Philadelphia’s primary election for mayor is less than a month away and, though some candidates have dropped out, there is still a crowded field. KYW Newsradio wants to help voters get to know the candidates with our podcast, Who’s Running for Philly Mayor.
Mayoral candidate Rebecca Rhynhart says she’s running to bring about changes she could only recommend when she was city controller. She spoke with KYW’s City Hall bureau chief Pat Loeb. Here’s a preview.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 4
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Rebecca Rhynhart started in finance in New York, and then she joined city government. Rhynhart did the career equivalent of a reverse commute — leaving the private financial sector for government, going to work for Michael Nutter — at the time, the Philadelphia mayor.
“My career path has been anything but linear,” she said.
She grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs so she says when she decided to leave Wall Street, she headed for Philly.
“I really wanted to help government work better, and I felt strongly I needed to come help Philadelphia. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and wanted to be on the right side of things.”
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She was Nutter’s treasurer through the Great Recession. Then she became budget director and stayed on as chief administrative officer for the Kenney administration until resigning to run for city controller as an underdog and beating the incumbent in a stunning upset.
She took the office in a new direction. She went beyond the traditional audit role, to make policy recommendations.
“I really expanded the role of the controller’s office, beyond just the traditional audit function, to looking at some of the city’s toughest issues.”
Now she says she wants to do more than reports. She wants to make change.
At least three former city controllers have run for mayor in Philadelphia. None has been successful. Rhynhart says it wasn’t part of the plan when she started the controller’s job.
“What I found after five years is that, in order to truly make our city work, I had to run for mayor.”
LISTEN TO 'WHO'S RUNNING FOR PHILLY MAYOR?' EPISODE 4: REBECCA RYNHART
Listen to the full interview and more episodes of the KYW Newsradio original podcast Who's Running for Philly Mayor, in the Audacy app and wherever you get your podcasts.
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