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Does Councilman Brian O'Neill preside over a small bastion of patronage inside an obscure City Council office?
Why does an entire City Council office consist (almost) entirely of Republican ward leaders and committee people in Councilman Brian O'Neill's district?
Does Councilman Brian O'Neill preside over a small bastion of patronage inside an obscure City Council office?
10th District Councilman Brian O'Neill, the sole Republican District representative on Philadelphia's City Council, commands a great deal of influence.
He also commands a great number of jobs, according to many sources inside City Hall.
While O'Neill's district staff is a little smaller than average — the city's directory lists four aides working out of O'Neill's office — various sources independently confirmed to City Paper that O'Neill has near-total control of the obscure "Republican Technical and Planning Office."
The fifth-floor office ostensibly serves the legislative needs of Council Republicans.
The City Council Technical & Planning Office began in the '90s, according to attorney Stan Shapiro, who worked in it for more than 20 years. In the beginning, Shapiro says, the office employed two Republican attorneys to assist with legislation, but Republicans and Democrats worked side by side.
At some point the number of Republicans expanded, desks were moved and a door was shut between the two groups. The Republican wing now employs five personnel — that's one more employee than the Democratic tech office, which serves four times as many legislators.
But, according to various sources knowledgeable about City Council, the office mostly serves the needs of O'Neill, and they describe the staff — theoretically there to facilitate the legislative needs of all three Council Republicans — as working more or less directly for the 10th District Councilman.
Councilman O'Neill did not, of the time we went to press, return an email and several phone calls to his office. We will update this blog post with any response from the Councilman.
At-Large Councilman Jack Kelly did not return a call for comment. Asked what his relationship to the republican Technical Staff is, Republican Councilman Frank Rizzo (who has been feuding with O'Neill for several weeks) told CP: "I've never received any legislative support from that office … when asked they've always been preoccupied with other things."
Rizzo added: "The technical staff works for Brian O'Neill and it's basically an extension of his office staff."
Indeed, several sources suggested that the tech office effectively constitutes a staff in addition to his District staff, buried in another office, and over which O'Neill, as Majority Leader, has great control.
Patronage might be one word to describe the setup.
The office, it turns out, happens to consist entirely (with one possible exception) of political actors — specifically ward leaders and committee people, as does O'Neill's entire staff, as listed on the city's directory. All of the nine employees who make up the Republican tech staff and O'Neill's district staff are Republican committee people and/or ward leaders; at least eight of them represent areas in O'Neill's district.
To be sure, the Republican Technical and Planning Office isn't the only office in City Council — or City Hall — to employ politically connected individuals. There is nothing ostensibly wrong with doing so, nor is any of this to say that the individuals in question aren't perfectly qualified for the job. Severa Council employees (who aren't committee people) pointed out that committee people are closely tied to their communities and sometimes better able to serve constituents. Still, we think O'Neill may hold the record proportion-wise.
Here's the breakdown. Sources are the city's online directory; a list of Republican tech staff employees obtained by CP via a Right To Know request; and lists of ward leaders and committee people maintained by the Committee Of Seventy, last revised in 2010.
Republican Tech Staff:
Linda Trush (Committee Person, 63rd ward, 15th Division)
William Ivers (Ward Leader 61st Ward)
Timothy Gerard (66th Ward, 29th Division)
Leonard Amodei (Ward Leader, 53rd Ward)
Wallace Quinlan (Committee Person 63rd Ward, 8th Division)
10th Council District Staff
Anne Marie Boyle (Committee Person 58th Ward, 16th Division)
William Rapone (Committee Person 66th Ward, 43rd Division)
Margaret Recupido (Committee Person 57th Ward, 22nd Division)
Alice Udovitch (Committee Person 58th Ward, 41st Division)
*
Because City Council, unlike every other department and office of the city, is not subject to budget hearings — and Council's spending, over which the Council president has tremendous discretion, is not always easily examined.
A Right-To-Know request filed by City Paper reveals that the Republican tech staff's five employees earn a combined $186,830, plus an unknown hourly expenditure of $16 per hour for one employee (combined salaries of the four Democratic tech office employees amounts to $385,367).
Follow Hall Monitor Isaiah Thompson in City Paper, online and on Twitter.
Democratic tech office employees amounts to $385,367 divided by four comes to 96341.75 each damn what a joke i cant believe that.and,
Republican tech office employees amounts to $186,830 divided by five comes to 37366.00 still alot but what a diffrence having that D next to your name means in money.— matthews
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