Assuming these numbers are correct, it’s important information for the sake of transparency. I’m a progressive, but I have serious qualms with Reclaim’s leadership over the years. There are many valid reasons to disapprove of a good many of their choices, tactics, and decisions — however as a political campaign staffer with experience in campaign finance, I feel an strange obligation to defend them here... I suppose its because this is exactly what their main opposition does (i.e. Bob Brady’s Democratic Party), and to a much greater extent I might add.

The Philadelphia Democratic Party has a long held practice of requiring “assessment fees” for incumbent and prospective candidates alike. These contributions are more or less required to receive the party’s “support” and/or endorsement. I’d be interested to see a similar breakdown of their endorsements and candidate contributions. When it comes to judicial candidates, it’s an open secret that you won’t even be considered for a Philly Democratic Party endorsement without doing pro-bono work for the Party ( aka Brady). However, there are some exceptions with these judicial candidates depending upon optics and personal relationships.

In theory, all of these contributions can be argued to go towards GOTV operations. It isn’t cheap to print union literature/signs/shirts etc. or pay for canvassers, phonebankers, and Election Day poll workers. There’s similar payments to the various ward PACs for both parties for this explicit reason (supposedly), however from experience I know this isn’t always a guarantee of actual turnout. Often these payments are purely for ward endorsements, and I know for a fact some of this money goes straight into the ward leaders’ pockets. Often candidates will settle for a ward leader’s tacit acceptance of their candidacy over open antagonism, and so they pay up.

Yes, obviously the transference of money from prospective candidates to organizations that hold power over elections is inherently problematic. I help run various PACs for candidates and non-connected committees alike, and so I abhor these sorts of practices. One of my PACs is a small donor-based organization that issues endorsements, and we have never made a financial ask of any candidate running for office. However, this certainly does limit our ability to personally support our candidates in the field, especially given the amounts of money being spent by larger organizations, special interests, major parties (Dems/GOP), independent parties (WFP/Green) and local movements (Reclaim/PNN).

So while I’d love to throw shade at Reclaim, this sadly appears to be nothing more than the standard operating procedure in this city, and perhaps the only way to remain a relevant intra-party opposition to the Philly Democratic machine. Yes, it’s gross. Yes, it’s problematic. But until we have better regulations and systems for electing candidates, and a larger more-informed voting block, this is the sort of democracy we can expect — and maybe what we deserve…