Rev Al Involved In Pay to Play?

During the Philly mayoral election of 2003, the esteemed Philly Mayor, the Honorable John Street--he of the infamous "Brothers" comment--found an FBI bug in his office. The indictments connected with that case are now being revealed and an interesting name has appeared: Al Sharpton:

March 19, 2005 -- A federal wiretapping investigation of political corruption in Philadelphia has turned up some surprising names with New York connections — those of the Rev. Al Sharpton and Comptroller William Thompson.

The two prominent Big Apple figures were linked to a bizarre scheme by La-Van Hawkins, a Detroit fast-food king, to create a fried-chicken empire financed by millions of dollars from New York City's pension fund.

To get a shot at the money, Hawkins — since charged by the feds in a related matter — helped raise thousands of dollars for Sharpton's 2004 presidential campaign so that Sharpton would arrange a meeting between him and Thompson, federal prosecutors said.

I'm absolutely shocked that the good Rev. would be involved with such low lifes as Corey Kemp and the late Ron White. I mean, a former presidential candidate on the Democrat side would actually take money to assist a businessman. I'm flabbergasted.