As first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, former convicted State Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown has a new city job. The former West Philly lawmaker is working for the city’s Register of Wills, Tracey Gordon. 

She first began last week and serves as a community outreach coordinator with an annual salary of $65,000. Lowery Brown was convicted in 2018 after being found guilty of accepting bribes from a lobbyist. 

As a result, she was forced to resign from a post she had for nearly a decade. She was sentenced to 23 months of probation for taking $4,000 in bribes. 

However, Brown never admitted guilt in any of the charges before her sentencing even when prosecutors initially said she admitted wrongdoing before her lawyer would call the situation his client was in — entrapment.

Unfortunately for Brown, the jury in Dauphin County disagreed, finding Brown guilty of five counts of conflict of interest, one count of bribery, and one count of statements of financial interest. She had just been re-elected to her post weeks earlier. 

Though Brown may be entering another possibly complicated situation because Gordon has a history just as complicated as her own. 

A former deputy city commissioner — Gordon won the Register of Wills job in 2019, defeating 40-year incumbent Ron Donatucci in the Democratic primary, ending his bid for an 11th term. The South Philly politician had held the position since 1980. 

She is up for re-election this year and Brown’s hire comes after a loud exit two months earlier. 

Serious allegations were brought forth by former PA Attorney General and now Governor Josh Shapiro, accusing Gordon’s top aide and political consultant, Rasheen Crews, of forging signatures on petitions for judicial candidates looking to get their name on the Democratic primary ballot. 

During her time as the deputy city commissioner, the Philly Board of Ethics twice found Gordon in serious violation, ultimately leading to her termination from the post in 2014 after first taking over in 2012. The Board of Ethics fined Gordon, $2,201, for six city charter violations. 

Gordon is also facing a re-election campaign and might have two contenders to watch for in this upcoming Democratic Primary in May — attorney and veteran Northeast Philly ward leader John Sabatina Sr., and Elizabeth Lowe, who handles compliance problems at the GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational pharmaceutical firm.