Editorial: Watchdog role suits Schmidt

For more than a century, Philadelphia has been a one-party political town.

The Republicans ran the city in the first half of the 20th century before corruption scandals swept Democrats into power.

Despite occasional reform efforts over the last 50 years, the Democratic Party machine has hardly presided over an era of good government.

The city was driven to the brink of bankruptcy in the 1980s; its overall tax burden has ballooned to the highest in the nation; and despite Mayor Nutter's efforts, pay-to-play and patronage still call City Hall home.

The City Controller's Office can't fix all of those ills. But that watchdog post would be in a better position to fight business as usual if it weren't so tied to the same political machinery.

That's largely why The Inquirer endorses Republican AL SCHMIDT for city controller.

Given that Democrats outnumber Republicans in Philadelphia, 7-1, Schmidt faces an uphill battle to unseat first-term incumbent Alan Butkovitz. But even Democratic voters tired of waste and corruption should want a fiscal watchdog not beholden to the political class in power.

That isn't to say Schmidt is apolitical. He spent one year as executive director of the city's Republican Party. But Schmidt, a 38-year-old Pittsburgh native who has a doctorate in history from Brandeis University, is hardly a creature of Philadelphia's entrenched Republican minority.

Under the backroom control of the Meehan clan, Republican officials in Philadelphia have long served as the political version of the Washington Generals, the hapless team that gets paid to let the Harlem Globetrotters win.

Indeed, Republican leaders advised Schmidt not to run for controller, even though he's uniquely qualified for the job. He spent five years as a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office in Washington.

Schmidt has audited government agencies looking for waste, fraud, and mismanagement. If elected, he plans to instill similar GAO standards in the controller's office.

To be fair, Butkovitz has had some worthy accomplishments in his term as controller. He played a key role in the city's budget and pension debate. And he's done a number of audits that have found millions of dollars in waste and inefficiencies.

But here's the rub: Butkovitz is deeply entrenched in the Democratic Party. The former state representative is a ward leader in the Northeast. Like the Board of Revision of Taxes, his office employs patronage employees whose salaries are paid by the Philadelphia School District. That way they can evade the City Charter prohibition on city employees doing political work.

A ward leader who employs patronage hacks and is beholden to the dominant political machine isn't the best fiscal watchdog to mind City Hall. Schmidt is a better choice to audit how taxpayers' money is being spent.