A Philly campaign consultant charged this week was once central in a D.C. campaign finance scandal

News that state authorities had charged Chris Woods, the former head of Philly’s health-care workers’ union, and Democratic campaign consultant Tracy Hardy with felony crimes spread quickly through political circles this week.

Prosecutors say they conspired to steal more than $150,000 from Woods’ union in 2019 to back candidates in that year’s Democratic primary.

For Hardy — a former aide to ex-Mayor John F. Street and later chief of staff to State Sen. Sharif Street — this isn’t the first time he’s found himself on the wrong end of a criminal probe.

More than a decade ago, Hardy was a central witness in a scandal — and subsequent federal prosecution — involving campaign-finance violations during Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s underdog bid in 2010 to unseat his predecessor.

The feds alleged Gray benefited from a $660,000 “shadow campaign” funded by Jeffrey Thompson, a prominent D.C. businessman, who bankrolled get-out-the-vote efforts in coordination with the official campaign but insisted his contributions be off the books.

Hardy led that secret get-out-the-vote push and told The Washington Post he brought half a dozen operatives with him from Philly to coordinate with Gray’s campaign.

Though Hardy and Gray were never charged, prosecutors secured convictions against seven others, including Thompson.

As part of his guilty plea, Thompson admitted that when he caught word of the FBI probe in 2011, he paid to have key players — including Hardy — leave the country so they couldn’t be questioned.

Hardy was sent to Brazil “for an extended period” with a minder to ensure he stayed there, according to court documents. He eventually resurfaced and testified before the grand jury investigating the Gray campaign, according to news reports from the time.

But that brief brush with the feds doesn’t seem to have damaged his stature in Philly.

He continued to work as a get-out-the-vote specialist, including for former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2019 reelection campaign and for several down-ballot races that year — the focus of the charges he’s now facing.

The state Democratic Party paid Hardy’s firm more than $111,000 since 2019, according records, before parting ways with him earlier this year. Sharif Street has chaired the state party since 2022, after previously serving as vice chair.

If that weren’t enough to keep him busy, Hardy also broke into hospitality. He and his wife took over North Philly staple Lou & Choo’s Lounge in 2014 and also own Manayunk’s The Cresson Inn.

As for the criminal charges Hardy’s now facing, he and his lawyers are tight-lipped. They didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is doing a series of town halls about her budget. You’d be forgiven if you haven’t watched all six she’s done so far. Clout did it for you, and we caught some moments when the mayor went beyond the numbers.

Here are four targets of Parker’s zingers:

During an event in Center City, Parker said she has a rule for her town halls.

“This really made the campaign experts from D.C. — we paid ‘em to give me some advice when I was running — this really made them mad. ... The message that we are communicating to the public, it doesn’t change if the audience is Black, if it’s white, if it’s Latino, if it’s Asian, I don’t care what it is. The message remains the same.”

And maybe that was a little shade to her former opponent caught shifting his tone when he spoke to audiences in majority white versus majority Black neighborhoods?

In Mount Airy, Parker talked about her plan for year-round school and described an awkward conversation with a constituent.

“A woman said to me, ‘Is this going to be mandatory? Because we stay for three weeks down at the Shore and also go to the Vineyard.’”

Parker paused. The audience chuckled.

“You can’t make it up. I mean, someone actually came to me and said this.” She added: “We are not trying to stop any family who has the means from doing whatever it is you usually do with your family in the summer.”

In Kensington, Parker suggested online opponents of her plan to stabilize the neighborhood might have well-connected backers.

“You forget that there’s a billion-dollar business going on with people who have enough money to hire the best marketers in the world. They can hire the most expensive keyboard warriors in the world. Don’t you think that people who are running the billion-dollar drug trade in Kensington, don’t you think they’re smart enough to have keyboard warriors who dominate social media?”

Parker also panned coverage of her Kensington plan, nodded at Managing Director Adam Thiel taking heat for it, and suggested journalists tend to whine.

“There’s a reporter somewhere sitting in the audience, somebody’s recording.” (Guilty.)

“I don’t want you to hear it from Thiel or anybody else. The mayor said this. The plan won’t be perfect. We don’t have every ‘T’ crossed and every ‘I’ dotted. I’m building the plane while I’m flying it, and ain’t been here six months. And I’m putting a system in place that’s trying to counter a culture, a status quo that has persisted for 30 years. And the only thing people can say is, ‘Well, we don’t have answers to all of the questions that we’ve asked.’”

There’s no shortage of Murphys in New Jersey, which is convenient for Burlington County Assemblymember Carol Murphy. She’s running on being the first woman to represent South Jersey in Congress in a five-way Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Senate.

Carol Murphy sent out a mailer with a photo of her surrounded by women holding up Planned Parenthood-branded “Women for Murphy” signs, as shared by an astute X user. A similar photo was on her campaign website, but was removed after Clout reached out.

But the women weren’t rallying for Carol Murphy. They were supporting New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who’s not related to Carol. (Phil Murphy’s campaign declined to comment.)

Carol Murphy’s spokesperson Emily Dalgleish confirmed the signs were for Phil and from a 2018 event. She said the campaign would have included the photos even if the pols didn’t share the same last name, and argued they’re relevant to Carol Murphy’s work with Phil Murphy’s administration on reproductive rights.

She said “objecting to two people having the same last name is nothing more than disingenuous gotcha politics that voters have grown tired of.”

Carol Murphy’s biggest competition, Assemblymember Herb Conaway, said she should apologize.

“It’s shocking that Carol Murphy’s campaign would seek to deceive voters into thinking she has the support of groups who have not endorsed her,” Conaway said.

Maybe she can find some Eddie Murphy fans to take photos with for her next mailer.

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