Ten Tough Questions The Inky Would Never Ask Mayor Kenney

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

A big problem in this town is that Mayor Jim Kenney, District Attorney Larry Krasner, and the reporters and editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer are all card-carrying Progressive Democrats who share the same values, think the same thoughts, and drink the same Kool-Aid.

And one of the first rules of being a Progressive "journalist" and social justice warrior is that you don't embarrass or hold accountable a public official who happens to be a fellow Progressive Democrat down with the cause.

So in that spirit, Big Trial, which is barred from attending Mayor Kenney's virtual press conferences, and is typically stiffed by the mayor's press office whenever it asks a question that the administration doesn't want to answer, is going to publicly post 10 tough questions for our mayor. 

These are questions that the Inquirer would never ask, and some of these questions Kenney's flacks so far have repeatedly refused to answer. But nevertheless these are 10 questions that demand answers.

Question 1. The week before the start of the George Floyd protests, the Police Department knew that massive crowds of protesters were headed their way, plus plenty of outside agitators who were ready to rumble. 

So why was the rookie police commissioner, the police department, and the entire Kenney administration caught flat-footed? Why were Kenney and Outlaw and Managing Director Brian Abernathy completely unprepared for the chaos, rioting, looting and arson fires that ensued? 

The mayor and police commissioner have announced the hiring of a private consultant to review the police department's response to the riots, especially questions about the cops' use of force. But the battle was lost before the protesters ever came to town. 

What we're really dealing with here is a complete failure of leadership on the part of Mayor Kenney and his hand-picked rookie police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw to come up with a tactical plan to protect the city from an invading army of protesters and criminals. 

Mayor Kenney, isn't this charade of hiring an outside consultant to second-guess the police response to the riots, and especially the focus on the so-called use of excessive force, just a diversionary tactic to get around the real issue, which namely is your complete failure as a leader?

Question 2. While the "protesters" were looting stores with abandon, setting arson fires and blowing up ATMs all over town, typically with no police officers in sight to protect citizens or property, why was the Kenney administration secretly tying up some 48 plainclothes detectives with 24/7 private security details for top city officials? 

For at least 11 straight days during the riots, those private security details were parked 24/7 outside the homes of officials such as the managing director and the health commissioner, 16 of 17 City Council members, as well as the mayor's fiancee.

The mayor, of course, was already protected by a 24/7 security detail that included a lieutenant, a sergeant and ten police officers who chauffeur the mayor around in brand new Chevy Tahoe. The D.A. also has his own private security detail of three officers who drive him around in a Ford Expedition.

But on top of those details, the Kenney administration during the rioting also provided private security details for Kenney's girlfriend and the top city officials listed above.

Isn't this a double standard? One set of rules for the people on top of the City Hall pay scale, and their significant others, and another set of rules for the rest of us, who were left to fend for ourselves? 

Does anyone see a problem with a mayor who's whacking the police budget, but has no problem using the cops to guard his top officials and their families, and the mayor's girlfriend, with private24/7 security details?

So it's time for the mayor to fess up on the private security details. We need a full list of who got them and why, and what was the cost.

Question 3. Why did the Kenney administration record the costs of these private security details for VIPs in the city's Daily Attendance Records System as part the the police department's official response to the riots, in hopes of charging those costs off to the federal government? Doesn't that constitute fraud?

A seasoned former prosecutor thought so, as did a former federal prosecutor interviewed by Big Trial. The former federal prosecutor questioned whether all the officials who benefited from those 24/7 security details outside their homes had received credible threats to their safety.

Yo Mr. Mayor, were there any credible threats?

"Secondly, disguising the payments is classic evidence of fraudulent conduct," the former federal prosecutor declared. "Clearly a wrongful expenditure of public funds."

So Mr. Mayor, in secretly dispatching all those detectives on those private security details, and trying to hide the costs of those private security details in the budget, wasn't your administration committing fraud?

Question 4. Why is the city continuing to provide private security details for Letitia Santarelli, the mayor's girlfriend, on the 3100 block of S. 13th Street? As recently as one morning last week, two marked police cars as well as an SUV that belongs to the mayor's security detail were seen parked outside Santarelli's house.

On Wednesday morning, June 24th, a marked police car from the Third District was parked on Curtain Street opposite the back entrance to Santarelli's house. And a black Chevy Tahoe, belonging to the mayor's security detail, was parked on Santarelli's block.

Why are we continuing to provide private security details for a person who is not a city official and is not even a city employee?

Question 5. Big Trial has learned that in addition to guarding Santarelli's house, the mayor's private security detail has for months chauffeured Santarelli to and from New Jersey, where she used to live. 

And that during the last college basketball season, the mayor's private security detail was busy chauffeuring Kenney and Santarelli to and from college basketball games in Virginia, Connecticut and New York, to watch Santarelli's daughter play ball. 

