‘Self-promotion' or informing the public? Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council use taxpayer money to sell their wins

Miami Herald

14-05-2025

Philadelphia politicians want you to know more about their accomplishments.
They also want taxpayers to pay for the privilege.
In recent months, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, members of City Council, and other Philadelphia elected officials collectively spent at least $2 million on contracts for outside communications firms, campaign-style billboards, magazine-like mailers and various digital, television, newspaper or radio ads - all with the stated goal of elevating their work to everyday Philadelphians.
Mayor Parker's office finalized a $120,000 contract last month with a Erie-based public relations firm that aims to promote "Mayor Parker's initiatives and their successes," according to a request for proposals issued in February.
In April and May, Council spent nearly $83,000 on a glossy 48-page mailer that promoted legislators' work last year. Another $102,000 went toward ad buys and a series of billboards featuring members' names and likenesses, timed to promote four budget town halls - meaning each event had an average advertising cost of over $25,000.
"Many people don't even know who their elected officials are," said Vincent Thompson, communications director to City Council President Kenyatta Johnson. "What the Council President wants to do is expose the citizens to City Council and let them know who their elected officials are."
Some of the advertising appears geared toward constituents who are already in the know. Council sent its 48-page mailer exclusively to super voters, the most civically engaged voters who tend to cast ballots in every election.
Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of government watchdog Committee of Seventy, said that these efforts could create the impression of self-promotion on the public's dime.
"We're all for promoting city services and opportunities for residents to engage with their government," she said. "Anything that is promoting an individual, rather than City programs, services, and opportunities, should definitely be handled on the political side."
Susan Thompson, an 80-year-old retired special education teacher who lives in Councilmember Jeffery Young's district, said she and her neighbors in the Art Museum area were baffled by the mailer, which features numerous photos of smiling council members.
She said the money could have been spent on other more pressing needs, noting news reports on maintenance lapses in Philly public schools.
"There are public schools that don't even have working sinks or toilets," she said. "I think $80,000 could have paid for some plumbing."
City Hall's booming PR fleet
City Hall, meanwhile, is seeking to grow its flank of contracted public relations officials despite already spending millions on in-house communications.
The mayor, City Council, and other city agencies employ nearly 70 different communications, media or PR staffers, with combined salaries of $5.3 million annually, according to payroll records.
The Mayor's office alone is budgeted for a nine-person, $1.1 million communications office, roughly 20% more than Parker's predecessor, former Mayor Jim Kenney.
For comparison, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro employs the same number of communications staffers despite helming a much larger government body - and operates without help from outside PR firms.
The Parker administration said it needs help spreading the word about the mayor's agenda.
To that end, it contracted Kate Philips & Co., an Erie marketing firm founded by Kate Phillips, a former spokesperson to Gov. Ed Rendell, to "garner positive coverage of successes," write op-eds, book media appearances, post on social media and do "crisis communications support."
Two of Phillips' local staffers will also work on the contract. One is Kristi Del Grande, a former Rendell press secretary. The other, Daniela Snyder, is the daughter of Democratic political consultant (and former Rendell staffer) Ken Snyder.
Parker's spokesperson, Joe Grace - who himself once worked for Rendell as deputy campaign manager - defended the contract.
"As year two of the administration unfolds, we want to do even more," he said. "Tell more stories, and inform the public even better on all of the dynamic and positive work of the Parker administration."
Kenney brought in an outside firm to handle crisis communications in 2022 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, that contract was issued toward the end of his second term, as staffers were departing.
Parker's in-house press office, meanwhile, is in the process of hiring for several unfilled staff jobs, including a $110,000 a year press secretary to assist Grace, who earns $180,000.
Other city agencies have also aided Parker's promotional efforts, with the sanitation department paying $107,000 to wrap 20 garbage trucks and 80 Big Belly trashcans with the mayor's "One Philly, United City" slogan - next to her name.
