Donald Trump and Wildwood officials have one major thing in common: Indictments [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

May 10—Wildwood and Donald Trump. Clout can't think of a more fitting pair.

A boardwalk renowned for its collection of politically incorrect T-shirts is about to get flooded with people who would love a "Let's Go Brandon" cut-off tank.

And Trump, who is facing federal indictments in four jurisdictions, is about to rally in a town where two of the three top-ranking officials are also under indictment.

Mayor Ernie Troiano, city commissioner Steve Mikulski, and former Mayor Pete Byron are facing indictments that allege they defrauded the state's health care system by pretending to be full-time employees and collecting health insurance. The indictment accuses the men of falsifying time sheets to qualify for the benefit only open to full-time employees. They have denied wrongdoing.

Byron faces separate indictments for allegedly abusing his official position while serving as a commissioner in the Shore town and for failing to pay state taxes. Byron, a Democrat, resigned in September after he was sentenced for pleading guilty to the tax fraud charges in federal court.

Troiano, a former longtime mayor of Wildwood, was elected to the board of commissioners while indicted and then promoted to mayor by his fellow members in January.

Meanwhile, Trump is spending the week leading up to the Wildwood rally in a Manhattan courtroom listening to adult film star Stormy Daniels recount an alleged sexual encounter at the heart of his hush money trial.

Trump's trial resumes Monday and the Wildwood officials are due back in court next week — but on Saturday, Trump and Troiano will share a stage in the sand.

Council vs. the world

Apparently, Philadelphia's problems are not enough for City Council. Our local pols have a history of weighing in on conflict overseas.

So Clout's ears perked up Thursday when we heard Councilmember Jimmy Harrity sounding off like a Kensington Kissinger in Council's chambers.

"The messed up thing is the governments are going at each other and the people that suffer are the people that actually live there," Harrity said. "When I heard about the Ethiopian situation, I thought that it warranted some recognition."

No, the at-large Democrat wasn't talking about the divisive Israel-Hamas war, which roiled Council for months.

Rather, he was referring to a resolution he introduced last year urging U.S. leaders to "reexamine foreign policy towards Ethiopia." Council on Thursday hosted members of the American-Ethiopian Public Affairs Committee to belatedly receive the resolution, and Harrity said he was proud to support local residents from the East African nation.

For much of President Joe Biden's time in office, Ethiopia has been wracked by civil war, initially centering on prime minister Abiy Ahmed's bloody fight against the Tigray People's Liberation Front in 2021. After a 2022 cease-fire tamed that war, a new conflict emerged last year between Ahmed and the Amhara people. Harrity's guests are critics of Ahmed's regime.

"I think it's just fitting that we call on the president to do the right thing, as we always do," Harrity said. "We always call people out when we think they're not doing the right thing."

Of course, Harrity isn't Council's first diplomat. Take a brief stroll through the legislative annals and you'll find condemnations of genocides, despots, and warmongers galore. In a particularly bizarre exchange, members in 2022 debated the merits of calling on Uncle Sam to enforce a partial no-fly zone in Ukraine following Russia's invasion. One member said it'd probably be best if Council didn't take a stance that could be construed as "a declaration of war."

The recognition of the Ethiopian group Thursday seemed to light a fire under Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who has been critical of how Israel has handled its war against Hamas. Jones gave a speech that didn't name Hamas but included an extended metaphor likening the group to a public housing tenant who had just shot up a neighborhood.

"If an assailant who were in public housing went into the neighborhood and shot somebody, then ran into projects — would we destroy the projects getting at them?" he said. "No, we wouldn't."

Chance encounter

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) passed over an invitation to appear with Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, at an event in her home county on Thursday.

The once buddy-buddy leaders have been feuding since last year, so her absence isn't all that surprising. But where she went instead is more interesting: Ward and her Senate GOP colleagues are at a retreat at the Hollywood Casino at the Meadows.

The Senate Republicans' annual retreat had been planned for months in advance of Shapiro's invitation, Ward said in a statement. They're unifying and relaxing (and maybe gambling?), before budget talks begin in earnest.

At the retreat, the Republican lawmakers will be game-planning how to advance their proposed personal income tax cut, "in order to get money back into the pockets of Pennsylvanians," Ward added.

Shapiro, meanwhile, was in Ward's home township to announce a $2.5 million grant to redevelop a former industrial plant. It's part of his own $48.3 billion budget pitch. (State Rep. Eric Nelson, a Republican who represents parts of the Western Pennsylvania county, did attend the news conference.)

Ward and Shapiro have barely been on speaking terms since the 2023 budget negotiations fell apart, due to his decision to veto a private school voucher program he helped create with Senate Republicans. Ward has also been critical of Shapiro's office for how it handled a former employee's allegations of sexual harassment against Mike Vereb, his former top legislative aide.

Budget talks won't really start for a few weeks, but the political posturing is already well under way. We'll see who comes out lucky.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.

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