Jeff Brown went on offense at a heated Philly mayoral forum: ‘She’s the queen of making stuff up’

A Philadelphia mayoral forum got heated Thursday night after grocer Jeff Brown went on the offensive, attacking at least three of his opponents directly, one of whom said his comments were sexist.

Brown, whose campaign has seen two weeks of negative headlines after allegations he violated campaign-finance law, said former City Councilmember Helen Gym is “the least informed person on this stage” and is “the queen of making stuff up.”

She responded that his comments were belittling to women and told Brown that he has “no respect for people who have a different vision from you.”

The fiery exchange came during a forum hosted by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, which was the third televised event featuring the Democratic candidates. With less than a month to go until the May 16 primary election and no clear front-runner, the top contenders are increasingly trying to separate themselves from the pack by highlighting each other’s weaknesses.

Several of the candidates jabbed one another. Cherelle Parker, a former City Councilmember, said twice that she is the best equipped to solve problems “not audit or write a report about [them],” a clear reference to ex-City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, whose job was to audit city government.

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And toward the beginning of the event, Rhynhart criticized Brown for the Board of Ethics investigation into his campaign-finance related activities, saying, “How you run a campaign is a microcosm of how you’d run this city, so if your campaign is a mess, you’ll run this city like a mess.”

But no one was as combative as Brown, who at the beginning of the night said his opponents — all of whom have held elected office before — are ill-equipped to run the city.

“What you’re hearing at the table are ideas that they never did when they had power,” Brown said of his opponents. “That’s great to hear ‘em now. Why didn’t they do them when they were City Council people?”

It got more contentious from there.

Moderators asked the candidates how they would improve the lengthy wait times that buyers experience when attempting to obtain properties through the Philadelphia Land Bank. Brown said the land bank should be shut down and its assets sold off to Black and brown developers.

Gym said Brown doesn’t “have an understanding of how we direct a real, city-led vision for affordability in an environment in which market forces destroyed Black and brown communities.”

Brown shot back, saying, “Helen is the least informed person on this stage. She knows nothing about the free market. She knows nothing about real estate.”

Gym responded that Brown “sounds like an angry man right now” and has “no respect for women.”

When moderators turned the conversation to poverty and generating Black wealth, Brown then attacked former City Councilmember Allan Domb, saying he’d been in his Council office and visited his business and “did not see a single person of color there.”

Domb said after the event that the contention isn’t true and that he “of course” hires people of color. He pointed out that his campaign manager is Black.

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Minutes later, state Rep. Amen Brown went after Jeff Brown, who was seated next to him. Amen Brown said that his constituents complain about the quality of the ShopRites that Jeff Brown has owned and operated, and said that stores in communities of color are of poorer quality compared to those in the suburbs.

Jeff Brown said his opponent is “making it up.” He went on to suggest that Amen Brown’s nomination petitions to run for mayor were fraudulent.

“This is a guy that you cannot get the truth out of,” Jeff Brown said.

Moderators then asked the candidates to deliver brief closing statements. Gym said her vision is transformative, saying, “We’re not going to manage our way out of a crisis. We actually are going to have to lead by lifting people up from the ground.”

When it was Brown’s turn, he hit Gym again, saying: “Helen says we don’t need a manager because she never managed anything.”

Gym interjected, calling Brown “a man who belittled Michelle Obama,” a reference to commercials his campaign ran featuring decade-old footage of the former first lady that drew a rebuke from her office.

A televised debate of the campaign is scheduled for Tuesday.