Sano, who advertises her services for $85 per hour on her Web site, thewhisperingangels. com, did not respond to our requests for comment. Maybe she sensed she wouldn't like the questions.
Mike Cibik, the 5th Ward
leader, said he knew Sano dabbled in the supernatural business but was surprised last week when she called to tell him about her involvement in the Orie case. Cibik said he thinks Sano met Jane Orie Melvin at a fundraiser he held for her here last fall.
Sano, who told the Philadelphia City Paper in April that she wants to start a tea-party group that reflects the diversity of Center City, asked Melvin to help her land a state job, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Perhaps the spiritual channeling business has been negatively affected by the recession?
"I am clairaudient, meaning I have been blessed with the ability to 'hear' responses to questions," Sano says on her Web site. "Simply put, I am a message carrier used to serve a higher purpose. I receive information for all areas of your life - love, family, career."
Dougherty's two-front war
John Dougherty, business manager for Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has been making a very public stir in the news recently with complaints about the Delaware River Port Authority.
But Dougherty, who serves on the DRPA board, also quietly launched attacks last week on the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority, claiming in a letter to Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell to have discovered a "secretive union-busting agenda" there.
PhillyClout examined Dougherty's complaints about both agencies and sensed a theme: He presents himself as a disrespected reformer trying to right some taxpayer-funded wrong.
At the DRPA, Dougherty says questions about hiring practices, executive pay and other misdeeds have been ignored. The DRPA's chief safety officer resigned this week after Dougherty complained about misuse of an agency E-ZPass transponder.
At the PCCA, Dougherty says the board of directors disparaged his concerns at a meeting last week about a "taxpayer-subsidized working discussion draft" that lists ideas to rework a 2002 agreement that quelled long-running labor strife at the center.
In a letter last week to Ahmeenah Young, president and chief executive of the center, Dougherty accused the PCCA of looking for ways to reduce the number of unions working there.
"It is hard to believe that you would be plotting strategies to deprive hardworking men and women of their livelihoods in the midst of the worst national economy since the Great Depression," Dougherty laments in the letter.
A spokesman said Dougherty has not heard from Nutter or Rendell about his request for their "immediate intervention."
The more things change . . .
PhillyClout this week got an early screening of the pilot episode of "Philadelphia, The Great Experiment," a documentary project that former mayoral candidate Sam Katz has been working on for more than two years.
The pilot, which Katz plans to use to attract investors so he can make a full series, covers the city's post-Civil War period, a time of great industrial advances and political turmoil. According to the film, which Katz and his team are still editing, Philly politics was often dirty, featuring businessmen who got into the government game to protect their interests.
So not much has changed . . .
Being students of more-recent history, we got a kick out of the 30-minute show, which has a History Channel look and is packed with interesting details on the expansion of Philadelphia, racial politics in the 19th century, the building of City Hall and the 1876 Centennial. It also has interviews with some bold-faced names, like NBC's Chris Matthews and NPR's Juan Williams.
Quotable:
"I didn't think he was a Macbeth guy. I thought he was more a Romeo and Juliet guy."
- Dougherty, after Rendell responded to his complaints about the DRPA by quoting Macbeth: "All sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Staff writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
Have tips or suggestions? Call Chris Brennan at 215-854-5973 or e-mail
brennac@phillynews.com.
Check out the Clout blog at:
www.phillyclout.com.
Have a news tip? Gossip? Suggestion? Call Chris Brennan at 215-854-5973 or Catherine Lucey at 215-854-4712. Or e-mail phillyclout@phillynews.com.
