The Next Mayor

So The Next Mayor project is at Congresso's election kickoff right now, where we're collecting more video of what Philadelphians want from the next mayor.

And we have a big announcement: Univision's Channel 65 has joined The Next Mayor project. We're delighted to have them as a partner in our effort!

Now, back to the election news:

I just talked to state Rep. Angel Cruz, who spoke at the event, about his predictions for the mayor's race in this heavily Latino part of Philadelphia. He said his big concern was turnout.

In 2005, only 4.8 percent of his district turned out to vote in the primary. By 2006's general election, that percentage had risen a lot -- to more than 22 percent -- but that was only after the Department of Justice had intervened.

He's concerned about keeping or growing that turnout for 2007.

As to issues, he said the number-one concern for his community is crime -- and that the successful candidate here will be the one who makes more cops visible in the neighborhoods.

"We need a grassroots, in-the-neighborhoods, kind of mayor," he said.

So our reporter says there are only 200 people at City Hall for Milton's rally -- and they are mostly media.

So will T.-for-tough Milton Street do what he said he would, and drop out -- since 5,000 people didn't show?

We'll see. Our reporter says he's still holding forth -- with a casket on stage, because this is about crime, you see.

We'll bring you some no-doubt-priceless quotes later.

Milton' speech lasted roughly 45 minutes and drew a crowd of about 200, mostly media and curious passers-by.

First, the bad news: He's not leaving the race. (Is anyone really suprised by that?) Street told the Daily News' Chris Brennan that he was staying in for the people who called to say they wanted to come to his rally but couldn’t make it.

“I know I said that if I didn’t get 5,000 people out here today I would not run," he said at the noon rally. "But there something within me…I got to keep going. I got to keep on pushing.”

The rest of his speech was, reports the Daily News' Catherine Lucey, "decidedly free-form."

Some highlights:

“Politicians want to win office with soundbites and lies,” he said. “I don’t stand before anybody and lie. I stand accused of doing some wrong things. But I don’t stand convicted.”

He then unveils a casket onstage: “This is what it’s about. This is where our young people are going.”

(A guy from John DeBella's radio show asked about the casket later. “No, there’s not a body in it. I started to put one in it so that when we opened it, it sat up but I figured that might be a little too dramatic. You know, people might want to take me for a psychiatric evaluation.”)

Back to the speech:

“We have these stores run by the Asians…staying up until 2 in the morning. I’m going to shut them down by 9 o’clock.”

“Those white guys are heckling me. They’ll come down here when somebody says it’s time to organize and heckle you.”

He then started praying. “You told me that if I had the faith of the mustard seed – an itty bitty mustard seed – I could move mountains.”

He then sang a hymn called “If I can help somebody.”

“There’s all these movements out here designed to keep Milton Street off the ballot. Let the voters decide.”

Brennan thinks he may know why Milton's putting us through this:

“There are some other things I can do," Street said. "I may do some talk radio. People have expressed an interest, without me giving out a lot of information, about me doing some talk radio. As a job. So I need a voice. So I guess I’ll position myself where I can best have my voice heard.”

After the rally, Street joked round with two radio show reporters who were recording his every word. With a WIP reporter, Street sung a very short, off-key duet of “Fly me to the moon.” A reporter from John DeBella’s 102.9 WMGK-FM show asked Street who he thought was the father of deceased Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. “Not me,” Street said, breaking into a wide smile.

Several folks have commented with other things they said they heard at the Milton Show:

* "I am pregnant with knowledge"

* "We have so many killings because what we're doing hasn't worked." Um, I guess that says something about the current mayor?

And my favorite:

T-for-tough Milton also accused "hillbillies from Jiblip" from buying up neighborhood properties and running the residents away.

Damn hillbillies!!

Please use the comment section to tell us whether you agree or disagree with the following statement:

The Next Mayor project should no longer include any references to Milton Street on the thenextmayor.com or the site blog aside from links to stories in the Headlines archive.

We promise to make this a legitimately Milton-free zone and leave that circus to those who do it best - commercial radio and television - if the majority of commenters express that we do so. Unlike Milton, we'll stand by that promise.

The floor is yours...

This is a great idea -- meet the candidates over drinks! From our friends at Young Involved Philadelphia:

Meet Philadelphia’s MAYORAL CANDIDATES **Tomorrow** Friday, March 2nd, 8:00-10:00 pm Roosevelt's (2222 Walnut Street)

Following up on the great success of our survey of Philadelphia’s young people, YIP, YAPAC and YPN are co-sponsoring this event as your first opportunity to engage the candidates and show them your voice does matter! There will be food and drink specials.

Please RSVP for this event by contacting YIPCivicEd@gmail.com. We hope that you will be able to join us – and feel free to bring friends!

* * * * *

Meet Philadelphia’s CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES **Monday** March 5th, 5:30-7:00 pm Bump (1234 Locust Street)

Want to engage the candidates running for Council? YIP, YAPAC and YPN are co-sponsoring this next candidate event as your opportunity to do so! There will be food and drink specials.

Please RSVP for this event by contacting YIPCivicEd@gmail.com. We hope that you will be able to join us – and feel free to bring friends!

With tongue firmly planted in cheek (still not sure where that saying comes from), I bring you the next mayor of Philadelphia.

Amid all the hoopla about T-Mil, there was a candidate out there shouting into void about issues.

Michael Nutter released his plan for zoning and planning reform. I did a little experimenting with Macromedia Flash Paper in case you're wondering why it's posted like that.

We can talk about the guts of the paper if you want but it seems to be pretty standard stuff. Most people that use this site have already been told about the antiquated zoning code, the unprofessional ZBA and the ignored Planning Commission. None of that is necessarily new and not too much of Nutter's plan would seem to be a point of contention between him and his opponents. He gets points for bringing it up but that and a buck will get him a cup of coffee.

What I'd like to focus on is why there has to be reform. Why has the zoning code not been upgraded? Why is the planning commission shut out? Why are the folks who are on the ZBA not more qualified to be making those decisions? Clearly, the status quo is benefitting someone. It doesn't seem to be the builders since they complain more than anyone about how hard it is to navigate the process. It's clearly not the community groups or the neighborhoods. So who benefits from the way things are right now? If we can find out the answer to that question, we can figure out why things haven't changed in so long.

If we can find out who benefits and then see which candidate those people are supporting (by checking contributions or endorsements, etc) then we have a better sense of who is for the status quo - on zoning or any other issue - and who really wants change.

So if you have a theory, feel free to share it. If you have personal experience dealing with ZBA or L and I, I really want to hear about it.

Here's a piece of good scoop from Clout, the Daily News' excellent political-gossip column (compiled by city editor Gar Joseph).

Clout is published on Fridays, but to whet your appetite, we'll post a piece of it today.

Rudman: Brady-Doc dealmaker?

Shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone, but septuagenarian philantropist Kal Rudman is having lunch with labor leader John Dougherty at the Palm on Wednesday.

