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Committee of Seventy Calls for Halt to Family Court Funding

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff
 
The Committee of Seventy, Philadelphia's good government group, called today for Gov. Edward G. Rendell to stop the release of $200 million in state funds for the family court building in Philadelphia.
 
The project has sparked controversy because Jeffrey B. Rotwitt, the court's tenant representative, also had a deal to be codevelopers with the proposed private-sector developer of the project and owner of the air rights at 15th and Arch streets, the proposed site of the courthouse. The project is now subject to investigations of any possible wrongdoing in connection to the site and litigation over the legal rights at the site.
 
The Committee of Seventy also called on Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille to recuse himself from any future participation in the construction of, or litigation involving, the family court building.
 
In a press release, the group said it was reluctantly reversing its earlier position that the project should continue to move forward.
 
Rendell also should authorize an independent investigation of the courthouse project, even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the affair, the group said.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on July 01, 2010 (boomark / email).