Guv calls him victim of media attack
By CHRIS BRENNAN
GOV. RENDELL’S controversial choice to lead the state’s new Gaming Control Board stepped down yesterday, saying media scrutiny of his appointment and the scandal that ensued created too great a distraction.
Frank Friel also said the attention has “had a tremendous and harmful impact on my family.”
Rendell then railed at reporters gathered at the press conference to hear Friel’s resignation, calling him a victim of “seek-and-destroy journalism. ”
“I hope it’s time you take a deep breath and see what you’ve done to one of the most decent and honest people I have ever met in my life,” Rendell growled through gritted teeth. “I hope you understand what you did.”
Friel, a former Philadelphia police captain appointed by Rendell on Aug. 11, has been criticized for helping a local boxing promoter with alleged mob ties persuade Connecticut to lift a ban against his holding fights at a casino there.
Friel’s claim in a 2001 hearing that the promoter, Arthur Pelullo, was not a mob associate was countered by former FBI agents and Philip Leonetti, the former underboss of the Philadelphia mob.
During that sworn testimony, Friel inaccurately claimed to have two college degrees.
The Daily News also reported that Friel was accused in a 1974 Pennsylvania Crime Commission report of taking money from a Kensington nightclub owner.
Friel said he had cooperated with a grand jury investigation and had not been charged with a crime.
Rendell yesterday again dismissed those accounts, saying that Pelullo had won the Connecticut case and that Friel “misspoke” about his education during the testimony.
As for the Crime Commission report, Rendell said that Friel had been “totally exonerated” and that reporters and politicians who mentioned the case should be ashamed.
Republicans opposed to the new law allowing 61,000 slot machines in 14 venues across the state had seized on Friel’s troubles, threatening to hold hearings to delve into his background.
“Frankly, politics stinks,” Rendell said. “I am generally not too proud of my profession.”
Rendell’s allies on slots also had misgivings about Friel.
House Speaker John Perzel two weeks ago said Rendell should “rethink” the appointment.
State Sen. Vince Fumo yesterday said there are slots foes waiting to throw “firebombs” at the Gaming Control Board.
“If you give them an issue like Friel, they probably would have had hearings and drug it out,” Fumo said. “They have the power to do that.”
Fumo called media stories about Friel “newsworthy. ”
“The thing about Friel that I found that might have been a problem is that I don’t think he had the political skills or the leadership skills,” Fumo said.
Two names have surfaced as possible replacements for Friel:
* Gregory Fajt, Rendell’s secretary of revenue and a former state representative.
Fajt, a Democrat, successfully navigated a state Senate approval hearing when he joined Rendell’s administration.
He has declined to comment.
* Senior Superior Court Judge Stephen J. McEwen Jr.
Popular with the Delaware County Republican Party, McEwen was appointed to the court by Gov. Dick Thornburgh in 1981 and served as its president from 1996 to 2001.
He did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.
The gaming board is expected to start holding meetings next month. A replacement for Friel will require a Pennsylvania State Police background check that can, by law, take up to 30 days.
Rendell yesterday said that his mind was “racing with names” for the $150,000-a-year chairman’s post and that he has been discussing possible selections with his staff.
He refused to name any.
“After this, do you think I would expose someone I’m not going to pick to your scrutiny?” he joked to reporters.