Republican jumps into race for City Controller

The field of candidates running for Philadelphia City Controller is filling out. Alan Butkovitz is expected to launch his bid for reelection at a press conference today, WHYY’s Elizabeth Fiedler reports that the Democratic incumbent’s announcement will come one day after a new Republican challenger entered the race.

The field of candidates running for Philadelphia City Controller is filling out. Alan Butkovitz is expected to launch his bid for reelection at a press conference today, WHYY’s Elizabeth Fiedler reports that the Democratic incumbent’s announcement will come one day after a new Republican challenger entered the race.

Caption: City Controller Alan Butkovitz

[audio: reports20090224controller.mp3]
Transcript:
Former Republican City Committee Executive Director Al Schmidt is making his first ever run for public office. He says the City Controller needs to be independent from the political establishment that  runs the city.

Schmidt: “One party rule has governed Philadelphia exclusively for such a long time and one party rule is always bad, regardless of party. You can see what the Republican party did – my own party – did in Washington D.C. from January 2001 up until 2006.  Unchecked one party rule is always corrupt, and it’s always inept, and it’s always bad for taxpayers.”

Schmidt was a senior performance analyst at the non-partisan U.S. Government Accountability Office from 2001 to 2006, where he helped members of Congress identify waste, fraud, and mismanagement in federal agencies and programs.