Jim Kenney raised money to boost progressive candidates but spent it on consultants and restaurant tabs

In early 2020, things were looking good for Mayor Jim Kenney, who had just coasted to reelection after a productive first term and was eyeing statewide office.

In June of that year, he launched Kenney PAC, a political action committee that he said would “help progressive candidates in the forthcoming legislative races in Pennsylvania defeat extremist pro-Trump Republicans.”

Giving money to Democrats across the state would have built goodwill for a mayor little known outside Southeastern Pennsylvania, and news of the PAC helped fuel speculation that Kenney might run for U.S. Senate or governor in 2022.

» READ MORE: Philly Mayor Jim Kenney launched a statewide political group, fueling rumors of a run for governor

But of the more than $780,000 that Kenney PAC has spent over the last three years, only about $60,000 went to other campaigns, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports. Instead, the PAC’s money has primarily gone to benefit operatives close to Kenney — who abandoned his hopes of higher office after his popularity tanked starting in 2020 — and to pay for miscellaneous expenses, such as events, hotel rooms, and restaurant bills.

Those expenditures included:

The bar and restaurant spending included $280 at the Met Opera bar in New York City, $2,700 for 20 trips to Dolce Italian in Center City, and $1,300 for 15 outings to the Race Street Cafe, a bar near Kenney’s Old City condo that he’s been known to frequent.

Kenney spokesperson Marty O’Rourke said the PAC “was established to help the mayor explore future political options while also maintaining a necessary and separate political operation from his City Hall governmental operation.”

“As a political public figure, the mayor has ongoing political staffing and advisory demands that cannot be performed by any city employee. Political consultants should not be on the taxpayers’ dime,” O’Rourke said. “The PAC continued to raise and spend money in order to keep the mayor’s political options open as well as maintain and pay for his separate political operation.”

There’s nothing illegal about how Kenney PAC has raised or spent money. But it’s an example of how moneyed interests such as those who gave to the PAC find ways to influence elected officials, said Patrick Christmas, policy director at the good-government group Committee of Seventy. It also highlights Pennsylvania’s weak campaign finance laws, which have few restrictions on how political money can be spent, he said.

“One of the reasons that interests and individuals make contributions to public officials is to have some degree of access,” Christmas said. “Like water moving downhill, the money is going to continue to find its way toward elected officials and those with power.”

Kenney PAC is not subject to Philadelphia’s limits on the size of political donations because it is registered with the state, not the city, and has not been used to influence the outcome of a city election. That has allowed donors to give more than they were allowed to give to Kenney’s mayoral campaigns.

The contribution limits in this year’s mayor’s race, for instance, are $6,200 a year from individual donors and $25,200 a year from organizations. Kenney PAC has accepted checks as large as $50,000.

About $399,000 of the $850,000 the PAC raised came from building trades unions, which were critical to Kenney’s victories in the 2015 and 2019 mayoral elections. The electricians union led the way by giving $240,000. All but $15,000 of that was donated when the union was led by John J. Dougherty, who was Kenney’s most important political supporter until he resigned from the union in November 2021 after being convicted on federal corruption charges.

Other donors include builders, lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, and Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, a law firm with a city contract to collect unpaid taxes.

O’Rourke said the PAC was formed to help Kenney explore running for higher office. The $60,000 in donations to other candidates was part of that effort, he said.

Kenney PAC gave $1,000 to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), $15,000 to State Sen. Vince Hughes (D., Phila.), and $1,000 to City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., among others.

But Kenney’s political fortunes began to go south — a turning point was the city’s widely criticized handling of the 2020 civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd — and he confirmed in August 2021 that he was not going to run for a new office in the 2022 election cycle. At that point, the purpose of the PAC shifted, O’Rourke said.

“The unpredictability of COVID, coupled with the mayor’s primary focus being the COVID pandemic in the city, complicated any secondary political considerations, decision-making, planning and timing, under ever-changing circumstances,” O’Rourke said in a statement. “While the exploratory effort eventually waned, the mayor continues to have political interests within the city and throughout the commonwealth, and much like a federal leadership PAC, Kenney PAC enables him to pursue these interests.”

Large sums of money went to political operatives. O’Rourke’s firm has received about $125,000 from the PAC. Political consultant Brandon Evans, who managed Kenney’s 2019 reelection, took in $136,000. And Keystone Political Advising, which was founded by Maura Munley, a veteran of both of Kenney’s mayoral campaigns, made about $211,000.

As for the tens of thousands spent on dining out, O’Rourke said that was for meetings relevant to Kenney’s political aims.

“Consistent with state law, Kenney PAC is authorized to make expenditures when there is a political purpose — when the mayor is meeting with supporters and others to discuss politics, or to help enact policies for which he was overwhelmingly elected for a second term,” O’Rourke said. “It is appropriate for PAC money to be used in this vein.”

Kenney PAC has also paid for about $42,000 in concessions at the Wells Fargo Center and Citizens Bank Park. That covered guests’ meals in the mayor’s boxes at those stadiums, which host a variety of guests ranging from groups of students to administration officials and their families.

“Rather than use taxpayer money to pay for food and meals at such events where the mayor builds important relationships to further the city’s interests, Kenney PAC is employed,” O’Rourke said.

Kenney, who is term-limited, will leave office in January. He has not yet disclosed what he plans to do after his 32-year City Hall career ends.