Her press office is also notable for a controversial citywide communications policy after taking office in January 2024 that requires the dozens of spokespersons at other city departments to route media requests, social media posts, and any other public statements through the mayor's office for approval.
That policy appears to have resulted in a bottle-necking of media requests that used to be handled by city agencies. Grace and his team have frequently struggled to respond in a timely manner to media inquiries, including requests for basic information, during Parker's first 16 months in office.
The RFP states that Kate & Co will be expected to assist "in the coordination of multiple departments" to craft "unified" city messaging. Grace denied any connection between the contract and the policy.
Council hits the billboards
Parker is not alone in using tax dollars to trumpet her accomplishments. Under Johnson, Council has embarked on annual multi-media ad blitzes.
Thompson, Johnson's communications director, said the $185,000 spend on billboards and other ads is mostly aimed at promoting a series of town halls about the city budget.
"The Council president wants to make sure we are very aggressive at letting the public know what we're doing with their tax dollars," he said.
The 13 billboards - one featuring each district Council member and three of Johnson himself - cost taxpayers $18,500. For about one month, Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents parts of Center City and South Philadelphia, gazed serenely from a digital billboard over motorists on Interstate 95, with his name and a slogan reading, "Your city, your budget."
Those tuned to the right radio station or digital stream can also hear Council members promoting the budget town halls. Airtime cost: $50,000. Readers of Philly's dozen or so neighborhood newspapers, like the Sunday Sun or the South Philly Review, will also see ads featuring their local district council member, courtesy of another $34,000 ad expense.
Thompson said the outreach efforts helped soften public criticism of the legislative body.
"One of the things [Johnson] noticed during his tenure was that a lot of Philadelphians had a negative impression of Council. But when they found out what Council does, their impression became more positive," Thompson said.
Last year was one of Council's least productive sessions in recent history, in terms of the number of bills introduced and adopted. The most high-profile issue lawmakers tackled - a December vote to approve the 76ers' proposal to build an arena in Center City - fizzled out weeks later when the team walked away from the plan.
Council's 48-page brochure mailed to voters recently is titled "An Incredible Year In Council." It primarily depicts lawmakers engaging in decisive activities - attending ribbon-cuttings or authoring resolutions - with mention of the arena relegated to a back page, near a chart showing the seating order of each member inside the chamber.
Thompson says these expenses are small in the grand scheme of Council's $20 million annual budget, and that the legislative body is only following an example set by other elected officials.
"This isn't any different from getting a newsletter from a state representative or state senator," he said.
Politicians spending on publicly paid-for promotion does appear to be contagious.
Both Controller Christy Brady and Councilmember Mike Driscoll both contract Ceisler Media at a cost of $84,000 and $35,000, respectively - although neither employs in-house media staff.
In February, City Council also inked a $40,000 contract with TML Communications to "enhance brand awareness" and "secure positive coverage" for Councilmember Cindy Bass, according to a proposal request. This role is in addition to her 12 office staffers, which includes a community outreach director.
TML was also contracted in 2021 at a cost of $144,000 annually to place advertising notices for the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office - and, in practice, serves as a spokesperson for Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, despite the office budgeting for an $75,000-a-year public information officer. The sheriff has also poured public money into a podcast, newsletter and other promotion materials using public dollars.
And five months before the 2024 presidential election, the Philadelphia City Commissioners - an elected board that oversees local elections - issued $1.4 million worth of contracts to firms Maven Communications and Berlin Rosen to handle media relations, communications, and engagement.
These contracts - about $900,000 of which has been spent to date - helped disseminate information about voting in the election, but also featured ads and billboards prominently, much of which also featured names and photos of the commissioners themselves.
Susan Thompson, the retired teacher, said she doesn't buy that all the spending is just to better educate the public.
"It's self-promotion," she said. "So when they run again, maybe people have flipped through something and remember them...I think it's an embarrassment."
Staff writer Max Marin contributed to this article.
An earlier version of this article stated that TML's contract with Councilmember Cindy Bass was not competitively bid. It was.
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