The two truths of Mayor Parker hiring spouses of City Hall insiders

I‘m getting used to living in a state of perpetual hmm over some of the decisions Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has made so far.

My skepticism isn’t an indictment.

Call it a signal flare that’s meant to offer a warning about some potentially choppy ethical waters that could directly impact the lives of Philadelphians.

Case in point: In defense of who’s now the fourth spouse of a City Hall insider chosen to serve in Parker’s administration, the mayor’s chief of staff, Tiffany W. Thurman, said, “The notion that qualified women cannot have their own careers separate from their spouses is archaic, sexist, and offensive”

True. All true. (In fact, that’s the argument one of the women Parker tapped, Dawn Chavous, successfully made when she stood trial last year for accepting contract work prosecutors said was meant as a bribe for her husband, Council President Kenyatta Johnson. The couple was acquitted.)

Also true is that public officials should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. And if you have to explain yourself, you already have a problem.

That’s not to say these women aren’t qualified. Not surprisingly, some, as the old-but-still-true saying goes, have done everything their spouses have, only backward and in high heels.

New city representative Jazelle Jones, who is married to Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., is a longtime city employee who has served under other administrations. Newly appointed deputy education officer Sharon C. Ward, the wife of Parker’s communications director, Joe Grace, was a senior adviser at the Education Law Center. Chavous, whom Parker named to a panel that considers candidates for the school board, is a consultant who has long worked in charter schools.

On Monday, Parker announced she hired Marnie Aument-Loughrey, who is married to Councilmember Jim Harrity, to be a “community coordinator” around Kensington. Aument-Loughrey is a Democratic ward leader who runs a civic association in the neighborhood.

I wish all of them well, and I know the uphill battles women have to fight to prove our worth, even when we don’t come into our positions with baggage.

That is why for anyone in Parker’s administration to dismiss the optics with one truth (the spouses of prominent people are more than just spouses) while ignoring another (even perceived nepotism isn’t a good look) is not just being shortsighted, it willfully ignores the long-standing culture in this city of problematic ethical conflicts that have spiraled into something far worse.

It stretches from the infamous 1970s FBI sting operation known as Abscam — which led to the conviction of nearly two dozen public officials and others for taking bribes — to former District Attorney Seth Williams’ indictment in 2017 for accepting gifts from people with interests in cases before him.

And lest we think this type of behavior is in our past, let’s not forget former Councilmember Bobby Henon, who recently reported to federal prison after being sentenced to 3½ years for accepting bribes — that included a sizable union salary — from labor leader John J. Dougherty. Dougherty was recently convicted in his second federal trial for embezzling, with others, more than $600,000 from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the union he led for 30 years.

With a track record like that, Philadelphians should raise an eyebrow or two at any administration that leans into insular politics.

I know Parker was determined to hire a police commissioner who didn’t need “a GPS to get to 52nd and Market” — and I like her choice of Kevin Bethel. But the world extends far beyond our city borders, so maybe not everyone in local government needs to have grown up, gone to school with, run with, or married the person down the block.

Using one truth to ignore another is disingenuous, dishonest, and conveniently naive of the world around us. And while I have some reservations about this administration, this is not a naive bunch.

But we do have a problem admitting two things could be true at the same time, don’t we? And that trait extends far past City Hall.

Take last weekend’s Super Bowl, for example, when Travis Kelce went all “jabroni” on Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, nearly knocking him over in a fit of rage on the sideline. It is true that in high-stakes moments, frustrations and passions can get the best of someone. Also true is that not everyone can publicly express their righteous frustrations and passions and not get kicked to the curb, or bench. Ask any “angry woman,” especially a vocal woman of color.

It is true that President Joe Biden is no spring chicken, but it is also true that he is, for the most part, a committed public servant who brought us out of a recession, a pandemic, and general malaise delivered by an equally long-in-the-tooth Donald Trump — who poses an even more dangerous threat to our country if he gets a second shot at the presidency.

And for all those who have parked themselves in my inbox to cry foul, there is this: It is true that I am watching the Parker administration closely, too closely for some.

It is also true that as a fellow woman of color who is acutely aware of the many land mines laid out in front of us every day, I want Mayor Parker — the city’s first female and fourth African American chief executive — to succeed.

And if that means setting off some signal flares early and often, so be it.