From the ‘loudest mouth’ to Council president: Darrell Clarke reflects on his career in Philly politics

As a community activist in his native Strawberry Mansion in the late 1970s, Darrell L. Clarke was “the guy with the loudest mouth,” he said.

“I just had a lot to say about pretty much everything,” Clarke said. “Although I had a loud mouth, I wasn’t necessarily achieving much.”

So he got into politics. In the 1980s, Clarke replaced Robert N.C. Nix Sr., a member of Congress, in a bruising fight to become Democratic leader of North Philadelphia’s 32nd Ward and he joined the staff of then-City Councilmember John F. Street.

At the time, Clarke and his allies cast themselves as progressive outsiders. Forty-three years later, Clarke is leaving City Hall as the ultimate insider.

Clarke, 71, replaced Street on Council in 1999 and became Council president in 2012. He decided not to run for reelection this year and will leave office on New Year’s Day, along with outgoing Mayor Jim Kenney.

In an interview this week in Council’s ornate Caucus Room, Clarke reflected on his career and his legacy. In characteristic fashion, he shunned questions about his personal life and took issue with how the press has treated him over the years.

» READ MORE: Darrell Clarke’s departure opens the door to a major leadership shakeup on City Council

He seemed averse to having his picture taken, grumbling to a photographer, “I’m known as the reluctant elected official.” But he also opened up about his tenure and his relationships with other Philly politicians.

Here are highlights of what Clarke shared as he retires from Council:

For a long time, the press referred to Clarke as Street’s protégé. He wasn’t a fan of that.

“I will be 96 years old, and in some people’s minds I’ll still be a John Street protégé,” he told Philadelphia Magazine shortly after he was elected Council president — an office Street held in the 1990s.

No one doubts Clarke is his own man anymore.

“Once you become the Council president, you kind of develop a life of your own in the press’ eyes,” Clarke said this week.

Clarke has left his mark. Council was once dominated by bitter factional rivalries. These days, thanks to Clarke’s insistence on consensus and cordiality, almost all bills pass unanimously or close to it, and it’s exceptionally rare for members to criticize each other.

He also grew Council’s power relative to the executive branch and significantly expanded its technical staff, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with mayoral administrations in terms of research and legal advice.

This year, Street and Clarke were at odds politically. In the Democratic primary for mayor, Street endorsed former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, while Clarke endorsed former Councilmember Cherelle Parker, who will take office in January.

And in the race for the 5th Council District, which the two of them have held for the last 44 years, Clarke endorsed his former chief of staff Curtis Wilkerson, while Street’s son, State Sen. Sharif Street, backed Aissia Richardson, an aide in his office. (Both got removed from the ballot due to problems with their nominating petitions.)

Street and Clarke’s relationship appears to have strained, but Clarke didn’t say why.

“I haven’t talked to him in a while,” Clarke said. He declined to elaborate except to say he had “no need to talk to him.”

Street did not respond to a request for comment.

As Council president, Clarke advanced legislation and changes to the city’s Home Rule Charter that transferred power from the executive branch to Council.

For example, in 2018, he ensured Council would have a role in vetting school board members. In 2021, he championed a bill that reshaped the zoning board. And this year, he successfully advocated to give Council an unusual amount of control over a new cabinet-level public safety position.

Critics say the strategy doesn’t align with the city’s “strong mayor” form of government, which means that, generally, the legislative branch sets funding levels and policy but the mayor has control over staffing, policy implementation, and operations.

But Clarke has long argued that Council members are held accountable for how city services are delivered and should have a greater role in shaping it.

Councilmember Brian O’Neill, a Republican who has represented Northeast Philadelphia since 1980, alluded to the shift in power during a speech at Clarke’s last Council meeting.

“You’ve elevated this institution to where you can honestly say we are a strong mayor, strong Council, strong Council president,” O’Neill said.

In his office, Clarke keeps a political cartoon from the Daily News, depicting his high-profile showdown with former Mayor Michael A. Nutter over Nutter’s push to sell the Philadelphia Gas Works.

