MARK D. SCHWARTZ
Attorney at Law
Post Office Box 330
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010-0330
www.markschwartzesq.com

June 13, 2013

The Honorable Kathleen Kane – PERSONAL ATTENTION
Pennsylvania Attorney General
16th Floor
Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Re: Request for Investigation of Philadelphia’s Board of City Trusts

 

Dear Ms. Kane

You may be aware that I have been a critic of the Office of Attorney General through my involvement in the Barnes litigation and with respect to your handling of the Hershey Trust matter. Simply stated your office has an abysmal record when it comes to policing charitable trust entities.  What makes things worse is the position of the Attorney General’s office as upheld by the courts, that only it has standing to take on these entities in court. This deprives beneficiaries of access to the courts.

Now problems with the Girard School run by the Philadelphia Board of City Trusts threatens the school’s very existence. Kindly see Karen Heller’s excellent column in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer which is attached.  This again demonstrates the failure of your predecessors to exercise oversight over any entity that is thoroughly political. It is politicians who squandered the finances of the Barnes and spent untold millions at Hershey for their own use, projects totally unrelated to the well being of the students.   In my opinion, it is politics and the attendant political patronage which has turned the Board and Girard into a pie to be whacked up all to the school’s detriment. Given a list of the players on the Board over the last few decades, it is not terribly difficult to pinpoint who orchestrated this.

Accordingly, I ask that you immediately and thoroughly investigate the Philadelphia Board of City Trusts and Girard School as part of your “parens patriae” responsibilities. Given my background in handling estate and trust cases in Pennsylvania and throughout the country that have attracted significant media attention, I am happy to be of service to you. You might wish to look at my website referenced above.

The state of affairs in Pennsylvania has been and remains a statement to those who wish to abuse charitable entities that they can strip the cupboard bare.

Very truly yours,

Mark D. Schwartz, Esquire

 

Photo by eTombotron