Will a super PAC push Amen Brown for mayor? And why did Josh Shapiro dodge a Larry Krasner question?

Let’s start today with the easy predictions for the Democratic primary for mayor in Philadelphia six months from now:

There will be several super PACs, which can influence elections while avoiding the city’s campaign finance limits if they don’t coordinate with a candidate. Those super PACs will likely outspend the crowded field of candidates for mayor, as they did in 2015 and 2019.

Now for the less predictable:

One of those super PACs might support State Rep. Amen Brown, who just won a second two-year term in his West Philly district.

Three people familiar with that pitch say it is being delivered on Brown’s behalf by Marty Burger, the CEO of Silverstein Properties, a New York firm that owns a Center City skyscraper and is a partner in a West Philly commercial property development.

Clout is told Burger and Brown have predicted the super PAC would start with about $5 million in seed money while soliciting promises of financial support. We also hear Brown and Burger have noted the financial support this year for Brown’s legislative campaign from Pennsylvania’s richest man, Main Line billionaire Jeff Yass.

And Burger is planning an event in Brown’s honor in two weeks at Pennsylvania Society, the annual gathering in New York for Pennsylvania politicians. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who won office last year with super PAC support, is scheduled to attend.

Burger, in a text, called Brown a “very close friend” and “someone to watch” while declining to comment about the proposed super PAC.

“He is an amazing person and has unique qualities that position him for a strong mayoral run,” Burger said. “I think there are a lot of very influential people who will rally around and get behind Amen Brown for this to happen.”

Brown, in a text of his own, said that “many people have reached out to me about my political aspirations and future in government and city politics” but that Yass is not one of them. He called his House district his priority for now and said he has made “no definite decision” on running for mayor.

First elected in 2020, Brown angered fellow Democrats while charming Republicans in Harrisburg. He drew attention this summer for a long Center City coffee shop sit-down with Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who went on to lose a Republican bid for the U.S. Senate.

Brown last December secured a $2 million state grant for the West Philadelphia property that Burger’s firm is helping to develop.

There was plenty popping in Pennsylvania’s Capitol on Wednesday as Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro met in public with Gov. Tom Wolf to start the transition from one Democratic administration to the next.

Word spread that the Democrats had seized a slim majority in the state House. And Republicans in the House were impeaching Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Shapiro, still the state attorney general, wanted to talk about the first two but not the third.

“This is not an issue that comes before the attorney general or the governor,” Shapiro said when asked about Krasner’s impeachment.

Shapiro won in a landslide this month campaigning on a promise to not allow Pennsylvania voters to be disenfranchised by elected officials.

He also has a long and troubled history with Krasner, who in 2019 compared prosecutors who left his office to work for Shapiro to “war criminals” like the Nazis who fled to Paraguay after losing World War II.

Krasner won office in 2017 and 2021 with margins wider than Shapiro’s last week. Shapiro deferred to Lt. Gov.-elect Austin Davis, who is still a state representative and voted against impeaching Krasner.

“I believe every community should have the opportunity to elect their own leaders,” Davis said. “And we as the General Assembly should not be disenfranchising those voters.”

Billy Lanzilotti, the former Republican South Philly ward leader ejected from that role by his party in May after The Inquirer detailed an odd scheme he cooked up involving mail ballots, is threatening to sue the Republican City Committee if he is not reinstated.

Mark D. Schwartz, a lawyer for Lanzilotti, sent Republican Party chair Vince Fenerty an Oct. 27 letter, claiming the party violated its rules “involving quorum and notice” in the vote to toss Lanzilotti overboard.

Schwartz told Clout that Fenerty has not responded and he will file a lawsuit next month unless Lanzilotti gets back his post as leader of Ward 39A. Schwartz also said the party’s action prevented Lanzilotti from volunteering for State Sen. Doug Mastriano’s campaign for governor.

“He applied to be a poll watcher for Mastriano and got turned down because of this nonsense with the party,” Schwartz said.

Lanzilotti also implored South Philly voters in texts to write him in as a candidate for the state House’s 185th District, where there was no Republican nominee. There were 307 write-ins for that race. It’s not clear yet how many were for Lanzilotti.

Fenerty declined to comment.

Lanzilotti diverted mail ballots to a P.O. Box he controlled, calling that a “service to voters” after he helped them fill out applications for the ballots. He refused to testify under subpoena from the City Commissioners in May, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.