Commentary: To end patronage at PPA, make it a civil service agency

The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) is still trying to recover from the damming sexual harassment scandal involving its former executive director, Vincent Fenerty. The first reaction to reports of harassment was to put limitations on his duties, but revelations of serial harassment forced him to resign in lieu of getting fired.

The solution taken by the PPA Board of Directors to address this mess was to hire Clarena Tolson, a respected former Street Department commissioner who happens to be a Democrat, as executive director. While this interim solution looks good on paper, it still does not end the real problem at the agency, political patronage.

Political patronage was the exclusive way the federal, state, and local governments filled public jobs prior to 1883. What partisan patronage does is reward people for their support of a candidate or party with a pledge of a job. Qualifications and competency take a back seat to rewarding friends, family, and political operatives. Based on recent news reports, the PPA's primary mission is to create jobs and give contracts to Republican party loyalists in and around the Philadelphia area.

It doesn't have to be that way. Instead, this outrageous and obviously dysfunctional authority should be reformed into a civil service-covered agency.

Civil service does not favor Republicans or Democrats - and reforming the agency would be a reminder that the PPA should not be a mill for the Republican party to grant favors or jobs to its supporters. (If Republicans want to be a force in the city's political life they should try and win the hearts and minds of the citizens rather than coerce a few in their patronage mill.)

Since the enactment of Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter in 1951, a majority of city jobs are civil service and fall under the oversight of the city's Civil Service Commission. At the state level, a majority of jobs under the governor's jurisdiction, most Pennsylvania housing authorities, and county social service programs, fall under the oversight of the state Civil Service Commission.

Civil service ensures that people are hired because of what they know and not who they know. Hiring decisions are made exclusively on job qualifications and not political considerations. Employees are protected from arbitrary dismissals and sanctions, and thus able to feel secure to report things like sexual harassment or political shenanigans. Making the PPA a civil service agency would also ban all partisan and political activities of authority staff. PPA employees that currently serve as political ward leaders and precinct captains would no longer be allowed to wear two conflicting hats.

Making the PPA a civil service agency can be accomplished very easily. All the board needs to do is to enter into a contract with either the city or state Civil Service Commission. (The state commission has an office and testing facility less than a block away from PPA's headquarters.) Alternatively, since the PPA is now considered to be a state entity, legislation could be introduced in Harrisburg that would require the authority to be made civil service by statute.

Depending on the method used to reform PPA into a civil service agency, all existing jobs can be grandfathered in. Or, if the authorities wanted to ensure competency-based employment, the qualifications of current jobholders could be evaluated to determine if they have the prerequisite skills for their positions.

Given the recent sexual harassment scandal at PPA, it is time to depoliticize the operations of the authority. Its singular focus should be providing the best quality public services to the citizens of Philadelphia, not providing jobs to the well connected. It is well past time to end the agency's reputation as a partisan political patronage haven.

Marwan Kreidie teaches political science at West Chester University. He was a former chair of the state Civil Service Commission and also served as a Philadelphia civil service commissioner. marwankreidie@yahoo.com