Former State Rep. Kevin Boyle has landed a job in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration
The seven-term state representative lost his bid for reelection amid extraordinary circumstances, including his family expressing concerns about his mental health.
Former State Rep. Kevin Boyle — a Northeast Philadelphia Democrat who lost a reelection bid last year amid extraordinary circumstances, including his family publicly expressing concerns about his mental health — has landed a new job working for the City of Philadelphia.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration hired Boyle to work in the managing director’s office as a deputy director of external affairs. He will work in the agency advancing the administration’s initiatives for people with substance-use disorder, including through a new city-operated recovery house in Northeast Philadelphia.
Managing Director Adam Thiel said in a statement that Boyle “will bring an important perspective to work under our new Wellness Ecosystem Initiative.” He will make $110,000 a year.
The new job represents a return to public life for the seven-term state representative. Boyle, 45, lost his bid for reelection in April following several public controversies, including an outburst inside a Montgomery County bar that was caught on video and a since-withdrawn warrant for his arrest that city law enforcement officials issued by mistake.
Amid the strife, those close to Boyle expressed concerns about his health, including his older brother, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.), who said last spring that the reemergence of a mental health condition had been “a nightmare for me and our family.”
Kevin Boyle did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Parker administration did not answer questions about his job responsibilities, when he started, or whether he will supervise employees.
Broadly speaking, external affairs offices manage relationships between public agencies and outside groups, like nonprofits or other city departments. A similar position posted by the same department last year indicates that job focuses on “communications and fundraising efforts, and support[s] interdepartmental and external relations.”
Parker administration officials did not say whether the job had been publicly advertised, or if Kevin Boyle had submitted a resume and job application.
Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director at government watchdog group Common Cause Pennsylvania, said that if the city did not advertise the job or require that Kevin Boyle formally apply, that would be “no way to run a city hiring process.”
“City government should be doing everything it can to instill trust and confidence,” he said. “And that means hiring people based on merit … not political connections.”
The former state representative has spoken openly for years about his mental health, including after he was arrested for harassment in 2021 for appearing at his ex-wife’s home in violation of a protection-from-abuse order she had filed against him. Kevin Boyle said in a letter to constituents the following year that the incident was a result of psychosis.
Those charges were dropped and his record was expunged. House leaders said at the time that they were gratified he was receiving treatment for “ongoing mental health challenges.”
In the following year, Boyle chaired the Insurance Committee, where he worked to expand coverage of mental health treatment and the services people can access.
Then, in February 2024, video circulated on social media showing Kevin Boyle repeatedly yelling at staff inside a bar. Following the outburst, the Democratic Party backed his primary challenger, Sean Dougherty, who ultimately beat Boyle in the primary and now represents the district. House Democratic leaders said the state representative was “seeking help,” and officials revoked his security access at the state Capitol.
In April, a week before the primary election, Philadelphia police mistakenly issued a warrant for Kevin Boyle’s arrest, saying he violated a PFA. The state representative did not turn himself in and his whereabouts were unknown for several days. House leaders took steps toward expelling him.
One day before the primary, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office withdrew the warrant, saying no PFA against Kevin Boyle existed — the PFA previously filed against him had been expunged in 2022 — meaning the lawmaker could not have been in violation of such an order.
The city’s top law enforcement leaders did not offer a clear explanation for how a mistake of such magnitude occurred. District Attorney Larry Krasner said at the time that he believed investigators were acting in good faith and did not know the PFA from 2021 was inactive.
Following his loss in the primary, Kevin Boyle returned to the state House in May and said he felt “vindicated after so many false accusations” were leveled against him ahead of Election Day. He regained his security privileges at the Capitol, and Democratic leaders dropped the effort to expel him.
Kevin Boyle is one of several former elected officials who have been hired by the Parker administration, including former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary, who was convicted in 2014 of lying to FBI about fixing a ticket, and former State Rep. Leslie Acosta, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to taking part in an embezzlement scheme involving a mental health clinic.
Parker administration spokesperson Joe Grace said of Singletary and Acosta: “The Parker administration supports every person’s right to a second chance in society.”
Staff writers Sean Collins Walsh, Gillian McGoldrick, and Julia Terruso contributed to this article.