What's the cost -- and the justification --- for the details guarding Santarelli, and chauffeuring her to and from New Jersey? And what's the cost -- and the justification -- for chauffeuring Santarelli and the mayor to out-of-state college basketball games?

We're all dying to know.

Question 6. What's the deal with the rookie police commissioner? Why is she encased in plastic bubble wrap? 

According to the Inquirer on June 12th, Danielle Outlaw "declined multiple interview requests" to discuss why she and her police department were woefully unprepared to handle the riots. She can't even talk to fellow Progressives?

Previously, Outlaw wouldn't agree to a softball interview for a feature to be written by Inquirer columnist Jenice Armstrong, another black female. 

The police commissioner typically hides in her office, or works from home. When she's trotted out for brief appearances at virtual press conferences, she's typically shielded by the mayor and his press people.

Yo Mr. Mayor, what's up with that? Is your hand-picked rookie police commissioner not ready for prime time? 

Question 7. When the Kenney administration went shopping for a new police commissioner, was the job advertised on the websites of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, or the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association? 

Similarly, was the job of police commissioner advertised on the job board of Strategic Government Resources, or even the phila.gov job board, or in the pages of Police Chief magazine? 

Was the job advertised with the FBI National Academy, or the School of Police Staff and Command at Northwestern University, or the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville?

From what I have been able to gather, the answer to all of these questions is no.

If that's true, why then didn't the Kenney administration follow customary practice and initiate a local, regional and national search for a new police commissioner?

Did the mayor's desire to have a black female as his new police commissioner trump any question of qualifications?

Question 8. Has the mayor, who has been seen kneeling with demonstrators, and is often quoted pandering to protesters, ever considered that appeasement as a general strategy doesn't work when dealing with fascism?

In other words, when the lynch mob came for the Frank Rizzo statue, Kenney's response was to declare another state of emergency, and throw due process out the window. Next, he ordered the police to stand down to give the mob one last chance to deface and spray-paint the statue.

Kenney's final move was to have incompetent city workers damage the statue when they toppled it in the dead of night, all to appease the howling mob and their cheerleaders in the media. 

Then the mob set their sights on the Columbus statue.

Kenney, of course, was more than willing to cave to that fresh set of demands, until a lawyer for the locals jammed him up in court. Yo Mr. Mayor, haven't you figured out yet that a howling mob will never be placated or appeased, and that there will always be a next target?

And that some day, hopefully soon, the next target might be you?

Question 9. Mr. Mayor, when the protesters invaded the city by the tens of thousands and the entire coronavirus social distancing business went out the window, don't you think it was hypocritical and patently ridiculous for you to continue your state of emergency guidelines for the rest of us?

Today, bars and restaurants in this town are still prevented from allowing customers inside. People can't get a haircut or go to a movie theater. Indoor social and religious gatherings are still limited to no more than 25 people. And outdoor gatherings are still limited to no more than 50 people.

Meanwhile, the protesters get to do whatever they want, which includes rioting, looting and setting arson fires, as well as acting as general provocateurs. And now your Progressive comrade, Larry Krasner, is appointing a special task force in preparation for allowing most of lawbreakers get off scot-free.

In the latest outbreak of lawlessness, Mayor Kenney allowed a group of homeless squatters to take over part of a ball field located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in brazen defiance of local laws against camping out there, and also in total disregard for coronavirus social distancing guidelines.

And what was the mayor's response when the homeless squatters invaded the parkway, to create a brand new breeding ground for crime, drugs and the coronavirus? Mayor Kenney ordered the police to stand down.

Mr. Mayor, isn't it hypocritical of you to continue to maintain one set of onerous rules for law-abiding citizens to comply with while the protesters are allowed to do whatever the hell they want? 

Do you see a problem here?

Question 10. What is it with you and loyalty? You seem to have none. 

You owe your entire career in government to one individual, Vincent J. Fumo, your former mentor. He transformed you from a chubby intern the staff dubbed "Baby Huey" into his chief of staff, and then a city councilman at large. 

And yet you haven't spoken to Fumo in a dozen years.

You also owe your political career to your South Philly neighbors, who supported you for decades, yet you tried to jam a so-called safe injection site down their throats. When they held a meeting to address rampant crime in their neighborhood, the mayor who could find the time to go to New Hampshire during the winter to campaign on behalf of Elizabeth Warren for president, couldn't travel a few blocks to talk to his own South Philly neighbors.

Then you waved the white flag of surrender when the lynch mobs came for the Rizzo statue and the Columbus statue.

So Mr. Mayor, when it comes to the protesters invading your city, you kneel with them, you pander to them, you appease them. And then you look the other way when they brazenly break the law.

But when it comes to the people who made you and supported you, you're hateful toward them, and look for endless new ways to screw them.

Finally, Mr. Mayor, I have to ask, what's wrong with you?