Who was the mystery ex-candidate who helped the pro-Jeff Brown super PAC last summer?

Loyal Clout readers know we love solving a mystery.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics lawsuit this month, claiming Jeff Brown and his Democratic campaign for mayor illegally coordinated with a super PAC supporting him, had plenty of redacted documents and unidentified players — “Here come the Sixers” — to keep us busy.

But what about that “former candidate for federal office” cited in the the lawsuit for making phone calls to potential super PAC donors last summer to arrange meetings with Brown and pitch a dinner fundraiser. The Board of Ethics included a series of emails to Brown and “Former Federal Candidate” sent by Brown’s deputy campaign manager, Olivia Scanlon.

Who could it be? Let Clout think … let Clout think … hey, we got it!

The former candidate was Jeff Bartos, the Main Line real estate developer who ran in 2022′s packed Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Bartos and Brown cofounded in 2020 the nonprofit 30 Day Fund, which gave loans to help small-business owners stay afloat during the pandemic. Brown took over as chair when Bartos ran for the Senate. Bartos took control again as Brown prepared to run for mayor.

Bartos confirmed for Clout that he was the unidentified candidate and called Brown “a dear friend.” He also said the Board of Ethics has not been in touch about his efforts last summer for the super PAC, For a Better Philadelphia.

Bartos also told Clout that Scanlon recruited him to call potential donors for what he said she described as an effort focused on voter outreach, education, and registration. There were no declared mayoral candidates when Bartos made those calls last July.

Bartos said he eventually connected with six or seven people.

“I don’t recall that I was able to get anyone to do anything,” Bartos said. “I was of no use or value in a Philadelphia mayoral race.”

He wondered whether the lack of engagement was connected to his just finishing a bruising primary, won by Mehmet Oz, who would go on to lose the general election to Democrat John Fetterman.

Bartos and Fetterman, by the way, are also good friends after meeting while running against each other for lieutenant governor in 2018.

The Board of Ethics and For a Better Philadelphia this week reached a limited agreement that the super PAC won’t spend money to influence the outcome of the mayor’s race while the case plays out in court.

Brown almost immediately took to misrepresenting the agreement, falsely claiming during Tuesday’s 6ABC debate that the Board of Ethics had “settled the case because they didn’t have a case.”

Some conflicts live on after election day.

That was certainly the case when former prosecutor Carlos Vega lost the 2021 Democratic primary for district attorney in Philadelphia to Larry Krasner by a 2-1 ratio.

Vega had taken the unusual step of suing Krasner’s campaign just before that year’s primary, along with activist Shaun King and Real Justice PAC, a political action committee that backed Krasner’s bid for a second term.

Vega claimed they all conspired to criticize him with “maliciously falsie and misleading rhetoric” about his record as a former prosecutor. Krasner, at the time, accused Vega of using the lawsuit as a way to sway voters before the primary.

That all brewed in the Court of Common Pleas for nearly two years, until everyone settled earlier this month.

Who got what, if anything? They’re not saying.

“All claims asserted by Carlos Vega have been amicably resolved,” said David Smith, the lawyer for Krasner’s campaign.

“All claims asserted by Carlos Vega against Real Justice PAC, Shaun King and Larry Krasner for DA have been amicably resolved through a confidential settlement agreement,” said Louis Tumolo, Vega’s lawyer.

A lawyer for King and Real Justice PAC said they declined to comment.

Vega also sued Krasner in federal court, claiming he was fired in a case of age discrimination when Krasner took office in 2018. A jury spent less than two hours mulling that claim before rejecting it in November.

The show must go on for U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, the Philadelphia Democrat who throws the city’s don’t-miss election day luncheon party.

Clout told you in January that Evans was in search of a new venue for the invite-only party during the May 16 primary after its longtime spot, Relish in West Oak Lane, shut down after a 14-year run.

Evans this week told Clout the buffet line will move to South, the Spring Garden restaurant run by former Relish proprietors Robert Bynum and Ben Bynum Jr.

The Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation, which Evans helped launch, owns the building that housed Relish, which was supported over the years with state loans and grants.

Evans said the luncheon was always meant to reflect that kind of community investment.

“I always wanted to stay in the same theme and theory behind economic development and neighborhood development,” Evans said. “South is not as old as Relish but it is conceptually within the same theme.”

The Famous 4th Street Deli — the granddaddy of all election day noshing and networking since the early 1980s — is also expected to again draw a crowd this year.

Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this column.

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