The City Controller has the powers and responsibility to perform a crucial role in Philadelphia government. As described by the non-partisan, good-government organization Committee of 70:

"The City Controller is the chief auditor of Philadelphia's financial affairs. Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter requires the Controller to conduct annual audits of every City office and agency, and it authorizes him or her to offer recommendations for improving the efficiency and economy of City Government. The Controller is not elected at the same time as the Mayor and City Council, therefore, he or she can be an effective independent watchdog over the City's finances." 

The Current Controller Is Not Doing His Job.

In what appears to be an obvious violation of the City Charter, the City Controller is not auditing the agencies of the government on an annual basis. On February 19, the current Controller issued an audit of the Fairmont Park Commission.  The audit covered Fiscal Year 2005.  The information provided by that audit is over four years old.  It doesn't help us know how our tax dollars are spent and it certainly does not help us make the tough choices that now confront us.

The current Controller left it to the FBI to investigate charges of fraud at Philadelphia Safe and Sound.  The currrent Controller left it to the President Judge to investigate mismanagement by the Clerk of Quarter Sessions that has cost the City tens of million of dollars.  And despite the pleas of Governor Rendell, the current Controller has abstained from auditing the Philadelphia Parking Authority, an entity that currently sits on millions of dollars when our schools are struggling to find funding.

In what appears to be a clear violation of state law, the City Controller refuses to issue an official opinion on the City budget and the City’s Five-Year Financial Plan for the City’s state-appointed financial-oversight authority.  As Philadelphia inched toward the current crisis last year, the Controller had nothing to say about whether the budget balanced or whether the City was on shaky financial ground.

In its most-recent staff report, the City’s financial-oversight authority (the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority or PICA) noted the Controller’s failure to do his job.

“As in past years, and per the PICA enabling legislation, PICA Staff requested of the City Controller an opinion or certification prepared in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, with respect to the reasonableness of the assumptions and estimates in the City’s proposed FY09-FY13 Five-Year Plan. The Controller’s Office has declined to offer an opinion at this time.”

In what can only be described as an affront to the citizenry, the City Controller uses scarce School District funds to hire cronies and evade the City’s prohibition against City workers engaging in political activities.  The Controller's Office must be more for Philadelphia than another source of patronage for the hackocracy.

This would all be bad enough under ordinary circumstances, but with the City mired in financial crisis, there is a desperate need for an independent and engaged auditor and fiscal watchdog.

The current Controller is a long-time office-holder and is no threat to the status quo.  He uses the power of his position to generate headlines, not to make change.  In recent months, it has been everyone but the Controller pointing out waste, fraud, and mismanagement in City government:

•    The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing Safe and Sound, the social-service agency that received tens of millions of city dollars throughout the Street Administration to oversee after-school programs, anti-truancy efforts, and curfew centers.  The Controller was silent.
•    The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that defendants who were released on bail but who didn't show up for trial owe Philadelphia more than $1 billion.   The Controller was silent.