Though the city worker who was widely condemned for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks lost his defamation lawsuit against the city, he still maintains his job today.

Hanford Jones, the personal and professional services coordinator for Philadelphia Minority Business Enterprise Council (MBEC), sued the city, former City Commerce Director James Cuorato, Commerce employee Vincent Dougherty, the Inquirer, the Daily News, former Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz and radio personality/Daily News columnist Michael Smerconish for publicly criticizing him in spring 2004.

According to court papers, Jones gave a presentation at an April 17, 2003 meeting with members of MBEC, the City Finance Department and the Commerce Department to address the lack of minority participation in city contracts and to identify ways to increase contracting opportunities for minorities in the city. Jones' presentation included examples of bidding situations in which competitors had been predominantly or exclusively non-minority, and he specifically addressed the Home Ownership Project on Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Jones stated that the lack of minority representation in the project stemmed from "Jewish firms" getting all of the contracts and was quoted as saying that the developer teams were dominated by "Jewish architects and Jewish lawyers."

After the meeting, many who attended said they were incensed by Jones' statements, considering them racist. After the comments were leaked to the Inquirer and Daily News, Jones was quoted by the Inquirer as saying he was a victim of a "kangaroo court."

"When they get a Hitler person, those Simon Wiesenthal people make sure [the accused Nazi war criminals] at least get a chance to talk to a lawyer," the quote read.

Katz, who is Jewish and was then running for mayor, made his displeasure known through the media. Jones alleged that Smerconish, on his WPHT 1210 AM show, called for Jones' dismissal.

According to Jones, then-Finance Director Janice Davis reprimanded and demoted him. The court, however, found that Jones was never demoted or fired but was instead given a paid leave of absence before returning to his same position despite Mayor John Street's condemnation. (It's unclear how long Jones' leave lasted, or even if it occured.)

Last May, Common Pleas Court Judge Allan L. Tereshko sided with the defendants and dismissed Jones' case before it reached trial. After all those taxpayer dollars that went to defending the matter — the city didn't provide an estimate — Jones is back at his job at MBEC, according to MBEC officials who referred calls to the mayor's press office.

When reached for comment, Street spokeswoman Andrea Swan said the mayor was pleased with the decision but had nothing further to say about Jones' employment. Barry Morrison, director of the Anti-Defamation League's Philadelphia chapter, expressed concerns over Jones' employment status, calling it "dangerous," and said that since the court's ruling he intends to ask the city to re-examine its position.

"This is an opportunity to look further and determine Mr. Jones's position with MBEC in making judgments that could be prejudiced," Morrison said.

While U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah seems to be positioning himself as a candidate in the race to succeed Mayor Street, will he really run or is he just posturing? If Fattah takes the mayoral plunge — and staying in the public eye now couldn't hurt in that endeavor — he could suffer a major personal economic impact.

Fattah's wife is Renee Chenault-Fattah, an evening news anchor at NBC10. She has a high profile and her daily presence on thousands of TV screens could be a clear asset to her husband's campaign. But would she have to resign if Fattah ran? Or would she have to resign only if he won? Actually, would she have to resign at all?

Station publicist Eva Blackwell said it was wait-and-see at this point and offered no further comment.

When Fattah married Chenault in a much-publicized 2001 wedding, he was already a congressman, having been elected to office in 1994 after beating Lucien Blackwell in the Democratic primary.

Chenault-Fattah does not report on any of her husband's activities as a congressman, but he only represents a small part of the city's population. If he was to become mayor, it would be a whole different ball game.

What would Chenault-Fattah do every time a city issue came up, defer to co-anchor Tim Lake? That might mean she would be silent for most of the newscast. Chenault-Fattah said her position has always been that there is no connection between their jobs. "He does what he does, and I do what I do," she said.

Back to the money issue, if Chenault-Fattah did have to resign, that would be a major lifestyle change for the couple. Chenault-Fattah makes a very large six-figure salary, which vastly exceeds her husband's, whose base salary is $162,100.

If Fattah became mayor, he would receive $165,000.