Source of Funds for Mayor’s Trip to Rome a Mystery

The Inquirer‘s Claudia Vargas gives the Philadelphia taxpayer a reason to feel good today: The mayor’s trip to Rome wasn’t paid for by the city!

But the source for the funds of that trip remains unclear, she writes today, and it doesn’t appear we’ll learn the source of the funds anytime soon. The mayor’s trip to Rome was underwritten by the nonprofit organizing the World Meeting of Families, held here — whether Pope Francis comes and rides SEPTA or not — in 2015.

But who funded that nonprofit? Some of the money came from the Philadelphia archdiocese, but that’s the only contributor to the nonprofit the Inquirer could get verified. Also, no one will say how much the trip to Rome cost. How much did that St. Joe’s Prep jersey cost, Mr. Mayor?!

Anyway, here’s the best part of Vargas’ article, which is too good not to excerpt here:

But before Nutter takes his next trip, [Councilman David] Oh asked a favor.

“Please don’t give out those [miniature] Liberty Bells,” Oh said later. “That’s just embarrassing.”

The pope got one.

No matter what the mayor gave the pope, he couldn’t win.

[Inquirer]