Rudman’s plan is to convince Dougherty to endorse U.S. Rep. Bob Brady for mayor.

“If I get this done, it will shake the s--t out of the other candidates,” Rudman told us.

Doc, who raised a ton of money exploring his own run for mayor and whose electricians’ Local 98 can put Election Day boots on the ground, would be a big catch for Brady. Rudman is on the board of the Variety Club children’s charity, of which Dougherty is president.

“He’s got to settle on a candidate,” said Rudman, and “[Brady] is the logical place for him to go.”

Dougherty, however, sounds like he’ll test Rudman’s salesmanship.

“Local 98 and I are not there yet [on a Brady endorsement],” Dougherty told us.

Deep down, I'm an unrepentant policy wonk. I'd love to sit on this blog all day and talk about best practices, innovative policies, outcome-based budgeting and anything that has to do with how governments - especially municipal governments - would be run in a vacuum in which political considerations can be set aside.

As such, I'm a huge fan of the work being done at Philadelphia's own Brookings, The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia. Note the name change. They used to be the Pennsylvania Economy League, Eastern Division (or something). Way to bring it home!

They've got a new name, a new website and a new attitude. Wait... the attitude thing might be part of the Phillies slogan.

Most importantly, they've got a new initiative to complement the fine work that they've done on the state level with IssuesPA. It's called IssuesPhiladelphia, which I'll call the work I'd be doing on this site if I were a whole lot smarter. Here's their mission:

IssuesPhiladelphia seeks to focus government on efficiently and effectively providing the results that matter to city residents. We help people connect major policy decisions (primarily those articulated in the annual budget) with tangible outcomes, such as the health and wealth of Philadelphians. Over the coming weeks and months, IssuesPhiladelphia will recommend policies that will better equip local government to achieve the results that citizens demand.

Check out the site and the first thing you'll see... Holy regionalism, Batman! Comparisons with the surrounding counties!

The question is, will local government listen to these recommendations? We'll definitely be listening and quizzing the candidates when we get the chance.

Take an hour or so and browse through the site. You just might learn something.

Speaking of new websites, our friends at the Philadelphia Children's Commission wanted us to know that their site is now up and ready.

Particularly of note:

In 2007, the Philadelphia Children's Commission will engage in a campaign to ensure that all Mayoral candidates support "And How are the Children': A Platform for Philadelphia's Future" — a comprehensive series of policies and reforms designed to make a difference for the city's children and youth.

We look forward to the release of these initiatives and doing what we can to make sure the candidates speak to issues of child health and welfare. Afterall, one could argue that the violence and crime that we're experiencing today are the result of conditions that existed 18-25 years ago. That's not to say that we can't do anything for this current crop of 18-25 year olds but we can sure as hell make sure that we don't make the same mistakes.

Daily News reporter Bob Warner was at the Community College forum today. Here's his report:

About 150 students and staff at Philadelphia Community College heard seven of the candidates for mayor strut their stuff for 90 minutes this afternoon.

From the Fab 5 -- Democrats Evans, Nutter, Fattah, Brady and Knox – the only one missing was Congressman Bob Brady, who was unable to attend because of “obligations in Washington,” according to one of the moderators, Nia Meeks. They were joined by the only woman in the race, Queena Bass, Republican Al Taubenberger, and the Green Party candidate, Terry Foster.

There was little disagreement on major issues, and little the candidates haven’t been saying at most of their appearances. One way or another, they generally support more police to fight violent crime, better public schools to provide more opportunity to Philadelphians and more services across the board, though it remains unclear how they'll pay for them.

Several expressed shock and dismay that Mayor Street suggested a $1 million cut in city aid to Community College in his budget proposal last week.

The students were so well-behaved – or bored – that they failed to respond even to Dwight Evans’s suggestion that Community College should be free.

One interesting moment came when moderator Zack Stalberg, from the Committee of 70, asked the candidates what they would ask incumbent John Street if they took him up on an offer to answer questions about the city budget.

Tom Knox was the most critical, saying he would ask Street why people had to be friends, relatives or campaign contributors to get no-bid contracts, and why the mayor had “surrounded himself with so many people who have been indicted or gone to jail? Why didn’t he hire better people?”

A moment later, Fattah offered several words of comfort to the mayor.

“I would ask all of you not to get swayed here,” Fattah said. “Nobody’s running against John Street, even though they might get a few laughs or points off of it….The truth is that public service is a challenge and John Street’s given about three decades now of his life and he’s done a lot of good things, even though there are and there will always be, for any of us, detractors. But I think it’s fairly much a cheap shot for all of this nonsense about John Street. We’re talking about the next mayor, we should focus on that and I for one offer myself as a candidate for someone to lead the city forward.”

Here's your weekly update of upcoming events in the mayor's race!

As you know, the Next Mayor is keeping an ongoing calendar of events in the race. Visit our site at to see it -- or to submit an event.

The Next Mayor partners: WHYY, the Daily News, and the Committee of 70.
-----------------

Upcoming Events:

Fattah to unveil environmental agenda
(Sunday, March 4, Bartram's Garden, 54th St. and Lindbergh)
Chaka Fattah will release his policy agenda on the environment. The plan focuses on improving air quality in Philadelphia, increasing the number of trees on our streets, boosting access to alternative energy sources, and improving and promoting our parks and green areas across the city.

City Council Candidates Meet and Greet
(Monday, March 5, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, 1234 Locust Street)

Want to engage the candidates running for Council? YIP, YAPAC and YPN are co-sponsoring this next candidate event as your opportunity to do so! There will be food and drink specials. Please RSVP for this event by contacting YIP (Young Involved Philadelphia).

Green City Strategy Candidates' Forum
(Monday, March 5 – 6 pm to 7:30 pm Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 114, Auditorium, 13th Street Entrance between Arch and Race)

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society invites you to a Green City Strategy Mayoral Candidates' Forum in collaboration with Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Philadelphia Parks Alliance. Limited Seating - Advance Reservation Required. Call 215-988-8788 or email forum@pennhort.org.

Jewish Committee Mayoral Forum
(Tuesday, March 6 – 7 pm – 9 pm Union League - 140 S Broad St)

The American Jewish Committee is hosting a mayoral forum on Tuesday, March 6, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Union League. The forum will be moderated by Larry Kane.

Community Newspaper Mayoral Forum
(Wednesday, March 7 – 7 pm – 9 pm, Alexander Adair Public School, 1300 E. Palmer Street)

The Spirit Community Newspapers is hosting a mayoral candidate forum on Wednesday, March 7, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Liberty City Candidate Forum

(Thursday, March 8, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, William Way Community Center, 1315 Spruce Street)

Liberty City, a gay and lesbian Group, is hosting a Candidate Night for mayoral and judicial races.

[ETA, again: I can't believe I neglected to mention Evans' environmental plan. It is here.]

[ETA: The full plan is now on Fattah's Web site; you can read it here. The Inquirer's story on the plan is here.]

