(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.

Back in March, we wondered whether there was going to be a 'Trump Bump' in the 2017 municipal primaries. There had been a ton of buzz around local political engagement brought on by the 2016 Presidential election outcome, but it wasn't yet clear if that was just going to translate into a lot of rallies, or if people were going to be more motivated to vote. 

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.

(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. 

(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.