Mayor apologizes on behalf of press secretary
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Mayor apologizes on behalf of press secretary
Mayor Nutter this morning issued an apology to Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky after she wrote a column questioning why his Press Secretary Mark McDonald wrote a tweet that appeared to question the ethics of her reporting on the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
“I want to apologize to Ronnie, who I know, about what was sent out,” Nutter said. “It was inappropriate. I want to apologize directly and on behalf of our city government.”
In her column today, Polaneczky wrote that after a critical report on the Parking Authority, McDonald, who tweets as @PhillyPressSec, put up a tweet that said: “If reporter has let's say 150 agency violations, do you disclose that as you time after time pound said agency with your commentary?”
Polaneczky reports that she and her husband have incurred 215 tickets in the past 16 years, but that they are paid in full. Nutter today stressed that McDonald had not gotten access to any private parking records, but was just repeating rumor.
“It is not our policy to share or continue to move around rumors,” Nutter said. “I think it was a mistake. Mark is well aware of that.”
Nutter said that no further investigation or discipline was planned and that McDonald will remain in his position.
“Mark is a very hard working, committed public servant,” Nutter said. “Having the kind of conversation we had, will be punishment enough. He will continue to do his job.”
Ballsy move Mike. Would have been more ballsy to have your Press Secretary make the apology, while wearing a muzzle of course.— manyhats
Comment removed.- Nothing will change until there is a Republican or Independent Party in Philadephia.— Michael T. Welsh
- Mark sums up what is wrong with Philly gov't - deflecting attention away from dealing with the issues.— main liner
Then there's that Nutter flunkie - now moved on - who spread the rumor that the Jewish Community had been offended by the use of the word "Christmas" in a sign.
It didn't take long for several Columnists - who happened to be Jewish - to debunk the rumor and express the Joy and pleasure they receive each through Christmas songs and decorations.
Mr Mayor, who hires these nuts?
- If the Street admin had done this, Councilman Nutter would have been there to take up the cause of the media and get the flack fired. We would have known about this because Reporter Mark McDonald would have glowingly covered the courageous move by the holier-than-thou councilman.
Oh, how the times have changed. Nutter has now fully returned the favor of McDonald keeping quiet about the mayor's extracurricular activities at bowling alleys and on 2 AM trips home "from the office."— JessieB - At the end of the day, you have to love Nutter. Reporters, especially for this paper, can be jerks. The press secretery however, does not have freedom of speech. As George Carlin said: you have freedom of speeach until someone gets offended.— boroughboy
- Comment removed.
- Jim Kenney must be laughing today!— Lancer248
- And Nutter's apology for 5 years of gross mismanagement????????— InquiringMindz
- Sounds like a future episode of that stupid show "Parking Wars"— NYC sucks
- I think the guy had a point. Clearly the columnist has a problem following the parking rules. This is a conflict of interest as great as the more typical ones.— sal_acid
- Hey Mr. Mayor: The guy should be fired. It isn't hard to read between the lines and understand that your cronie did in fact pry into public records. You can try to cover him now, but your administration has become a complete facist farce. Who will trust you now? Who is going to speak out and feel comfortable that one of your other boot lickers won't pry into other public records in attempts to publicly embarass them. From backstabbing protestors to strongarming a local news station about releasing video of you with someone not your wife at a late night bowling excursion, to this lastest moronic behavior. I'd use that classy "A" word that you seem to like to use in front of a camera to act tough to decscribe your press secretary. There should be a criminal investigation. How disgraceful and shameful to treat your citizens as such. And this guy tweeted about ETHICS!? Oh the hypocrisy! "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"....You are a joke Mr. Mayor. Is your press secretary going to come after me now?— wilcowaits
- Having lived and/or worked in Philadelphia, mostly Center City, for most of my adult life, I managed to be cited about twice for parking violations over about 30 years. By accumulating over 200, Ms Polaneczky has shown a disregard for the law, as well as for her fellow citizens who were no doubt inconvenienced by her illegally parked vehicles on many occasions. While I do not condone the manner in which we were made aware of her behavior, I agree with Mr. McDonald that it is somewhat inappropriate for her to conduct a crusade against the parking authority, and I am glad to have been made aware of her flaunting of our laws. If it weren't for people like her, parking and driving in Philadelphia would be far less difficult than it is.— Charles B
- A lot of people could probably avoid parking tickets if they'd only put out the money for Valet Parking at restaurants - then again, it's probably not a totally risk-free service.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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