director for Philadelphia, works for Bellevue Strategies, a government relations and communications firm. Bellevue contributed $1,000 to Jones’ campaign on August 24, 2020. Mustafa Rashed, Bellevue’s president and CEO, donated three times to Curtis Jones’ campaign from 2019 to 2021, for a total of $2,500. In that same time span Rashed made a total of 55 contributions to other campaigns, which you might expect from someone running a business that proudly proclaims on its website: “Our work results in increased awareness and understanding of your issue and develops elected officials as key stakeholders in your success.”
Judith von Seldeneck, another foundation director, did not directly donate to Jones’ campaign from 2019 to 2021, though she did make 33 other donations in that period. These included $40,000 in contributions to the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia Political Action Committee (aka ChamberPHL PAC). The ChamberPHL PAC in turn contributed twice to Jones’ campaign in that timespan for a total of $5,000.
While it has not yet been proven that board members of the Cobbs Creek Foundation (as well as the foundation itself) gave money to Jones’ campaign in an attempt to influence approvals critical for the golf course development, it is certain that the foundation stocked its board of directors with people who pay for access to political power.
Did these procedures take place at the Cobbs Creek golf course? Any project disturbing more than one acre of soil is also required to submit plans for approval to the Philadelphia Water Department to explain how stormwater runoff will be managed after construction is complete. This in turn requires another permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), called a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. The DEP’s tracking system shows that the Union League only applied for this state permit on March 7.