You have to give the group that has aligned behind the Next Great City effort a lot of credit. They have succeeded in ensuring -- for all of us -- that the environment is an issue in this race. That is a real accomplishment, since crime remains such a dominant topic.

But, thanks to them, we know that each candidate -- except Brady -- has signed on to Next Great City's 10-point environmental agenda. And the profile of environmental issues is quite high in this race. For example, let's look at today and tomorrow.

Today, Fattah released his environmental plan. I've only seen the press release so far, but in it he sets a goal of planting 100,000 trees "over his two terms in office." (Hey, that's what it said.)

"Any block in Philadelphia will be able to apply for tree-planting in the same way they apply for block parties. If 75 percent of the block’s residents sign a petition, the city – in consultation with community groups and the District Councilperson – will line the street with trees."

I like the sound of that. I wonder what it would cost?

Other goals he's set:

"Targeting" a 20 percent reduction in energy use across all city departments by the end of his first term.

Investing city dollars to implement the city's GreenPlan, a neighbhorhood open-space preservation program.

Improving the City’s recycling system. Fattah's press release points out that Philadelphia’s five percent recycling rate is the second lowest of any large city in the country – far below the national average of 24 percent, and, we say, a disgrace.

Fattah points out that such improvements do save money: "For every 1 percent increase in the recycling rate, the City can save $500,000," he said.

The other candidate to release a specific environmental plan is Michael Nutter; you can read it on his candidate page. Also, each candidate responded to the Next Great City report with their thoughts on the environment; read what they said at the bottom of this page.

Finally, let's look at tomorrow. That's when a sold-out, overflow crowd will gather at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Flower Show for a candidates' forum on the environment.

This issue is clearly getting the attention it deserves.

I love our commenters.

They may have their favorite candidates, but they always raise very interesting points.

Like this one:

"I attended [the] CCP forum yesterday [and I] am concerned that candidates (with notable exception of Michael Nutter) frequently don’t answer the questions. I have attended (or watched video of) most of debates so far and find it really frustrating that moderators never call the candidates on this. I realize this may be the agreed upon format of the debate but something needs to done to change this."

"Brady frequently responds to questions with a personal anecdote, Fattah tends to say: 'I have a comprehensive program to address that question, read it on my website.' Evans frequently ignores the question and shifts discussion to one of his campaign themes. Knox is more likely to answer the question than Brady, Fattah or Evans. Nutter consistently provides a direct answer."

So, someone thinks that most of the candidates aren't answering questions thoroughly. Which is a part of politicking, but it's not OK, either. So if you are headed to a forum, keep an eye out for this -- we will too -- and let us know.

Two stories to call to your attention today:

Dave Davies of the Daily News has an excellent column on Tom Knox, which raises the question of what the loan of $5 million of his own money to his campaign really means.

Knox loaned his campaign the money. That means it can be repaid to him after a Knox victory. That raises the alarming specter of City Hall fund-raisers for Knox -- to be blunt, of special interests giving a sitting mayor money after his election that would go straight into his own pockets.

I am surprised that the campaign didn't immediately say, "Well, it was a loan because that was a long time before the race. Of course, once Tom wins, he will forgive the loan. We were serious about that take-the-For-Sale-sign-down-off-City-Hall thing."

But, as you will see if you read the story, they so didn't say that.

As Dave writes, "If somebody says they want to buy City Hall back for me, I'd like to know they aren't doing it with a $5 million mortgage."

Yikes.

Also, Thomas Fitzgerald of the Inky has a look at the candidates on the stump as we close in on the last 10 weeks of the campaign.

And the Inquirer editorial page on Sunday has a well-deserved pat on the back for the five (serious, ie non-Milton) Democratic candidates for making this a campaign about issues. It's true and a real credit to the five people in the race.

Now, let's keep it that way for the next 10 weeks.

...As we speak, at City Hall.

This is a good moment to remind everyone that petitions for city-wide office -- for our purposes, we're talking the mayor's race and city council -- are due tomorrow.

The mayoral candidates need 1,000 signatures on their petitions to be put on the ballot May 15. Citywide council candidates also need 1,000; district council candidates need 750. The signatures must be of real voters who are registered in the party and live in the area represented.

Dr. Kerry Foster, the Green Party candidate, and other candidates of minor political parties, however, just have to get 1,000 signatures from any registered city voter. (In Foster's case, for example, those signatures don't have to be from registered Green Party voters.) For more on this, read the Committee of 70's How to Run for Political Office guide.)

Obviously, we'll keep you posted on petition filings, petition challenges and all other ballot news.

ETA: Awww. Nutter took his daughter, Olivia, with him as he delivered his 13,000, count 'em 13,000, signatures. From his press release:

Mayoral Candidate Michael Nutter, along with his 12 year old daughter Olivia, turned in 13,000 Democratic Petitions at the Board of Elections today at 12:30p.m.

“I am honored to have my daughter with me as I turn in 13,000 signatures collected from every ward in the city, and for her to be able to see the election process first hand,” said Nutter. “This is something we can experience as a family, not something she has to read about in a book.”

“I am also humbled by the hundreds of grassroots activists that took the time during the winter storms to talk to their neighbors and collect signatures. The grassroots support the campaign is receiving amazes me everyday” exclaimed Nutter.

Michael Nutter was the first candidate to declare his candidacy and was the first to turn in his petitions.

You may have caught this article from the Inquirer a few days ago that questions just how important endorsements are for a campaign.

There seems to be two schools of thought, one that says endorsements are important both for their ability to convince undecided voters that a candidate is worth their vote and because they often come with money and footsoldiers.

The other thinks, endorsements, schmendorsements... or in other words... who cares? Labor unions have back Republican candidates with abysmal voting records on labor issues. The rank-and-file members of the union either put in a half-hearted effort on behalf of that candidate or just flat-out work for the other guy. Really, aside from getting to say in a commercial or fundraising letter, "endorsed by..." these endorsements do little.

I tend to believe the second. Often times the endorsements are done because of considerations made by the leadership of groups or personal deals between those leaders and the candidates. If the candidate or the campaign fails to bring their message effectively to the voters, then no amount of third party cajoling will do it.

That's basically why I haven't paid much attention on this blog to who got the backing of this or that group. I'll be a little interested to see which newspapers endorse which candidates but I could care less who Local 98 (for example) decides to back. Besides, groups like that seem to be most effective at harassing the opponent rather than backing their guy. With 4 opponents to harass, I have a feeling they'll be spread a little thin.

Anyway, that's just my take on it. If you are interested to know where the endorsements are falling, Josh Cornfield at Fight For Room 215, the blog of Metro Philadelphia, has some breaking news about Dwight Evans picking up some pretty big support.

All five serious Democratic candidates were present at the Flower Show forum tonight. And, reports the Daily News' Dave Davies, you will be relieved to hear that all five have morphed into radical greens.

