Politicians often use blue-ribbon commissions as a delay tactic. This one’s different.

When Clout hears that city leaders are forming a blue-ribbon committee or advisory panel to tackle one of Philly’s intractable issues, we tend to assume they’re just kicking the can down the road.

But a new advisory group on tax policy that announced itself this last week sounds less like a delay tactic and more like a challenge.

First, some backstory: Council President Kenyatta Johnson in February championed a resolution to reconstitute the Tax Reform Commission, an advisory panel established in city law in the early 2000s that has been dormant for years.

» READ MORE: Tax Reform Commission 4.0? City Hall takes another stab at reforming Philly’s tax structure

The group has met a couple times, and the appointees — chosen by Council, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, City Controller Christy Brady, and the local Chambers of Commerce — are largely business-friendly types who appear likely to produce familiar recommendations: Cut the wage tax, and reform or cut the business income and receipts tax.

But some left-leaning critics of Council’s recent zeal for prioritizing tax cuts did their research and discovered that the law that established the Tax Reform Commission also calls for the creation of another group, the Tax Reform Advisory Committee. That group is supposed to include appointees from organizations that appear likely to go in a more progressive direction than the commission, including the local branch of the NAACP, the group Asian Americans United, and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO.

Despite there being no formal invitation from City Hall to create the advisory panel, some of the groups went ahead and named appointees who on Thursday notified Parker and Johnson that they “have formed” a new Advisory Committee and that “the commission is required to consider our input.”

It’s hard to imagine the two panels will see eye to eye. For instance, the Rev. Gregory Holston, the NAACP’s appointee, said the committee is meant to have “a different perspective on taxes than certainly some business people.”

“As long as the city services are the way they are, it makes it extremely difficult not to have other revenue sources,” said Holston, a senior adviser for policy and advocacy in District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office.

It’s not yet clear how Johnson plans to handle the self-starters. He declined to comment, but his office sent a statement from the cochairs of the commission, former Council chief financial officer Matt Stitt and investor and former state official Richard Vague.

They said they are “working to convene the members of the Tax Reform Advisory Group as soon as possible.”

Stitt and Vague added that the commission plans to hold its first public hearing in June and to release policy recommendations in the fall.

Republicans this year are hoping to turn the war in Gaza into a winning campaign issue by accusing their opponents across the aisle of being weak on Israel. But one local Democrat who served in the military isn’t having it.

It all started when the National Republican Campaign Committee, the campaign arm for GOP candidates in U.S. House races, questioned whether Ashley Ehasz, an Army veteran and Apache helicopter pilot challenging U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, has engaged in “pro-Hamas activism.”

“I proudly sacrificed years of my life in combat defending Americans and the American way of life against terrorist groups like Hamas,” Ehasz, who is running in the Bucks County-based 1st District, posted on X (formerly Twitter). “For @RepBrianFitz — who has never served a day in uniform — and the @NRCC to now say I support Hamas? Go [expletive deleted] yourselves.”

The no-holds-barred response, posted with a photo of Ehasz sitting in an Apache, came after the NRCC, which backs Fitzpatrick, blasted Ehasz over a $1,500 donation she received from Wendy Rockefeller. The aristocratic family’s current patriarch, David Rockefeller Jr., sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which has funded Jewish Voices for Peace, an anti-Zionist organization.

“Extreme Democrat Ashley Ehasz proudly powers her campaign with cash from the very same billionaires underwriting the antisemitic chaos sweeping college campuses,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella wrote in a release. “Voters need to know, does Ehasz agree with their pro-Hamas activism or will she dump their donations?”

Other Democrats quickly lined up behind Ehasz to criticize the NRCC, including U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, who is a member of the bipartisan and centrist Problem Solvers Caucus with Fitzpatrick.

“Partisanship is one thing. Flagrant attacks on the patriotism of those you disagree with, many of whom are veterans, is a naked attempt to divide our country,” Gottheimer said.

Fitzpatrick’s campaign took umbrage with Ehasz’s choice words. Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, was embedded with U.S. Special Forces during the Iraq War, according to his congressional website.

“Ashley Ehasz’s comment about Congressman Fitzpatrick is false and defamatory,” campaign spokesperson Nancy McCarty told Clout. “And the matter has been turned over to the campaign’s lawyers.”

As mayor, Parker will play a critical role in deciding the fate of the 76ers’ controversial proposal to build a new arena in Center City, and City Hall observers have been dissecting every word she utters on the subject to get an inkling on her stance.

On the campaign trail last year, for instance, Parker stopped short of endorsing the project but frequently touted its potential economic benefits, leading observers to assume a Parker win was a win for the 76ers, as well.

But in recent months, the mayor has been saying that she’s also a big fan of a plan by Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center and is the 76ers’ current landlord, to transform the South Philadelphia stadium complex. Those comments have led some to wonder whether her enthusiasm for the 76ers’ plan is waning.

» READ MORE: Philly stadium owners don’t pay property taxes. Here’s what that means for the Sixers’ arena proposal.

But this week, Parker made clear that no one will have to read between the lines once she makes up her mind.

“I don’t intend on being a passive party in this decision-making,” Parker said in an interview with The Inquirer’s editorial board. “If I’m against it, I’m going to be against it, and the people in the city of Philadelphia will know I am against it. If I am for it, you rest assured people are going to know that I am for it.”

So how will Parker decide? The mayor said she is considering input from the team and other stakeholders. And she plans to do some field work of her own.

“I’m about to make some visits soon to some other arenas across the country to take a look at. We’re doing that real soon,” she said.

Parker said she has already visited the Battery in Atlanta — a mixed-use development and entertainment complex that includes the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park — and she loves it. (Clout will forgive her for praising something related to the Braves organization since the Phillies are leading the division.)

“We need to have our own Battery here with our teams,” she said. “We deserve what they have in Atlanta. But Atlanta has done it, so we have an opportunity to do it better.”

Clout suggested to the mayor that the Battery looks an awful lot like the Comcast Spectacor proposal for South Philly. She didn’t disagree.

“Where you stand on the issue depends on where you sit,” she said. “Where I sit, I want to see as much economic opportunity as possible here in the city of Philadelphia, so I don’t view projects as competing against one another.”

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.