Statement of former Mayor Michael A. Nutter Regarding Recent
News Story on The Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia (March 20,
2017)
After reading the most recent news story about the Mayor's Fund, I must say
that I am stunningly disappointed, disgusted and offended that Ashley Del
Bianco would withhold what she thought was important information or
concerns about the operations of the Mayor's Fund from the person who
appointed her to the Executive Director position, which was me. In none of
the various meetings or communications she had directly with me did she
ever express any of these administrative or record keeping concerns, but
rather chose to hold them until later, apparently to ambush me, Desiree
Peterkin-Bell and other members of my Administration after those of us
involved in these issues left office and have no access to any information or
documentation.
I find it hard to believe that for at least a full year or more, apparently she
had questions and concerns about funding, receipts and documentation for
a City entity for which she was the manager, signed checks and was part of
the quality control process. Prior to her, I appointed Maari Porter, and then
Christine Piven, both of whom served with no issues or confusion at all.
And, if one of them did have questions they approached either Desiree
Peterkin-Bell, me, my Chief of Staff, their direct report the Finance Director
Rob Dubow or the Fund Board. Ashely Del Bianco as a professional didn’t
do any of that. She waited. She waited until my Administration left office.
How curious and convenient. One has to wonder about her motives.
Ashely Del Bianco had every job responsibility and organizational influence
to impact matters she thought were inappropriate, if in fact they were. Why
would she wait a year to call into question, or request an investigation into
matters that required her own signature and which she approved?

 There is no way that Desiree Peterkin-Bell could have spent all of this
money by herself, she did not spend any of those dollars on herself or for
personal purposes, and almost all of the expenditures were actually made
by administrative staff members or others who had access to and
authorization to make purchases or expenditures. Nowhere in any press or
other report has any information been presented that indicates that Chair
Peterkin-Bell benefited from any of the purchases detailed, that any of the
purchases were not for City of Philadelphia or Fund related activities, and
there is virtually no evidence that she even personally made most of the
expenditures or signed a receipt for them. It is mentioned in these press
reports that numerous people had access and use of the credit cards. I have
no doubt in my mind that virtually all of the expenditures in question, and
ALL of the expenditures which Desiree Peterkin-Bell personally made, were
for proper expenses related to the Office of City Representative or the
Mayor's Fund. I will say that any expenditure by any authorized individual
that was not supporting the functions or goals of one of those two entities,
should be directly repaid by the actual person who signed the receipt for that
expenditure.
These press reports want to create a narrative that somehow imply that
because the credit cards are assigned to a particular department or office,
that the leader of that department or office is actually personally making the
purchases. That would be like thinking that the credit card assigned to the
Mayor's Office for my travel or lodging was actually being used by me as the
Mayor, and that I was sitting in my office personally booking airline tickets or
a hotel room for when I traveled. That is absurd of course, and so is the idea
that Desiree Peterkin-Bell was doing the same thing with a credit card
assigned to her office. There is a reason that multiple people have credit
cards for these different offices - efficiency of logistical travel and
purchasing arrangements when multiple people from different offices in the

 government travel or need to make expenditures. Anyone with a decent
working knowledge of government operations or any large organization
would know these basic facts. It is the responsibility of the various
administrative staffs to keep track of these details, receipts and documents.
It is now clear to me that I was badly mistaken in appointing Ashley to her
position, who in my opinion has now publicly demonstrated herself to be an
unscrupulous and deceptive individual. It appears to me that Ashley has no
credibility and it seems that her own reputation and leadership in
government and her capabilities in being a manger should be questioned.
Think about the following exchange in the news story - "When asked if she
ever pressed Peterkin Bell about her Uber charges, Del Bianco said: “I did
not raise that question.”
You mean Ashley could have gotten all the answers to all of her questions
about all of these expenditures if she had just ASKED the question? Why
didn't she just ask Desiree Peterkin-Bell at their regular meetings for any
other documentation she needed for the Fund's records. My understanding
is that the Chair and Executive Director and staff had regular meetings for
this purpose and other Fund business. Why weren't these or other issues
raised in real time while they were occurring? Again, it is very interesting to
note Ashley's response when asked why she didn’t take steps to correct
things that raised concerns for her. Here is her reply in the news story "Essentially that is why I asked for some help," she said. “Because there are
no policies that I can exercise.” That particular statement is just a blatant lie
and is completely false. Desiree Peterkin-Bell is actually the person who
made the policy and protocol changes to insure the proper financial controls
were put in place at the Mayor's Fund before Ashley even started working
there. Desiree worked with the then Executive Director, staff and the Fund
Board to implement those policies. Ashley is not telling the truth in this
regard.

 Contrary to the public impression from press accounts or other reports, the
Mayor's Fund actually has a Board of Directors, composed of various City
leaders, including the Finance Director and the Managing Director (both of
whom are also Cabinet Officers who report to the Mayor directly). Even
though Ashley served as the Executive Director of the Mayor's Fund, she
actually worked for the Finance Director, to whom she also reported. Why
didn't she express any of these concerns to the Finance Director, who
certainly would have raised them directly with me. Equally surprising, she
never raised any concerns with her Board Members in Executive session,
never raised these concerns with the Managing Director, never raised them
with the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and certainly never raised them with me,
where the buck stops at my desk. For some unknown reason, Ashley Del
Bianco decided NOT to raise any of these issues in real time with any of the
individuals that I identified above, including Desiree Peterkin-Bell, but waited
until most of us left government to share her concerns and seek "help"
outside of the City Administration. In my opinion this is an act of cowardice
that I have never seen in more than 30 years of government engagement.
From what I have read and been made aware of, Ashley Del Bianco has
demonstrated the worst of human traits - a lack of honesty, serious personal
character deficiency and a lack of professional integrity. And that is a
shame, and should not be tolerated in government or any workplace.
I am deeply offended that she would so shamelessly backstab so many
former colleagues, and especially her former Chair, Desiree Peterkin-Bell,
who recommended her promotion to the Executive Director position. If
ANYTHING questionable was done, and it wasn't with regards to Desiree
Peterkin-Bell, then it is apparent that Ashley Del Bianco used this outside
"query" to actually cover up her own failed managerial efforts. The result of
this terrible scheme is that it now seems to highlight Ashley’s own
administrative and managerial deficiencies, and results in her then blaming

 her former Chair for her own inability to manage records and receipts of
multiple staff members who used and had access to credit cards. If this is
the bizarre scheme she has created, these are unconscionable and
unethical actions. How did Ashley allow all of this poor record keeping to
take place while representing to her Board, and the accounting firm that
audited the Fund, that all records and documents were in proper order? It
appears based on the available information that Ashley may have
fraudulently signed financial and other documents when she represented to
the accounting firm that the records of the Mayor's Fund were in proper
order. Ashley Del Bianco is the one who should be asked and publicly
forced to answer why did she so poorly manage the Fund and its' records.
Those are the real unanswered questions in this matter. Does anyone have
the guts to ask those tough questions?