They made all kinds of promises for the rapt crowd of as many as 1,000 listeners in two rooms -- tree planting, park funding, you name it. Which, again, shows how far environmental issues have come in this race.

Actually, Dave pointed out to us, it shows how savvy the candidates are. They treated the large crowd like "supervoters," those who both vote and influence other voters, he said -- which Flower Show attendees certainly are, at least those who live in the city. There were tables of information for the candidates and people working the crowd to pass out literature.

Anyway, the big applause-getter through the night was money for Fairmount Park. All seemed to agree that the park system should be able to keep revenue it gets from concessions and fees, which it doesn't now. (Again, this would be a big change, and it's great to have this promise on the record -- if they can afford to keep it.)

Dwight Evans pushed his plan for a percentage of real estate transfer taxes to go to the park system as a dedicated source of funding.

In other issues...Tom Knox pushed his adopt-a-tree program, saying if citizens plant the trees the city will water and prune them (does this happen already?).

And there was some back-and-forth over the success of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative and councilmanic privilege, development issues that closely relate to environmental issues.

Finally, there was some of the usual squabbling that goes on at these things. At one point, Michael Nutter asked Knox -- who has admitted to getting senior citizens discounts -- "Tom, do you pay for anything?"

Knox responded to Nutter, "I paid more in taxes last year than you ever paid." That drew some groans.

Bob Brady and Evans got into it a bit, too. Brady said he'd absolutely support asking developers to include support for green space in each development plan, and referenced his friend, developer John Westrum. Which is the kind of relationship-based comment you'd expect from Brady.

But policy-focused Evans didn't like the name-dropping and the kind of decision-making he felt it represented. Evans responded, "This is exactly what we have to change."

"Public policy has to be transparent. You can't do it on a retail basis."

Also drawing some eye-rolling was Brady's response during the wrap-up questioning. When asked what he'd do to make Philadelphia greener, he responded with something many in the crowd had heard before: That somewhere in Philadelphia there was a father who was wondering where he'd find the money to buy a can of soup for his hungry family, and that once Bob Brady had been that father.

An affecting story, but it's been rolled out more than a couple of times, and it wasn't really what the question had asked (Karen, we were listening!). The story wandered back to green space, but it was odd.

From the Radio Times page at whyy.org:

Hour 1
Philadelphia mayoral race update. Today is the deadline for major party candidates to turn in their petitions. They will each need one thousand valid signatures to appear on the May 15th primary election. We'll get an update on what's been happening in the race with MARCIA GELBART, the City Hall Bureau Chief for The Philadelphia Inquirer who is covering the mayor's race, and contributing to the paper's Mayorpalooza blog, and from GAR JOSEPH, the city editor and political editor for The Philadelphia Daily News.

Like I always do when I'm plugging Radio Times, I remind you that you can listen live to the program by clicking here at 10am and choosing the method that works best for you.

(edited to add) If you missed it, you can use this link to get a downloadable .mp3 file of the show for your personal .mp3-playing device. IMPORTANT: It won't be available until 12:15pm today but when it is, just right click on it and hit "save as" and you're on your way to one heck of pod-castic experience.

By the way, Hour 2 is pretty darn interesting too, but for an entirely different reason.

Our friends at PICA - that's the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority to you - alerted us to the release of their initial evaluation of the mayor's current 5-year plan. To sum it up, they're saying that after careful examination of budget trends, the 5-year plan is being held together by spit and bubble gum.

A mere three pages into the report, you already see the phrase "speculative revenue" and the assessment that:

PICA Staff does not believe a Plan that includes these two revenue sources [reimbursements to the Department of Human Services and the $45 million loan repayment from PGW] is balanced using reasonable assumptions.

And it just gets worse from there. Let me throw some more interesting facts out at you so that you can consider this whenever one of the candidates talks about planting 100,000 trees or putting in 1500 surveillance cameras or buying elephants:

By the end of the Plan, pensions and health benefits will account for about $1 out of every $4 the City spends up from $1 out of every $8 in FY01. (page 5)

The graph on page 6.

Beginning in FY09, the Administration projects that the wage tax base will grow at either 4.25% or 4.5% each year.

No other Five-Year Plan has projected that the wage tax would grow by more than 4% in any year. (page 10)

Economists call that "an assumption." Good economists call that a "bad assumption."

From page 12:
Labor Costs Are Another Substantial Risk in the Plan

The Plan assumes single digit employee health care cost increases in each of its years and $30 million in savings from a series of cost containment initiatives. While the cost containment initiatives are well thought out, it would be up to the next mayor’s administration to implement them.

Add to that the fact that "all of the City’s collective bargaining agreements expire at the beginning of FY09," and it makes you wonder which of the current crop will be able to resist the tempation to give away the store during these negotiations and who might possibly be able to pull back on some of the health and pension benefits.

The point is, the city is in trouble. Not today... not tomorrow... but soon. And it'll be up to the next mayor to dig us out of it. Read it and good luck sleeping tonight.

And yes, that's my second A-Team reference on this blog. What can I say, I watched a lot of television as a kid.

[Edited to add detail throughout -- Wendy]

BREAKING NEWS: Milton Street has turned in the required petitions, and he is running....

FOR CITY COUNCIL AT LARGE.

You read that right: He turned in nominating petitions, and they aren't to run for mayor, they are to run for city council, representing the whole city.

His Web site is unchanged -- he still has a few references on it to running for mayor -- but now that we look at it anew, gee, he's not real specific. With one good edit it would easily apply to a City Council race.

Which is not to say that Milton will climb every hurdle. For example, there are 1,500 signatures on the petitions, and our reporters say that some of the pages seem to have handwriting that is surprisingly familiar from page to page.

So we'll see.

And then there's the fact that his nephew is also running for City Council.

Coming soon: The Street Family Feud. Will Uncle Milton crush Sharif Street's dream of victory? Will Sharif file a challenge to Milton's petitions and residency? What happens when the Mayor gets everyone together for Easter Dinner? Will Milton and Sharif have to sit at opposite ends of the table?

Stay tuned!

PS: I know we promised our regular readers a Milton-free zone, but c'mon, this is big.

As the race grinds into an exhausting high gear, with yet another forum every night, we're going to give each of the candidates one chance to lose it slightly.

I think Dwight Evans might have exercised his last night.

During a “lightning round," the candidates were asked how they'd communicate with the public if elected mayor. And, according to Daily News reporter Catherine Lucey, Evans responded:

“Jennifer Hudson,” said State Rep. Dwight Evans. “I was watching her on the Oscars last week. Unfortunately, she didn’t win “American Idol,’ but she won something greater than that.”

Catherine reports that the audience politely gazed at Evans, who continued:

“I announced my economic development plan today and I said I wanted to make Philadelphia ‘the Hollywood of the East’ for people who dream.” He had more.

