Milton Street accuses his nephew and the sheriff of campaign shenanigans
On Thursday, 197th District state-representative candidate Milton Street said he had submitted nominating petitions with an estimated 600 signatures of those backing his candidacy for the seat once held by current Philadelphia Sheriff Jewell Williams.
That he had more than double the signatures necessary to be on the April 24 ballot was only half of the story he shared.
Here’s the rest: Not only is his nephew Sharif Street supporting his opponent, and daughter of the sheriff, Jewel Williams, but he has been promised a job in exchange for doing so and attempting to get his uncle thrown off the ballot.
Milton’s allegations vehemently denied
Both Williams and Sharif Street, son of former Mayor John Street and one of his uncle’s at-large council opponents in 2007, have denied Milton’s allegations.
Said Williams spokesman Joseph Blake on Friday, “There is no such position to offer Sharif and no such offer was ever made. This is also not the first time Milton has clashed with Sharif over politics. Frankly, having the sheriff respond to such nonsense will just add fuel to a fire that only Milton is trying to start.”
When contacted by the Daily News on Thursday, Sharif Street called Milton’s version of events “far-fetched and ridiculous.”
“Far-fetched and ridiculous? There’s nothing much more he could say,” responded Milton Street on Friday. “He told me himself that he was going to be the attorney in the Sheriff’s office. Someone told me there’s no such job, but that’s ridiculous. You can create your own jobs. This story’s going to get legs.”
Milton Street also alleged that someone had collected 100 signatures for him at 24th St. and Lehigh Ave., only to have Street’s name “whited out” and Jewel Williams’ name added. He also said that he will produce other people who have been offered jobs to back his claims.
“I want to run a campaign with a level playing field. There are six candidates and that’s all we want,” Milton Street said, noting that it is wrong of Williams to leave an office and hand-pick his similarly named daughter to replace him. “If that was the case, me or Sharif would be mayor right now. This is gonna be a really ugly campaign.”
The 197th District covers North and North Central Philadelphia including Allegheny West, West Kensington, Fairhill, Hunting Park, Tioga, Feltonville and a sliver of East Falls.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.