(Image: Philadelphia Inquirer)

New Controller Rebecca Rhynhart held a news conference this week blasting the Kenney administration and Finance Director Rob Dubow, after a new Controller audit uncovered nearly $924 million in book-keeping errors last year. Rhynhart claims that Philadelphia has the weakest internal financial controls of any of our peer cities, including some processes are ripe for abuse by Revenue Department staff.

(Photo: Rebecca Rhynhart)

After the 2017 primary election, there was a weird, and frankly pretty sexist, line of commentary out there that said Rebecca Rhynhart's blowout primary win over four-term incumbent Controller Alan Butkovitz was really due to Larry Krasner's coattails despite Rhynhart winning more votes than Krasner.

The big question coming out of the 2017 municipal primaries is whether the results, which were a total black eye for the traditional Democratic Party machine, should be seen as a one-time fluke, or whether they're part of an ongoing trend that spells trouble for other incumbents in the 2018 and 2019 election cycles.

(DCC Chairman Bob Brady is a very traditional guy. Photo: Rep. Bob Brady)

In the course explaining away the Democratic City Committee's ultra-weak performance in the municipal primaries this Tuesday, chairman Bob Brady told Dave Davies of WHYY that the "traditional wards" were simply out-hustled by "liberal wards."

(What a rout looks like. | Map: Jonathan Tannen, Econsult Solutions)

As the news media and political observers have started parsing this week's electoral surprises, particularly in the Democratic Controller primary, an unfortunate narrative has begun to emerge in some quarters--originating with comments from Controller Alan Butkovitz on WHYY--that Rebecca Rhynhart was swept to victory on the coattails of D.A. primary winner Larry Krasner. It's worth putting this idea to bed quickly, as it's not only sexist, but totally wrong. 

Former Governor Ed Rendell is on something of a 'No Fucks Left to Give' tour lately. 

(Button wall at the Board of Elections | Photo: Jon Geeting)

Ever since Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States last November, those of us in the business of engaging our fellow citizens in the glamorous work of municipal politics have been living in the best of times (at least in one sense.)

(Rebecca Rhynhart)

One good thing about politics as a hobby is that if one election doesn't go your way, the next one is always just six months away. And luckily for those Philadelphians who have an overabundance of nervous energy to burn after 2016, the two major citywide primaries in 2017, for District Attorney and Controller, are shaping up to be competitive elections where a little volunteer work could go a long way toward changing the course on important issues facing Philly.

Council President Darrell Clarke pulled an unusual procedural move yesterday to hide the votes of Councilmembers who opposed a Parking Authority audit, reports Ryan Briggs.