“Faheem Thomas Childs will never get to be Jennifer Hudson,” Evans said, referring to the 10-year-old shot in his North Philadelphia schoolyard in 2004. “He was going to school. He was shot in the head. He will never get to be a Jennifer Hudson.”

Eventually, Evans wrapped up by saying: “You should Google our records. You should Google our records, look at our records, not what we say.”

(Actually, you don't need Google, just check out his candidate page on The Next Mayor for a run-down of all proposals he's issued.)

Other than that, it was pretty much as usual, with the candidates repeating their established positions...

FYI, earlier tonight Evans picked up the backing of the Black Clergy. Reports the Daily News' Dave Davies:

“The Black clergy will be a part of the Evans administration,” a grateful Evans told a crowd of about 50 ministers who gathered with him for the organization’s official announcement last night in West Philadelphia.

Black Clergy President Rev. James C. Moore Sr., the group’s president, said the organization represents over 450 pastors and ministers whose congregations include more than 300,000 members.

The organization is not a tax-exempt organization, Moore said, so it is legally able to endorse Evans and lend him political support.

Remember that in 1999 this same group backed John Street and actually urged Evans to withdraw from the race.

Asked about that history last night, Moore told Dave, “I’ve learned that in politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.”

[Amusing edit: That would be JESUS White, not Jesse White. Josh apologizes for failing to get a reletively memorable name correct. -- Wendy]

Just to get it on the record:

Michael Nutter turned in 13,000 nominating petitions and was the first to file
Dwight Evans turned in 17,000 and has a picture on his Web site
Tom Knox turned in 10,000 and said, “With the help of the 10,000 Philadelphians who are supporting my candidacy, we will take the ‘for sale” sign off City Hall and put an end to the pay-to-play politics that are all too common in our city.”

I don't have numbers for Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady yet.

Also filing were Queena Bass and Minister Jesse White (those last two are according to the excellent work of Josh Cornfield at Metro and his blog, Fight for Room 215.)

Al Taubenberger, as expected, filed as a Republican.

Candidates for the major party primaries had to file petitions with at least 1,000 signatures from qualified electors to be considered for the ballot. Now comes the time when signatures get challenged. We'll keep you posted.

I picked a bad week to be out of commission when it comes to being able to attend candidate forums. Seems like I'm missing all the good stuff, including what sounds like some crazy talk from Dwight "Google Me" Evans.

First of all, when I Google "Dwight Evans" I end up with just as many references to 3-time American League All-Star and 8-time Gold Glove outfielder, Dwight "Dewey" Evans of the Boston Red Sox than I do to a state representative from Pennsylvania - and Dewey's been retired since 1991. Heck, several days ago some poor guy named "Dwight Evans" from Baltimore, MD was dominating the Google News searches since the guy was murdered.

Leaving aside the difficulties with using Google as an easy source of information about our Dwight Evans's record, here's another account, almost in its entirety, from a friend of mine who attended the AJC forum:

I saw that Wendy posted on the AJC forum. The Evans show got even better, actually. First of all, that whole bit about Jennifer Hudson was in response to a question about the importance of communication for a mayor. We were a little confused about how that had anything to do with the question.

He [moderator Larry Kane] let Queena speak for about a minute in the beginning, but made her do it from the audience, and not from the podium, and shut her down pretty effectively. She stayed for about 10 minutes then left with her entourage.

I really wish I had video of that one. Does anyone know if someone has video of the whole thing and would be willing to let me go through the process (long and arduous as it is) of getting it up on Google Video?

By the way, another cool fact that I got from Googling Dwight Evans's record:

Evans hit a home run four times on Opening Day. On April 7, 1986, he set a MLB record by hitting the 1st pitch of the season for a home run, eclipsing the mark held by the Chicago Cubs' Bump Wills who hit the 2nd pitch for a HR on April 4, 1982.

Oh baby! That guy definitely gets my vote!

I saw this in the Philadelphia Weekly today and figured that other people who share this groups goals and tactics should know about it:

Pirates for Nutter

A group of ruthless one-eyed dirty plague-carrying swordfighting buccaneers who believe that Michael Nutter is the best candidate to represent the needs of the Philadelphia pirating community. Yarr.

I feel like I saw this somewhere before. Hope to see everyone at the New Wave Cafe on Friday!

My apologies for the post title. Feel free to improve on it in the comments with pirate jokes of your own.

Like Josh says, this one's not a big surprise, but it looks like Brady will pick up the endorsement of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council. He talked to Frank Keel who was not ready to confirm that Local 98 is getting behind Brady as well.

Looks like my two buddies in the sprinkler fitters union are still free agents. (Before you tell me that electricians aren't the same as sprinkler fiiters, it seems that their union goes the way Local 98 goes).

And he'll do it at 1 p.m. today.

(edited to add: And here it is. Take a look! Video of Nutter's press conference is here.)

From the press release: "The Nutter plan proposes increasing school funding, reducing class sizes and improving school safety."

For those of you comparing the candidates on the issues: Evans' education plan is here; Fattah's opportunity agenda is here and Knox's short statement on his priorities for city schools is here.

Now, I've said before that education has an unusual role in this race. We can see that the schools are in need of sustained, cross-governmental attention: They are facing a massive deficit, caused in large part by the same stresses that are overwhelming the city budget -- pension costs and health care costs. However, the city really doesn't run the schools. The state took them over five years ago, and they are now run by the School Reform Commission. The city has a lot of sway (the district presents its budget to city council, for example) but the SRC runs the district.

I certainly am not arguing that the schools aren't an issue in this race -- far from it. But voters do need to understand how the district works now as they listen to campaign promises.

For more background, check out these earlier reports:

On the role of education in the race (timed for the release of Evans' education plan)

On the Philadelphia Cross City Campaign for School Reform (including their plans for an April 12 candidates' forum)

On the Daily News special report on the connection between job creation and violence reduction, especially for young students

Discussion of Fattah's technology plan, which includes a call for a laptop for every student

Discussion and analysis of Evans' education plan

And if you don't believe that, click here

Occasionally we get emails from readers describing situations or issues that have had a deep, personal effect on them. Here's one from blog reader Margaret Motheral (via email) who has apparently tried to reach a number of different elected officials with her story.

To the Mayoral Candidates:

I was at the GREEN CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE FORUM last night listening to the candidate's talk up the virtues of a Green City.

Facts of Cover ups and environmental crimes have been collected.

(but wait, there's more... Click on "Continue Reading")

I think I'm on just about every politically-related e-mail list in this city but never before has an email from a campaign offered me money. Usually it's the other way around.

This was at the bottom of the latest Fattah for mayor mailing:

In addition to building a volunteer army to help us here at the Fattah for Mayor campaign, we're also looking to hire reliable and energetic Field Representatives.

Successful candidates will be required to go door-to-door, in various areas of Philadelphia to talk with registered voters. Starting pay, with no related experience, is $8.00 per hour.

