Philly Clout: Rendell outs DNC non-donor Vanguard

YOU MIGHT HAVE heard that the Philadelphia committee hosting the Democratic National Convention, and in charge of fund-raising, is refusing to say who is funding the convention. Transparency isn't their thing.

The committee, named PHL 2016, went as far as calling its fund-raising list a "trade secret." Which is - well, the only word that comes to mind is hilarious.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who is chairman of the DNC host committee, has defended the decision to withhold donor names before the convention next month. But the Guv has been quick to say who is not opening up their wallets.

Multiple Clout tipsters were at a PA Common Cause award banquet last week at which Vanguard Group founder John Bogle was being honored. Rendell introduced Bogle as a good corporate citizen, but quickly threw in that Vanguard had not donated to the DNC - and should, the sources said.

"I know you aren't there anymore, but can you see what you could do?" Rendell said, according to one witness.

(Vanguard spokesman John Woerth later said the company has no plans to donate to the DNC.)

Hey, Fast Eddie, how about you see what you can do about telling us who is actually footing the bill for this big bash in our city? Then we'll see what we can do about letting voters know how money influences politics behind the scenes.

Soda mogul Harold Honickman, after failing to derail Mayor Kenney's soda/sugar/grocery/whatever-you-want-to-call-it tax, was walking around City Hall on Monday delivering wrapped boxes of chocolates to some Council members.

We discovered upon further investigation that it was Stutz chocolate. Made in Hatboro. Mmmmm.

However, Council members, you might want to offer those chocolates to an intern first, then monitor the recipient's behavior for a good half-hour or so. We all know what happened a few weeks ago when Councilwoman Helen Gym's staffers drank the blue Kool-Aid that the soda lobby was handing out. (Hint: Her office was shorthanded the rest of the day.)

That blistering guest column that former Common Pleas Judge and 2015 mayoral candidate Nelson Diaz wrote about Kenney last month got him in a bit of trouble at his law firm, Dilworth Paxson.

We hear that Kenney made his thoughts known to Joseph Jacovini, a member of the firm's senior leadership team. Sounds to us like Kenney went over Diaz's head. Sort of like when Mayor Nutter called our bosses to complain about Clout.

But when a lawyer's op-ed angers one of the most powerful politicians in Philadelphia, and the firm that employs the lawyer has to do business in Philadelphia, that can make people at the firm nervous.

"Several partners within the firm, quite frankly, were upset," Ajay Raju, chairman and CEO of Dilworth Paxson, told Clout on Thursday.

Raju said Diaz's column, which essentially called Kenney a liar, contained "below-the-belt comments" that "reflected poorly on his brand and our firm's brand."

"But Nelson is Nelson," Raju said. "He's passionate. He's pure-hearted."

Kenney spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said that Kenney and Jacovini, longtime friends, "discussed the op-ed, but it wasn't the focus of the conversation because I guess by the time they connected, Joe and his partners had already seen it and were upset by it as well." Hitt said Kenney did not imply that the column could have any financial repercussions for the firm.

We reached out to Diaz, a partner at Dilworth Paxson, but he was out of the country and unavailable for comment. Probably for the best.

Twitter wars are so . . . 2013. We try to ignore them these days. But, sweet baby Jesus, what got into you folks this week? The last 72 hours were like Royal Rumble. Fights breaking out all over the damn place.

First, on Tuesday, some anti-soda-tax blowhard named Kevin Smith (@kphilly92) tweeted that Hitt is a "lying skank."

Whoa, buddy. Throttle back.

"Well, this escalated quickly ...," CBS3 assignment editor Joshua Crompton chimed in.

Indeed. Smith even used Hitt's Facebook profile photo to tweet a homemade meme that is too juvenile and unfunny for us to waste column space describing. (But, then again, what do you expect from a guy whose Twitter profile is: "Pizza greatest food known to man!")

"Good to see @NoPhillyTax is losing gracefully," Hitt retweeted Smith, dragging Philadelphians Against the Grocery Tax, the group fighting Kenney's tax, into the ring.

Anthony Campisi, a spokesman for Philadelphians Against the Grocery Tax, told us that Smith is not affiliated with the group.

Smith later deleted the tweet. Good idea. You dummy.

On Wednesday, Bill Green, an occasional hothead and member of the School Reform Commission, got into a protracted slugfest with Gym, an occasional hothead and member of City Council.

But, to be honest, we've seen this fight before. Quick recap: Gym called Green a beneficiary of #whitemaleprivilege who won't fund public education, then simply stated, "Delete your account." Green called Gym "The Donald of council, attack, seek attention, deflect, no substance."

Both quality burns. But we gotta move on. Because, guess what? Councilwoman Cindy Bass just leaped over the top rope and is taking on the entire Philadelphia Republican Party!

"Maybe get off your phone and listen to the impassioned citizens speaking AGAINST your #SodaTax," @PhillyGOP tweeted to Bass Thursday as it trolled City Council and Kenney.

"Get a clue, loser," Bass tweeted back.

And with that . . . have a good weekend.

Staff writers Claudia Vargas, William Bender, Julia Terruso, and Tricia L. Nadolny contributed to this column.

On Twitter: @wbender99.

Email: benderw@phillynews.com

Phone: 215-854-5255