A former state rep with a criminal record is running for City Council, and Doug Mastriano is still falling for fake polls

One of the seven Democrats running for the 5th District City Council seat being vacated by Darrell Clarke already has strong name recognition — for all the wrong reasons.

Former State Rep. Jose “JP” Miranda served one term in the state House representing part of the district but lost his 2014 bid for reelection after he was charged with using state money to hire a “ghost employee” who gave his paycheck to Miranda’s sister.

Miranda pleaded guilty in 2015 to a felony conflict-of-interest count and a misdemeanor count of false swearing and was sentenced to five years’ probation.

The Pennsylvania Constitution says “no person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime” can hold a state or municipal elected office.

That makes Miranda, who did not respond to several requests for comment, a prime target Tuesday when legal challenges to keep candidates off the May 16 primary ballot are due.

Clout hears more than one of his opponents is mulling a challenge.

Election lawyer Adam Bonin, who is not representing anyone in the race, predicts a challenge, calling Miranda’s legal exposure “cut and dried.”

“His conduct, that he pleaded guilty to, goes to the heart of what the Pennsylvania Constitution is talking about,” Bonin said.

Miranda is not the first politician to seek elective office after a criminal conviction.

Former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary filed to run for City Council in 2019, but a judge threw him off the ballot, ruling that his federal conviction for lying to FBI agents in a corruption probe made him ineligible for office.

It’s a new year full of fresh electoral ambitions for Doug Mastriano, but he is still oh so eager to embrace fake polling.

Mastriano, the Republican state senator from Franklin County who lost last year’s race for governor by nearly 15 points, is mulling a 2024 run for the U.S. Senate.

He tweeted Tuesday afternoon what appeared to be a memo from Susquehanna Polling & Research that offered a “shocking turn of events,” claiming Mastriano was leading Sen. Bob Casey, a Scranton Democrat, 49.8% to 45% among likely voters.

Two problems there: Mastriano’s tweet was posted more than two hours after Susquehanna Polling denounced the memo as a fake on Twitter. And the Twitter user who originally posted the bogus memo had already apologized and deleted the tweet.

If this all rings familiar, that’s probably because Mastriano spent most of 2022 knocking as illegitimate any poll that showed him trailing Gov. Josh Shapiro by a significant margin.

Mastriano also touted any poll, no matter how dodgy, that showed him with an edge, or at least within striking distance.

Mastriano in August tweeted a poll, showing him with a 2.1% lead, issued by a Connecticut high school student who was testing if Republicans would promote surveys even if they seemed illegitimate.

Mastriano also tweeted that month a poll from a trio of North Carolina twenty-somethings with little experience in polling that showed him with a 3.5% lead. Those “pollsters,” after Mastriano’s loss, conceded they were “in over our heads.”

And Mastriano tweeted in December an alleged poll showing him with a 4.4% lead over Casey. The problem there: The poll was dated as being conducted the week after it was posted on Twitter, giving rise to several jokes on Twitter about time travel.

Abbott Elementary, the ABC comedy about a fictional Philadelphia public school, took what sounded like a shot at Pennsylvania’s richest man in last week’s episode while knocking charter-school backers.

At least one Jeff Yass fan is not laughing.

In the episode, teachers worry a charter-school operator might take over their school.

“They take our funding, not to mention the private money from wealthy donors with ulterior motives,” said Sheryl Lee Ralph, who plays teacher Barbara Howard (and is married to State Sen. Vincent Hughes).

Yass, a Main Line billionaire investor, has spent millions to support charter schools and political action committees that push for the election of candidates who share his goals.

Jeanne Allen, founder of the Center for Education Reform and director of the Yass Foundation for Education, was not amused when folks on Twitter linked that line to Yass.

She tweeted: “It’s pathetic when fewer than 20% of Philadelphia students can even read, write or spell at grade level that there’s a show on television that has the nerve to criticize the schools that succeed, and the people that help them. This has TEACHERS UNION written all over it.”

Actually, 36% of the city’s students scored proficient or advanced on the state standardized English language arts exam in the latest results available. That’s not great. But its certainly not “fewer than 20%.”

Allen, in an email to Clout, called the line a “gratuitous slap against people with wealth” and complained that this was not the first “hollow, evidence-lacking shot at charter schools.”

She also said she has not watched the episode and does not plan to.

Quinta Brunson created Abbott Elementary, inspired by her mom, a kindergarten teacher, and her experiences in a West Philly public school. An instant sensation, the award-winning show is in its second season, with a third planned.

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