Talk about your retail politics. I notice that "support the idea of Chaka Fattah being mayor" is not prerequisite. And please, before a hyper-energetic Fattah supporter tries to makes some kind of connection between the title of the post and that previous sentence, don't. The only thing I'm publicly supporting during this election is the process and the only things I'm against are attempts to subvert the process.

The Daily News' Dave Davies reports today that Bob Brady failed to list his city pension on his required financial disclosure papers. Similar ommissions kicked other candidates, including city council candidate Vern Anastasio, off the ballot in past years.

This is a big deal, folks. It's routine for candidates to challenge each other's papers, but there's also a body of ruling that says failing to include a source of income like that is reason to be bounced from the ballot. Besides Anastasio, it happened to former Common Pleas Judge John Braxton. That case went to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that Braxton was off the ballot.

What makes the ommission particularly odd is that Brady lists the money on his Congressional financial disclosures. The pension is for his service as City Council sergeant-at-arms (a tenure that, by the way, Lynne Abraham reminded us of when she endorsed Brady a few weeks ago.)

Brady spokeswoman Kate Philips said campaign officials would file an amended disclosure form this morning, rather than wait until another candidate challenges his candidacy.

"We would hope that the spirit of democracy and the will of 24,000 Philadelphians who signed our petitions will rise above petty politics," Philips told Dave.

Ok, sure.

Now, all that said...

Brady does run the city Democratic Party, and he is directly responsible for vetting judicial candidates.

And there is one, faint "out" for him in this controversy: the state ethics board notes there is an "exception for governmentally mandated payments."

But, Dave notes in his story, one of the omissions that tripped Braxton up was his state pension.

So we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, what I wonder is which of the other four candidates will be the first to file the challenge?

The Next Mayor project's content partners over at the Philadelphia Business Journal just posted this story on their site:

After omission, Brady amends his financial disclosure form
Philadelphia Business Journal - 10:59 AM EST Friday, March 9, 2007

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D-Phila.) filed an amended financial disclosure form Friday to his nominating petitions for Philadelphia mayor, in hopes of warding off a court challenge that could end his campaign.

Nutter's campaign, which turned in 13,000 petition signatures, reported no plans at this time to challenge Brady's candidacy. The other candidates could not be reached for comment.

(edited to add)

And Josh over at Fight For Room 215 quotes a political observer as saying that Brady "failed" what he considers "an IQ test for mayor."

To continue the sampling of reaction, Young Philly Politics goes all "Tim Russert" on Democratic Party stalwarts Jim Kenney and ward leader Lou Agre. Agre had countered challenger candidates who wanted to end the practice of challenging petitions because of technical errors by saying that:

If someone cannot get enough electors to sign their petition, or fill out a petition and financial disclosure form correctly, are they really capable of passing laws or governing.

Apparently, Kenney just called them "whiny."

Dan U-A, to his credit, is staying on his original point and not calling for Brady to be kicked off the ballot. Rather, this episode should be used "to enact some serious reforms with how the City party uses ballot challenges as sport to keep out change."

KYW 1060 just ran a story with a bite from Brady spokesperson Kate Phillips who said that, having filed an amendment to the original form, the campaign believes that this incident would only be a "blip" in Brady's candidacy. That "blip" however could be named Milton (who else?), who is apparently planning on being the one to challenge Brady's candidacy just so he can see whether the judge who rules on the case will be consistent with past rulings against challenger candidates or if that judge will dismiss the challenge because of Brady's status as party chair.

Why didn't we see this coming?

Milton Street, who has taken his Zelig-like omnipresence to a new and offensive low, says he'll challenge Brady. Thanks, KYW 1060.

I happened to flip through a copy of Philadelphia Magazine yesterday and somewhere among the ads for liposuction and million-dollar homes, was this good article about Chaka Fattah. The author takes the interesting angle of separating Fattah into "Good Chaka" and "Bad Chaka" (not Bad, Bad Chaka, which is something different altogether).

If nothing else, this article makes me curious to see how the Fattah "machine," which seems to steamroll over all of its opponents, will do in May. I also wonder how gracious Fattah will be to his opponents if he does win and whether any of them will have a place in determining the direction of the city for the next 4-8 years.

This photo is what Bob Brady should have done -- pored over his financial disclosure, perhaps with expert-by-accident Vern Anastasio, before filing. (Pictured are Damon K Roberts, Irv Ackelsberg, Marc Stier and Vern Anastasio; photo was originally posted on Young Philly Politics.)

In our continuing coverage of Bob Brady's Big Mistake...

We understand that Brady has filed a corrected financial disclosure form -- though in Harrisburg, where it will be a bit harder for the media and blogosphere salivating for it in Philly to get. But only a bit harder, trust us.

Now, I am going out on a limb here and saying that Milton can't challenge Brady. Milton DOES NOT LIVE IN THIS STATE, much less this city, and we have a judge's ruling on that. He's not a citizen with a voice in this election. So who else will?

Meanwhile, as Dan said earlier, there is a fair amount of outrage -- and some excellent back and forth on the law in the case -- over at YPP -- go check it out.

Until we get a countdown clock going, I'd like to take a few minutes each day (or weekday depending on how my internet connection is at home) to remind everyone of two very important events.

1. Election day is May 15th. That, according to a countdown clock on Philadelphia Safe and Sound's "Safe Kids, Sound Futures" website, is 68 days away.

"So what," you may be saying, "I'll be ready to vote." Sometimes, in the interest of ensuring that the process is as clean and accurate as possible, you need to do more than just vote. You need to volunteer. The Committee of Seventy and Greater Philadelphia Cares are giving you a great chance to do just that.

You can be an "Election Watchdog" (grrrrr ruff-ruff), a "Data Collector" (please be a data collector, we NEED more information about how these elections actually work) or a "Hotline Helper." If you read this blog regularly, then we know you're interested in helping to make sure that this election is decided based on the merits of the candidates and their campaigns, not on some masterpiece of electoral fraud.

So yes, the election is 68 days away, but volunteers are needed as soon as possible for training and orientation.

You'll be getting frequent reminders of this opportunity.

2. April 16th is the LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE. If you want a say in which of the 5 Deomcratic Party candidates for mayor receives the nomination or if you want to choose among the several Democratic candidates for City Council seats, you have to register as a Democrat. If you're registered as a Republican, you can choose the 1 mayoral candidate on the ballot and the City Council challengers for the at-large nominations. There are other races down ticket but these are the major ones.

If you register as anything but a Democrat or Republican, YOU CAN STILL VOTE ON BALLOT QUESTIONS. But you must be registered as something in order to participate. Information about how to register and a link to a .pdf of the actual registration form can be found here.

If you're wondering, April 16th is 38 days away!

A new press release from the Brady camp...

