August 22, 2016
A week after news broke that Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams came clean about receiving some $160,050 in previously undisclosed personal and professional gifts, he issued an email apology to supporters via his “Friends of Seth Williams” re-election campaign.
The 159-word email about gifts received between his inauguration in 2010 and 2015 came just days after he issued a similar statement apologizing to the DA’s office staffers about the “adverse publicity” brought about by the oversights.
Here’s what he had to say to supporters in the Monday morning email:
I would like to say thank you for your support. Many of you are long time, close friends and family and I sincerely appreciate you always standing by me.
When I first ran for District Attorney it was because of a passion for what inspired me; to make a meaningful difference in the lives of Philadelphians. Without question, I’ve made significant progress in many of those areas. I am humbled by what we’ve been able to do and I continue to look forward to helping make Philadelphia a better place to live and raise our families.
One of my requirements as an elected official is to fully disclose all gifts and or in kind services I receive, even those from my closest friends and family.
I take full responsibility on failing to disclose what was required. We’ve taken the proper steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again and will be fully compliant moving forward.
Yours in service,
Seth
As for whether Williams plans to hold a press conference about a matter that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, campaign spokesman Mustafa Rashed told PhillyVoice "not at this time" as of Monday afternoon.
Williams is up for re-election in 2017.
