Sorry, Cherelle, “pissed and angry” won’t cut it.
Democratic mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker has a mess. (Photo: The Daily Pennsylvanian)
That was what Democratic mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker said when the Inquirer revealed emails from her campaign staffers that belittled and were dismissive of reporters.
Her staffers made an amateur mistake of accidentally sending internal campaign communications to Lawrence McGlynn with the Philadelphia Hall Monitor, a nonprofit news organization, in response to an interview request.
“John Dolan, the deputy campaign manager, discusses with Aren Platt, a senior adviser to Parker, how to handle requests from McGlynn and Denise Clay-Murray, a freelance journalist who writes for the Hall Monitor, the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, and other publications,” the Inquirer reported.
Dolan wrote, “I would suggest pushing off Lawrence and moving forward with Denise. I can slow roll him for a few weeks.”
Platt responded, “Let’s push her off without letting her know … Just be careful because she has already said that we are ignoring Black women journalists and truly independent media — irrespective of other circumstances. But we don’t want this to be too much of a narrative.”
It’s too late. It’s out there.
“But the exchange shed light on how the campaign manages Parker’s public image and led to accusations that it favors larger media outlets over smaller publications and diverse journalists,” the Inquirer reported.
That candidates favor some media sources over others is no surprise, nor is it unusual to favor larger outlets over smaller ones.
What is a little unusual is Parker’s feigned outrage.
I can testify to this myself.
During the primary campaign, I reached out to interview the leading candidates. I called each of them personally, using their cell phone numbers. Agreeing to be interviewed were Allan Domb, Jeff Brown, Derek Green, David Oh, and Rebecca Rhynhart. All were interviewed for my blog, Stubykofsky.com except for Rhynhart, whose incompetent staff kept changing the date for the agreed interview.
I did not attempt to interview the contentious Helen Gym as she never has responded to any request I have made in the past. Perhaps she might have been embarrassed for praising former Inquirer writer Inga Saffron as a “goddess of journalism” for comments about me that a jury found to be false and defamatory. Saffron was guilty of lying, Gym was guilty of endorsing a lie. Quite a duo.
I called Parker twice and invited her to be interviewed. The polite requests were left on her personal voicemail. She didn’t have the courtesy to decline, she simply never responded. Not to brag, but I’ve been a Philadelphia journalist for almost as long as she’s been alive.
And she has every right to be dismissive, even rude, even though she was in the midst of a tight race. Hell, I even endorsed in the primary. This is not “personal.”
But when she says the comments were “not consistent with who I am or what I expect from my team,” that is a lie. It is consistent with her past behavior, and she is ducking Inquirer interview requests right now, according to the Inquirer. She’s also ducking debates with David Oh, but that’s a subject for another column.
Who does she think she is, failed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot who once astonishingly announced she would not take questions from white reporters?
“I have made it clear that this is entirely unacceptable,” Parker posted on X.
No, Cherelle, it is very acceptable to you, except that you got caught.
And no, I didn’t try to contact you for comment for this piece as you have made it plain I’d be wasting my time.
Most politicians wait until they are elected before they start acting like a monarch. Looks like you have put on the royal robes already.
The reality is she does not have to interview with the media because of the overwhelming majority of Democratic voters. Candidate Parker and her team will keep the lowest profile possible and cruise to victory. Her road to victory is avoidance of debates, stay away from controversial issues and ride the Democratic Party to victory. I was hoping for discussion of important issues such as crime reduction, review of driving equity law, naming of new police commissioner and a long term plan to reduce poverty. None of that will occur.
Stu,
The only revelation here is getting caught. The democratic politicians in Philadelphia are insulated from the press. You either play nice or get put in a corner and ignored.
Same old same old. To use a phrase I believe came from Helen Urbanis, this story will be met with the Philly shrug.
Caveat: No good reporter would ignore a Page One story, even if it went against personal beliefs. Second caveat: A partisan reporter would not go looking for such a story.
The Inquirer, the Committee of Seventy, and the League of Women Voters ought to DEMAND that Parker debate Oh.
They are shirking their responsibility if they don’t.
I may do an Open Letter to all three soon.
Then Philadelphia is being fed whatever she feels like telling them, no disclosure on anything, Police, spending Homicide, or any type of government at all. So why even consider voting for her? VOTE REPUBLICAN!
If you cannot effectively manage your team, then managing a city effectively and efficiently is beyond your capabilities. Just another amateur who will be in over her head.
Its disappointing but not suprising . I supported parker knowing shed be a typical machine mayor but a machine mayor is 1000 times, a million times better than a progressive mayor and helen gyn would have been elected if 90% of rhe undecideds hadnt broken for parker.
In addition, as a resident of a lower middle class section of nw philly she knows her neighborhood is on the verge of falling to the drug gangs so i still believe shes going to turn ppd loose against the drug gangs that are destroying the city.
If she ends up being a typical machine mayor but ppd smashes the gang culture in this city then ill be happy
Republicans duck the media too, except for FOX FAKE NEWS, and lunatic fringe sites like OAN, InfoWars, and 🤡Trumpo’s Truth Social.
BTW, I’m voting for Oh.
Republicans appear on broadcast networks all the time, Keith. MSNBC used to claim they were afraid to go on. That was a lie. Ted Cruz and Jim Jordan, to name two, would never duck a fight.
Philly politics…more fun than a meth high.
No, they would never duck a fight. They will simply bring a shit-ton of lies, distortions, and exaggerations to said fight. They never answer the difficult questions anyway. They simply bluster and evade.
Oh, freeze, please — stop the wild generalizations. If I wanted to I could name half a dozen Republicans who don’t fit that description.
Do you mean like Kenney? Ooops forgot wrong party!
Ditto on the Disappointing but not surprising. This may help us all manage our expectations. Every time a new mayor is elected we are hopeful of real leadership that will bring about improvements (stop saying change= change is not improvement, we’ve seen change for the worse). We will get more of the same, Ms. Parker is the candidate of the machine, the power coalition. Decide for yourself where that has taken Philadelphia.
Not unlike the Philadelphia School District. It’s been an abomination since back in the ’70’s, when they started moving kids around schools like they were playing checkers. And continually, perpetually, hiring fraud after fraud as Superintendent, forking over an annual six-figure salary and receiving NOTHING positive in return. Every Philadelphian should treat themselves and watch, what I believe is the greatest filmed documentary of all time, “The Shame of a City” by Tigre Hill. You’d see how any hope for this once great city was flushed down the toilet by local Democrat leaders and the big-shot boss of the electricians union. Nevertheless, an excellent work of art by Tigre Hill.
One of my favorite saying is “change is not always progress.” There are many examples.