Brady Campaign Files Amended Statement of Financial Interest

Philadelphia—The Brady Campaign for Mayor filed an amended statement of financial interest today with the State Ethics Committee. Congressman Brady issued the following statement regarding the filing after lawyers determined that his original filing was proper and in compliance with applicable instructions:

“News articles about my original filing raised some questions about my statement of financial interest, so in an overabundance of caution I filed an amendment to ensure this doesn’t become a distraction from the real issues facing Philadelphia,” said Congressman Brady. “I promised the people of Philadelphia to fight crime, and end the sad distinction of leading the nation in murders; I promised them a better education for their kids, and I promised them I would fight to create family sustaining jobs for more Philadelphians. I’m going to keep those promises, by focusing on the issues that matter to them and becoming the next Mayor of Philadelphia.”

The Brady Campaign retained Steve Cozen, of Cozen O’Connor to handle any legal matters regarding the filing.

If Michael Nutter is elected mayor, he has pledged that his first bill would be one to create an equitable tax treatment for domestic partners. That was his promise at last night's Liberty City candidate's forum.

From the press release:

Nutter said that the ordinance would fix a provision of the City’s domestic partnership law that was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Nutter was the original author of that law, which passed in 1998. “This new ordinance will further ensure fair and equitable treatment of domestic partners in Philadelphia,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Brady's been honored by the Philadelphia Gay Tourism caucus, at the kick-off ceremony for Rosie O’Donnell’s “R Family Vacations.” Philadelphia is the first major city to be chosen as a getaway destination for O'Donnell's vacation package.

Here's your weekly update of upcoming events in the mayor's race!

As you know, the Next Mayor is keeping an ongoing calendar of events in the race. Visit our site to see it -- or to submit an event.

Upcoming Events:

SATURDAY
City Council Candidates Forum
(March 10, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Arch St Methodist Church, Broad and Arch St.)
The Philadelphia ACORN PAC City Council Candidates will be an all day event that allows candidates to speak to ACORN members, allies, and other activists about what their plans are for the city.

Mayoral Candidates to appear at African-American business development event
(March 10, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Drexel University, Creese Student Center.)
The Money.Power.Respect Economic Summit will feature a mayoral candidates' forum addressing each candidate’s commitment and economic agenda for the African-American population.

SEIU Mayoral Candidates Forum
(March 10, 10 a.m., Local 1201, 455 N 5th St.)
The candidates will answer questions from local unions and civic groups.

MONDAY
Fattah to unveil arts and culture agenda
(March 12, noon, Merriam Theatre, 250 S. Broad St.)
Chaka Fattah will announce the Fattah Plan for Arts and Culture, which calls for supporting cultural opportunities and institutions, and increasing access to arts education and jobs in the arts.

Realtors/BIA Mayoral Candidates Lunch
(March 12, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., The Union League, 140 South Broad St. COST: $45)
The Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors/Building Industry Association of Philadelphia will host a panel discussion and luncheon with the candidates "with plenty of time for Q&A."

Homeless voter registration kickoff
(March 12, 11 a.m. to noon, 1515 Fairmount Ave.)
The Vote for Homes! Coalition, including homeless voters and their allies, will gather at Project H.O.M.E. to launch a voter registration and education campaign that will dispatch a fleet of vans to the city’s shelters, soup kitchens, and health centers to register and educate thousands of potential voters.

Lancaster Ave. Meet the Candidates event
(March 12, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave.)
Sponsored by the Lancaster Avenue Business Association-CDC and the Powelton Civic Association.

Tax Reform Meetup featuring Dwight Evans
(March 12, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Grace Tavern -- 23rd Street and Grays Ferry Ave.)
Come out to meet Evans -- and talk tax reform.

TUESDAY
Mayoral Candidate Forum on Aging Issues
(March 13, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Center in the Park, 5818 Germantown Ave. in Vernon Park)
The Philadelphia Association of Senior Services Administrators (PASSA) and the AARP-PA will host this mayoral candidate forum on aging issues.

Washington Square West Civic Association Mayoral Candidate forum
(March 13, 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Jefferson Alumni Hall, 1020 Locust St.)
Washington Square West Civic Association is hosting a mayoral candidate forum on Tuesday, March 13, 8 p.m. at Jefferson Alumni Hall. The forum is open to the public.

WEDNESDAY
ARC of Philadelphia/Philadelphia Right to Education Task Force Meet the Candidates event
(March 14, 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., 2350 West Westmoreland St.)
ARC of Philadelphia, which advocates for Philadelphians with disabilities, and the Philadelphia Right to Education Task Force are co-sponsoring this event, which includes a resource fair from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and a Meet the Candidates event from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

THURSDAY
PFT Mayoral Candidates Forum
(March 15, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sheet Metal Workers Hall, 1301 Columbus Blvd.)
Find out where the candidates stand on education issues.

Like I promised:

67 days until May 15th. Be a non-partisan volunteer to ensure the integrity of the process!

37 days until April 16th - the last day to register to vote in the May election. Go here for all the information you need about registering.

Tick tock... tick tock

One of The Next Mayor's first supporters was the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. When we were just getting started, they heard our ideas and brainstormed with us.

Which is to say two things: 1) The creative community in Philadelphia is supportive of new ideas, even when they are barely half-baked, and

2) The creative community in Philadelphia is extremely politically aware. Or, at least, the associations formed to protect it, including the Cultural Alliance, are. They've been thinking about this mayor's race for years.

That's why the Alliance has commissioned a new report (read the report here, listen to WHYY's coverage here and read the Daily News coverge of it here) on the health of the city's cultural community. This report is mixed, at best. Sure, we have a deep, sophisticated cultural base -- but, the report points out clearly, there is poor coordination of the city's cultural goals with its other goals, including economic development and even fighting crime.

Other cities do a far better job of aligning arts goals with the city's other goals, with more corporate support for the arts (in places like Charlotte) and more voice in city hall (in places like Chicago.)

It's important to note here that the report isn't just talking about funding (though arts groups are always, on some level, worried about funding.) It's more subtle than that -- it's talking about allowing arts to have a voice when big decisions about the city's future -- it's about schools and arts education, even development and the one percent for art program, are being made.

Anyway. In what can only be a response to the RAND Corp. report, both Fattah and Brady are scheduled to release arts policy announcements today.

We'll see if their suggestions answer some of the concerns of the report -- and of the arts community as a whole in Philadelphia.

Project H.O.M.E. and its supporters are doing something very interesting today: They are launching a voter-registration drive among the city's homeless.

As Dan has been very good about reminding us: YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO VOTE BY APRIL 16.

And by "you," apparently, I mean a quite a lot of people, Project H.O.M.E. says. They are going to actively try to sign up people in the city's shelter system and who have been in prison, if they are eligible.

I honestly didn't know that convicted felons can now vote once they've completed their sentence -- and without a five-year waiting period. But that is Project H.O.M.E.'s goal here -- to get the word out about who can be registered.

For example:

People who do not have a permanent address can use the address of a shelter/facility, as long as they have an established relationship with that facility and it will accept non-forwardable mail.

