Winners and losers for the week ending July 21

The amount of schadenfreude erupting online upon the long-expected news that Sean Spicer would no longer be serving as White House Press Secretary seems a bit misguided. Sure, he stood in front of the press – and, by extension, the American public – and dissembled on a daily basis, and his feckless and reckless relationship with truth and accountability won’t be missed in the slightest.

But make no mistake: In this latest round of rearranging the deck chairs on the good ship Trump, Spicer comes out a clear winner. How would you feel if you no longer had to try to do your job in a hostile environment while being denied the very tools needed to do that job? And there is no way he made this decision to transition without a viable Plan B. Whether it’s as a TV pundit, a K Street flack or five-figure speaking engagements, he had his escape plan in motion already; the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as White House Communications Director simply provided him with the cover he wanted to execute it.

Speaking of Scaramucci, his patience finally paid off with the appointment. After shilling for Trump throughout the 2016 campaign and afterward, and after selling his asset management firm in anticipation of an Administration job, Trump finally rewarded his loyalty, after months of leaving him twisting in the cable news wind.

The biggest loser in this latest example of the Trump Administration upending the traditionally somnolent summer Friday news cycle? Newly promoted Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Good luck with all that.

WINNERS

Kelley Hodge: The Elliot Greenleaf lawyer was appointed to serve out the remainder of disgraced Philadelphia DA Seth Williams’s term in office.

Scott Wagner: The state senator and GOP gubernatorial candidate received the endorsement of popular Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan – a development that should help Wagner secure more endorsements and contributions to his campaign.

Leslie Richards: Chalk up another first for the Richards. In addition to breaking the Department of Transportation’s glass ceiling, the PennDOT Secretary was named as the first female PA Turnpike Commissioner in state history.

LOSERS

Seth Williams: The Philadelphia Board of Pensions not only voted to revoke the disgraced DA’s pension benefits, but to hold onto the $118,000 he has already contributed in an effort to recoup the city’s expenditures on lawyers for him until he was officially indicted.

Lancaster schools: Thanks to an incredibly wrongheaded decision to violate federal law by delaying and denying enrollment to older immigrant students, the School District of Lancaster will wind up spending more than $600,000 to ameliorate the situation.

South Philly car owners: In the most audacious – and ballsy, judging by the number of threats being lodged against them – grassroots effort of the year, the PAC 5^th Square has filed suit against the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia Parking Authority in an effort to end one of the more unusual accepted illegal practices in the city: median parking on Broad Street.