The Brief: Dems Ditch Council Candidate with Crazy Facebook Page

It seems even Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee has its limits.

Manny Morales, who is challenging 7th district City Council incumbent, Maria Quiñones Sánchez no longer has the blessing of party elders, who withdrew their support two days after Sánchez posted screen captures of some pretty out-there ravings on the Manny Morales Facebook page.

Such as:

• Morales’ musings on whether or not gay men, like flatworms (yes, flatworms), “use their bifurcated penises to fence one another.”
• His thoughts regarding cockroaches as food (which, we should say, Morales b0th a) strongly opposes, and b) considers to be the norm in Asia.)
• His sharing of a street sign reading “Pull Up Your Pants.” Morales’ comment? “I would of written “unless you are requesting some one to fuck you up the ass.'”

Morales has claimed he was hacked. But very few people seem to buying that explanation. That’s largely because the screen grabs go back to 2010, suggesting that either a) Morales’ Facebook account has been hijacked for years, without his knowledge b) Sánchez possesses a hitherto unknown talent as a master manipulator of Photoshop or c) Morales is lying, or confused, or misremembering his own postings in a big way.

Given that some of the damning posts were seen by independent third parties before Morales’ Facebook page was deactivated, it’s perhaps not surprising that even Morales’ supporters are cutting him loose.

Writing for Al Dia, Max Marin reports that Democratic mayoral candidate Nelson Diaz, a former Morales ally, has asked Morales to withdraw from the race. Meanwhile, the Inquirer’s Chris Hepp and Julie Terruso, write that Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady told Morales he had lost the party’s support and should rescind his request for the party’s endorsement. Morales did just that, and poof, the party endorsement evaporated. He’s slated a press conference today to discuss his candidacy.

As amusing/disturbing as all this has been, it’s really less a story about Morales than it is about the Democratic ward leaders and power brokers who would rather back a deeply-flawed candidate like Morales than endorse the incumbent Sánchez. Why? Why go with a marginal challenger when the party always, always endorses incumbents? Because a) Sánchez is self-made and has rubbed party elders the wrong way from jump street b) She has been unable to solidify ward leader support in her own district, largely for the same reasons and c) Sánchez doubled down on her independence last year, running a slate of her own candidates against party incumbents.

Don’t Miss…

• This disturbing scene at a community meeting about the lack of charges in the police killing of Brandon Tate-Brown, brought to you by Philly mag’s Joel Mathis.
• Jim Kenney’s big endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police. The endorsement itself is a little surprising (Kenney decriminalized marijuana, remember, and he opposes stop and frisk), but what’s most politically notable is the FOP’s thorough snubbing of former law-and-order District Attorney Lynne Abraham. Will Bunch at the Daily News wonders aloud if Kenney can pull a “Nixon-in-China” and challenge the police rank and file on questions like stronger civilian oversight of the department.
• The gee-whiz graphics, and eye-opening numbers, of this interactive presentation from the Daily News and Wendy Ruderman about the pension benefits the mayoral candidates stand to collect (and are already enjoying).
• Philadelphia’s Board of Ethics caught the Carpenters Union donating excess cash to the mayoral campaign of Tony Williams. The board is fining the union $1,000. In the Inquirer, Claudia Vargas reports the Williams’ camp as saying: “we are aware of the issue and working with the Ethics Board to resolve it as soon as possible.”