Burg Life

If you follow Harrisburg’s news, you’ve probably bumped into the name Matthew Coulter.  He’s usually titled as Mayor Reed’s spokesman, and he regularly makes it into the Patriot News.

Usually, Coulter’s comments to the press are forgettable — giving the details of a crime or arrest.  Sometimes he gets to talk about how great Harrisburg’s newest business-of-the-day is.

Matthew Coulter also gets to cover for the mayor when Reed has done something stupid or when the spotlight is on one of Reed’s political opponents.  It is in these moments that he has really thrown out some juicy lines.

Sometimes Matthew Coulter says things that blur the line between the campaign trail and city business.  Seeing as this is a campaign year, we suspect things are about to get even juicier.

Remember, Coulter is a city employee, speaking on behalf of the city government.  He’s listed in the city directory as “Assistant to Mayor/Director of Communications.” Because of all this, we at Burg Life wonder if it is city policy to attack anyone opposing the mayor, even if they are on City Council.  We wonder if it is city policy to cover up or rationalize away the truth about the hard issues?

Before we pass judgment, let’s review the evidence so far:

Today, Matthew Coulter commented on City Council President Linda Thompson’s announcement to run for mayor.

Reed’s spokesman, Matthew Coulter, issued a statement sharply critical of Thompson.

“Linda Thompson’s announcement tonight comes as no surprise. Her divisive comments and actions pretty much told of her ambitions for a long time,” Coulter’s statement said.

“What we citizens have here is the stark contrast between a mayor who has devoted his life to turning around what was once the second most distressed city in America … and a person who at every chance, has denigrated, manipulated, and obstructed progress from improving our neighborhoods and this city,” Coulter said.

Matthew Coulter defended the Capital Blue Cross signs in Riverfront Park.

Coulter said the signs for the old exercise course, sponsored by Perrier, were actually much larger than the signs that are there now, but the city never heard complaints about those signs.

Coulter speculated that politics might have played a part in the controversy.

“As we enter another municipal election cycle, our longtime opponents are grasping at every straw in order to embarrass this city and administration,” Coulter said. “Ultimately, this was more political grandstanding than anything.”

And he also asserted that donated signs are exempt from the public planning process.

A city parks and recreation official who attended the meeting declined comment. City spokesman Matthew Coulter has said the signs didn’t have to go through a public process because they were a donation from Capital BlueCross.

Matthew Coulter blew off Les Ford’s announcement to run for mayor.

City spokesman Matthew Coulter said Ford has been running for mayor since Reed removed him from the Board of Control.

“His announcement today is merely a confirmation of these same political and personal ambitions of someone who has had absolutely no role in any of the city’s progress,” Coulter said.

In the covering for Reed category, Matthew Coulter rationalized why announcing charges of murder for a crime at the downtown YMCA would be a waste of valuable time.

City officials said they didn’t feel there was a need to trumpet the homicide arrest because Williams was already in custody.

“The filing of additional charges against Mr. Williams, who was already in prison on related charges, did not represent an urgent public safety issue,” city spokesman Matthew Coulter said. “Thus, attention was focused on more pressing criminal matters.”

When asked about trash in the city, Coulter shrugged and talked about money.  If you follow the link there is a video of the news segment.  Coulter is on camera at 1:19 to fumble his way through this coverup.

Harrisburg City Spokesperson Matt Coulter says things, like couches, are dumped. Then no one else wants to pay to have them removed. So they just end up sitting there. Even though the city has budgeted 100-thousand dollars to clean up illegally dumped garbage, it’s not enough to tackle all of the big trash.

” 100-thousand dollars is not enough. It’s a fraction of what we would need, to do a legit bulk trash pickup,” said Matt Coulter, Harrisburg City spokesperson.

Coulter sometimes gets to talk about development projects in Harrisburg.  When asked about Jacob Frydman’s decision to back out of a bailout of the Capitol View disaster on Cameron Street, Coulter managed to make the situation sound just great!

“There have been a lot of liens filed. There are a lot of issues,” Frydman said. “There were roof problems because of the storm (from several weeks ago). There isn’t one deal breaker. It was costs and building methodologies. We have conducted a due diligence, looked at it and concluded that based on market conditions and based on cost that we are not going to proceed with that building.”

Reed’s office expressed regret that a deal could not be reached with Frydman. But there is still hope for the center since other investors previously expressed interest in the project, wrote Matthew S. Coulter, the mayor’s spokesman, in an e-mail.

Commerce Bank will conduct a new analysis of the building throughout the next few weeks. After that, efforts to work on a deal with other private investors will continue, Coulter said.

“Frydman’s decision to pull out of the project may now open the door for others to take a look at the site,” Coulter wrote. “Several prospective investors had expressed interest in the purchase of the facility.”

Capitol View was supposed to be a shining example of how private and public investment could team to turn a brownfield site into economic growth and job creation when ground was broken on the building in 2006.

As early as last February, Matthew Coulter was already taking jabs at Les Ford for his teach-in at Reed’s Gala.

Specifically, Ford said it was “patronizing to African-Americans” for Reed to hold a gala when he has failed to address issues important to the black community, such as public education, police protection, governmental accessibility and financial accountability.

A spokesman for Reed highlighted the positive track record of the “black tie optional” dinner and dance event and called the planned protest a “petty publicity stunt” to gain attention.

“Mayor Reed started the annual Black History Gala nine years ago so that this
diverse community could commemorate the extraordinary black history of our nation and this city,” spokesman Matthew Coulter said. “Someone opposing such a good a noble purpose … represents a disservice to our city’s citizens.”

Since Reed removed him from the Harrisburg School District Board of Control, Ford, along with his wife, Sheila Dow-Ford, has been increasingly critical of Reed’s handling of the city schools and of financial issues within city government.

Last Summer, Harrisburg police officers beat up a smallish guy in custody before sending him to the judge.  As far as we have heard, the details of the investigation into the officer’s conduct have disappeared into the static.  When questioned, Coulter shrugged off the matter.

City police Chief Charles Kellar said Wells is one of the officers being investigated by Internal Affairs. Kellar refused to comment on Wells’ duty status. City spokesman Matthew Coulter also had no comment, calling Wells’ status “a personnel issue which, due to confidentiality laws and practices, is not discussed.”

Efforts to reach Mayor Stephen R. Reed through Coulter were unsuccessful.

Should we, as citizens of Harrisburg, be concerned about the conduct of our city employees at all levels?  How do we know that they will do the right thing?  Matthew Coulter has the answer there too.

“If it wasn’t legal, we wouldn’t be doing it,” said spokesman Matt Coulter.