Councilwoman Brown's husband laid off from city job
Budget cuts prompted Harold Brown to lose his job, but being $4,200 behind on his taxes contributed, a source said.
THE HUSBAND of City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown - who admitted earlier this year to a series of campaign-finance violations - was laid off last week from his job at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority for budgetary reasons, officials say.
But a source familiar with the decision said information that surfaced about Howard Brown certainly didn't help.
In March the City Paper reported that Brown, 57, who worked with PRA for 10 years as an assistant director of administration, was $4,200 behind in taxes. That report came shortly after Brown's name arose in relation to a settlement his wife reached with the city Board of Ethics in January.
The councilwoman admitted as part of the settlement that she put campaign contributions into her personal bank account and failed to disclose transactions, including a loan from Chaka "Chip" Fattah Jr., son of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah. Reynolds Brown, who was facing foreclosure, said she was having "severe financial problems" due to her husband, who refused to pay the mortgage. The two are currently separated.
The Daily News was unable to reach Howard Brown and the councilwoman declined to comment.
More layoffs at the department are expected as a result of reductions to federal funding, officials said. Howard Brown, whose salary was $89,164, was the first to go, a source said.
Earlier this week, Reynolds Brown's former campaign manager, John McDaniel, was sentenced to one year in federal prison for stealing more than $100,000 from her campaign.
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