Nutter Calls City Controller 'Sad, Sick' And A 'Snake', Vehemently Denies Slush Fund Claims

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Former Mayor Michael Nutter and staffer Desiree Peterkin-Bell vigorously denied claims made by the City Controller's Office on Tuesday that $400,000 in Philadelphia Marathon earnings was misspent and used for unapproved purposes, according to statements made by each.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz alleged in a report issued on Tuesday that the money, which was part of the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia, was used as a slush fund for personal expenditures like shoes, an Uber ride, hotel stays, and Nutter's trip to Rome in 2014 and 2015.

The Fund is designated explicitly for projects and grants which improve the city, and Butkovitz said that the chairperson of the Fund at the time, Peterkin-Bell, had acted autonomously and without approval from the Board of Directors.

In a series of Twitter posts, Peterkin-Bell said that Chief Grants Officer and the Fund's executive director, Ashley Del Bianco, approved all expenditures.

"The Fund’s Executive Director, Ashley Del Bianco, signed off on expenditures to indicate her approval that all criteria had been met. Ms. Del Bianco signed off on all of the expenditures made by the Fund, including those listed by the Controller," Del Bianco said in a statement, according to Philly.com.

Nutter said that all expenditures were approved by the Board's Finance Committee and Del Bianco in the proper manner. He also had severe words for Butkovitz.

"I stand 100% behind the statement by Desiree Peterkin-Bell regarding the Mayor's Fund and it's expenditures," Nutter wrote. "This is the usual hatchet attack job by Butkovitz, timed to try to get some attention for himself while the FBI is diligently doing their job in other matters in Philadelphia. The Controller is a liar, a snake and a hypocrite. There is no truth in what he says, every expenditure was proper and for an approved purpose and he never talked to either Desiree Peterkin-Bell or myself about any concerns, which is standard procedure, before releasing this slanderous, libelous and vicious bile from his mouth. He is a sad and sick person."

Both Nutter and Peterkin-Bell alluded to the FBI's recent seizure of computers and documents from the labor union IBEW, leader John Dougherty, City Councilman Bobby Henon, and other locations around Philadelphia. The investigation purportedly focuses on the union's finances and connections to the campaigns of current Mayor Jim Kenney and Dougherty's brother, state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty, the Inquirer reports.

Butkovitz's report had claimed that the following expenditures were approved solely by Peterkin-Bell:

• $52,000 at the Philadelphia Courtyard Marriot from September 15 through October 3 of 2015
• $45,000 for Mayor Nutter's trip to Rome, Italy
• $45,000 - paid to vendors for 2015 Tree Lighting Ceremony
• $704 - charges for 33 Uber rides in one month
• $333 - several charges relating to lodging and food in Portland, Oregon
• $80 - for a pair of women’s shoes from Macy’s

Butkovitz added that he would continue investigating the matter and would dig into expenditures from the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia dating back to 2008.