The Charmed Life of Mrs. Bob Brady

How did former Eagles cheerleader Deb Brady—wife of all-powerful Bob—end up with a six-figure, taxpayer-supported job and seats on two of the city’s most powerful boards? It’s a neighborhood story, a success story, a political story and a love story all wrapped into one

Bob, not surprisingly, has been less than pleased with all the sniffing around. And Deb — who’s gone out of her way to hold her tongue for the past 20 years despite her public positions — doesn’t like talking about the PHA. All she says about the Carl Greene scandal is this:

 

“Blindsided is an understatement. I would see people come and go and not work there too long; I thought [Greene] was promoting them. I used to think, ‘Wow, he must be, like, a really cool person to work for. I’ll bet he’s like Bob.’ People will jump for Bob because he’s so good to everybody, he’s so good to people. If he wants something, like if he says, ‘I need a photocopy,’ he’ll have 10 people running around to do it for him. Same thing with [Greene]. He had people jumping…. I honestly — my hand to God — that’s what I thought. ‘He runs his show like Bob. I betcha he’s just like Bob.’”
And … zip it.

DEB BRADY WON A CRUISE. She’s never won anything in her life, but she dropped her name in a fish bowl at a Flyers game last October and, wouldn’t you know, she got a call from Sundance Vacations informing her that she’d won a three-day on the Royal Caribbean. All she has to do is go down to the Sundance offices and listen to their spiel. And she has to bring her husband.

“Look, we’re going,” she says to Bob. He isn’t even going on the trip. He doesn’t like boats. Or planes. Deb plans to bring her sister-in-law.

“Can’t I just bring my girlfriend?” she asks the Sundance people.

No.

So, finally, Bob agrees. Deb sits and listens as they pitch the benefits of joining a vacation club. Bob sits and talks to reporters on his cell phone.

It’s the Tuesday after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Bob is explaining why he thinks threats to congressional leaders and their staff should be federal offenses. He’s had the threats himself. Death threats.

But Deb doesn’t know about any of that.

“There’s a lot he doesn’t tell me, and I know why,” she says. Like Deb, he knows when to keep his mouth shut. He wants to protect her, too.

He knows his role. She knows hers.

“Sir, do you understand?” the Sundance salesman asks the Congressman.

“Yeah, yeah,” says Bob Brady, not putting down his phone. He gestures to his wife: “Talk to her.”