Clarke, in his first term as Council president, effectively killed the proposal by rallying members against the privatization scheme.

Clarke got “filleted” in the press as an obstructionist, he said. But he feels vindicated now, in part because the company that the administration had selected for the sale has since been acquired by a foreign company, which he said shows the administration’s promises about the sale may never have materialized.

“They beat me up, and they beat me up, and that’s good. I learned to be stoic,” Clarke said. “They never decided to come back and say, ‘You know what? Clarke was right.’ But you know what? I’m good, all right? I saved this little cartoon that I have on my desk right now.”

The PGW ordeal was the culmination of years of tension between Council and Nutter. Clarke said he was dismayed that the relationship’s deterioration played out publicly.

“Michael Nutter was very vocal, and I’m gonna say what I had to say, and I didn’t think in retrospect that that whole public thing was productive,” Clarke said. “I wish we could have done that behind closed doors, but the personalities at the time didn’t allow it.”

Clarke said he has made a point of not personally criticizing Kenney, with whom he’s had weekly phone calls, and keeps his disagreements with the mayor private.

Clarke was widely courted to run for mayor in 2015 and was the first choice of the building trades unions, which ultimately backed Kenney.

“I probably could have been a mayor,” Clarke said. “I’m a little too smart for that.”

He doesn’t regret the decision.

“When I look at the stuff that we were able to achieve, what else could I have been able to do as mayor?” he said. “I’ve always liked the legislative side of government as opposed to the executive side of government because it requires you to get a consensus.”

Clarke said his crowning achievement is his Neighborhood Preservation Initiative, a $400 million borrowing plan to fund affordable housing and commercial corridor development.

The sprawling initiative supports more than a dozen different programs, ranging from free home repairs to small business development to rental assistance and perks for first-time home buyers.

As Clarke readies to leave office, the four-year initiative that passed in 2021 has yet to reach its full scale. Of the expected $400 million in borrowing to finance the program, $225 million in bonds have been issued and about $80 million spent. That leaves the remainder of the borrowing and spending up to the next Council and mayoral administration.

Clarke admitted to having a sense of unfinished business as he prepares to leave office. He’s concerned about public safety in the city, and he said the next leaders must “accelerate” the improvement of the long-underfunded school district.

He said he’s wondered if, after 40 years in public service, he’ll be able to separate himself from the work. Clarke, who is expected to become a member of the state Liquor Control Board, said he won’t weigh in on Council matters unless he’s asked.

He recalled that a former elected official — whom he declined to name — “always has something to say about what’s going on.”

“I don’t want to be that person,” he said. He plans to ask people close to him to nudge him if they think he’s weighing in too much and say, “You are supposed to be off the stage.”

Clarke said he’s most proud of the staff who came through his office or fellowship program, some of whom he still calls “my youngsters.”

» READ MORE: Seven Democrats tried to replace Darrell Clarke on City Council. Only one made the ballot.

Two members of his finance staff will lead the city budget under Parker. Jeffery “Jay” Young, an attorney who worked in Clarke’s office, is going to replace him on Council. His former top adviser, Donna Bullock, is a state representative.

Clarke said their success is the achievement he’s most proud of, in part, because someone once took a chance on him.

“Giving people an opportunity to be in public service is so, so important, particularly if they’re invested and committed to creating great opportunity,” he said. “Look at myself. Instead of being a rabble-rouser, I got to be the Council president in the sixth-largest city in the country.”

Bullock said Clarke had a profound impact on her career, but was intentional about giving her independence when she took office in 2015. He wouldn’t appear at all of her campaign events or offer unsolicited advice about how she should vote. Bullock admits she felt abandoned.

Today, she said, she believes he wanted her to grow in her own image — and to never be known as someone else’s protégé.

Staff writer Chris Brennan contributed to this article.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of former U.S. Rep. Robert N.C. Nix Sr.