John Street's mayoral campaign targeted one of the city's top lobbyists for $150,000 in campaign donations, citing the lobbyist's long list of clients in an internal fund-raising document.

"ASK WOJDAK TO RAISE $150,000 IN THE NEXT MONTH," an unidentified Street staff member wrote in capital letters in a computer memo. The memo was mistakenly included in a spreadsheet sent to the Daily News this week.

"Mr. Wojdak is the leading lobbyist in the city of Philadelphia," the note continued. "His clients include Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania, Lockheed Martin, Marriott Corporation, PECO Energy Company, The Philadelphia Eagles, Sears, Roebuck & Company, and Temple University Hospital."

Wojdak is Stephen R. Wojdak, a lawyer and former state House member. Over the past 20 years, he has built S.R. Wojdak & Associates, with an office on South Broad Street, into what is by most accounts the most skilled and powerful lobbying firm in Pennsylvania.

Street spokesman Ken Snyder downplayed the significance of the campaign-finance notes referring to Wojdak. They were included in a list of 393 recent campaign donors, sent by e-mail to the Daily News.

"What you got was a spreadsheet that a junior-level finance person sent inadvertently with that person's own notes on it," Snyder said. He declined to identify the staff member.

"The fact is, the candidate never saw it and the finance chairman never saw it and it's not a significant document," Snyder said.

Finance chairman Leonard Klehr, head of the law firm that now employs John Street, said he was not aware of the campaign ever asking Wojdak to raise $150,000. He said he could not remember any finance committee meetings where Wojdak's clients were mentioned.

"This is all a mystery to me," Wojdak said late yesterday. He said he had been helping Street raise campaign money since before the May primary election, but had never been asked by anyone for a specific amount.

"John Street is a friend of mine, he has been for 15 or 20 years now," Wojdak said. "I volunteered to help him.. . .Frankly, I only deal with John, and John has never talked to me about any amounts.. . .I have asked some of my clients to contribute, but I wouldn't know the total, because they give directly."

The most recent filing by the Street campaign showed Wojdak personally donating $10,000 last week, and $17,500 since the beginning of last year. But the figures don't include donations by clients solicited on Street's behalf.

Filings by the Sam Katz campaign show $3,000 in donations from Wojdak's colleagues at the lobbying firm, but nothing from Wojdak himself.

The Street campaign's list of Wojdak clients was accurate, but way incomplete.

The firm's roster of clients runs three pages in the records kept by the state Legislature, a total of 76 separate clients, including all those named by the Street campaign, plus the Eagles, the Automobile Dealers of Greater Philadelphia, 10 additional Philadelphia hospitals, the University of Pennsylvania, public television station WHYY and the nonprofit Friends of the Wissahickon, among others.

There's nothing unusual about big-time campaigns setting fund-raising targets for individual donors. And there's no doubt that many politicians across the state expect heavy contributions from people like Wojdak, whose business relies on their good will.

What is unusual is for evidence of the state's "pay-to-play" political system to fall into a reporter's hands.

The spreadsheet mistakenly provided to the Daily News included "Ask" figures for seven different contributors, including Wojdak. The only one which apparently came through with the targeted amount was the Laborers District Council PAC Fund, which donated $50,000 last week.

Andre Dasent, a lawyer targeted in the spreadsheet for a $10,000 donation, said he'd never been asked for that amount. "Maybe in their dreams," he said. He recently gave $1,000.

A campaign notation next to the name of attorney Robert L. Archie Jr. stated: "He sponsored an event at his law firm with a commitment of $25,000. He only brought in $2,000. Ask him for the rest of his commitment."

Archie told the Daily News that he had co-sponsored a campaign event with several colleagues at Duane Morris & Heckscher. He said they ultimately raised the full $25,000, without any prompting by the campaign.

Daily News staff writer John Baer contributed to this report.

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