Pa. auditor general backs Delco Dem
SWARTHMORE» In the race for Delaware County Controller, the Democratic candidate Joanne Phillips picked up an endorsement from the Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale who riffed on their similarities in life and in politics.
“I know what it’s like to be on a team,” said Phillips, 59, who harkened back to years as two-sport high school and collegiate athlete and later a coach, with which DePasquale shares a similar history as an athlete and legion baseball coach.
Comparing the county row office to a player sitting on the bench, Phillips said, it was time “to put it on the field and do something with it with some power.”
It was during those brief statements at a press conference in Swarthmore Borough Hall last week that DePasquale highlighted the similarities he saw between his work on the state level and promise Phillips showed on the county level – “independence,” “tenaciousness,” and willingness to “(put) pressure on the appropriate people so that we can drive change.”
“I believe government can work to improve the lives of people,” DePasquale said. “But not every government program runs at 100 percent efficiency.”
DePasquale described his job on the state level as a position that runs on a ticket, but in office anyone is fair game for audit.
“People get mad at me, but that’s what you sign up for,” DePasquale said.
He praised Phillips, a law partner at Ballard Spahr, who has been a commercial real estate lawyer for nearly 30 years, as someone who isn’t afraid “to go there” in terms of the tenaciousness required to be a controller.
“People don’t what to be taken care of, they want to participate in their government,” Phillips said, urging the need for a county hotline for residents to call in issues and called for a greater level of transparency in county government.
“We will take a look, be efficient and give feedback to policy and decision makers so they can make effective change for us,” Phillips said.
Her opponent, Republican Robert Kane, is a resident of Haverford who owns and operates a CPA practice in Newtown Square. He is a 17-year member of the Haverford Township Zoning Board and its chair since 2003. Kane and Phillips are running for the post currently held by Ed O’Lone, who has completed two terms and cannot seek re-election.