And this:

Convicted felons released from prison, people awaiting trial or serving time for a misdemeanor, and those on probation, parole, and house arrest can now vote. All people convicted of felonies have the right to vote as long as they are released from prison and are not in a halfway house or correctional facility on pre-release status. Also, the five-year waiting period for felons has been eliminated -- the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court restored the right to vote for ex-felons as of December 2000.

Now, I imagine there are plenty of people who would rather these folks not get the right to vote. All I am saying is, in a race this close -- registrations matter. And with the number of people in this city who have had felony convictions, knowing who can be registered matters, too.

The Inquirer has a sneak peek at Brady's arts plan. He proposes expanding the percent for art program and using it to create a dedicated source of funding for arts groups.

That would bring the city closer to the $60 million cited in the Rand Corp. report as needed to bring Philadelphia's support for the arts closer to what other cities spend.

He also heard the recommendation that the city pay more official attention to its impressive arts scene. From Joseph A. Slobodzian's story:

Brady's plan will also recommend consolidating several city departments, commissions and committees involved with tourism, recreation, entertainment and cultural assets into a new Office of Cultural and Creative Community Affairs.

Excellent item by Marcia Gelbart in the Inky's Heard in the Hall column...

If you were West Philly Lady in Charge Jannie Blackwell, who do you back in the mayor's race?

One obvious answer, her Congressman, Chaka Fattah, is complicated. He defeated her late husband, Rep. Lucien E. Blackwell.

We can't see her backing former colleague Michael Nutter, and Bob Brady -- though Democratic city chair and her ward leader -- already has a West Philly pol in his corner: Councilwoman Carol Campbell.

And then Gelbart reports this little surprise:

Then there's the millionaire candidate, Tom Knox. She likes his fresh approach and self-proclaimed outsider status. "Knox is still in it for me. He keeps moving up in the polls."

What with Brady's troubles and the near-constant ads (I am about to go rip that darn "For Sale" sign down myself, if only so we don't have to hear about it anymore), the Knox effort seems to be gaining momentum...

Here's your Daily Reminder:

64 days until May 15th. Get involved to ensure the integrity of the process!

35 days until April 16th - the last day to register to vote in the May election. Go here for all the information you need about registering. You MUST be registered to participate on May 15th!

Tick tock... tick tock

(edited to add)I'm going to play around with some web-based countdown clocks... My apologies for miscounting on the E-day countdown before...

This is cool...

The Reformer's Roundtable, a group of "individuals and organizations" pushing for change in Philadelphia, are writing an agenda to reform how Philadelphia's government leaders make decisions and how well they involve people in the process. They're calling it a Reform Agenda.

And, in a spirit of openness, they are allowing citizens to write it.

They've launched an editable version of the Agenda -- yep, a reform Wiki -- at www.reformballot.org (click on "edit agenda".)

There are some things that won't change. Those are the core values that form the group's R.E.F.O.R.M. Compact, and you can read them here.

But, if you agree with those enough to sign on to the Compact, you can change the things that surround those core ideas -- and create the Agenda. You have until the end of March to do it.

Then, starting April 3rd you'll get a chance to vote on the Agenda, and the group will take it to the candidates to get them on the record about it.

If it sounds a bit complicated, it's actually terribly easy once you check out the Web site (excellently designed by Evolve Strategies). There's even a map so that you can see where other reform-minded people are, in connection to you!

The Reformer's Roundtable, which is convened by Philadelphia Forward, believes this is the first time that policy has been developed via Wiki. It's certainly the first time I have heard about it in Philly. Either way, it's cool. Go take a look.

And here's Fattah's arts plan.

He'd re-establish the Office of Arts and Culture and has committed to increase the city's annual arts and culture spending by 25 percent, in addition to fully meeting Philadelphia's commitment to funding the Art Museum.

"This additional spending will go to growing the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, expanding arts in the neighborhoods of the city and providing additional resources for commercial non-profits that offer good-paying jobs in the arts," the plan says.

Other points in the plan:

*He'd create a 5% wage and sales tax credit, modeled on similar legislation in New York City, to attract a larger share of film and television work to Philadelphia.

*He would expand arts education by fostering relationships among artists and schools and among schools and arts organizations -- and by creating a city-wide school art competition.

*He'd ensure the Barnes moves to Philly.

*He'd fully fund the Art Museum's operating costs.

*He'd support the R&B Foundation to promote the Sound of Philadelphia attractions at Broad and South streets.

*He'd expand the Mural Arts Program.

*He'd "consider all proposals for the future of the Boyd Theater, with the hope of restoring and preserving the classic theater."

*(And one close to my heart) "Chaka Fattah will push for a more pedestrian-friendly vision of the Parkway." That, he should do.

Neither Dan or I like to delete comments. However, we have taken down a number of them today that appear to be personal attacks on one campaign staffer.

If you've got a story you want us to check out, we sure will. E-mail us here.

But knock it off in the comments. You're annoying us and distracting from the conversation about the race.

We knew it wouldn't be long. We figured it might be Tom Knox, and so it was.

But who figured that Dwight Evans would also announce that he plans to file a challenge to Bob Brady's candidacy?

Brief background: Bob Brady neglected to list his city pension (earned for being City Council's Sergeant-at-Arms) on his official nominating papers. This is a big deal -- similar errors have knocked lesser pols off the ballot in the past. The Daily News' excellent Dave Davies broke that story last week, and today, he reports that six voters associated with Knox have filed a legal challenge to Brady's candidacy.

(PS: Dave also points out that Brady recently "publicly endorsed a City Council bill that would potentially increase benefits for city pensioners, including himself.")

Knox has every reason in the world to challenge Brady. It adds cred to his outsider-against-the-machine storyline, and -- to be extremely craven about it -- it would knock another white candidate out of the race.

But Evans?

Evans could potentially benefit if Brady gets out and leaves his union support looking for a candidate. Evans has a number of union endorsements already.

Evans' own explanation, in Dave's story:

“Brady is running for the highest office in Philadelphia,” Evans said in an interview last night. “If you can’t meet the basics of following the law, how do you run the city?”

Dan and I are talking at LaSalle right now, but I couldn't resist posting Brady's response:

Bob Brady Says He will Campaign in Our Neighborhoods—Not in the Courtroom

PHILADELPHIA – Congressman Bob Brady today said he will continue to deliver his message of cutting crime, improving schools and creating opportunity on the streets of Philadelphia in his run for Mayor, as his opponents head to the courtroom in an attempt to oust one of the clear frontrunners in the Mayoral primary race.

“I am running for Mayor in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia, not in the courtroom,” said Congressman Brady. “My opponents can sense the real momentum in the Brady campaign. They are desperate to grab headlines and hopeful that they can buy city hall through high-priced legal maneuvering.

“Despite these political sideshows, I will not be distracted from focusing on the needs of the Philadelphians who still fear walking the streets at night, and wonder if sending their child to school is safe.

“I know that Mr. Knox is probably disappointed because he expected he could win this election by spending his millions on television advertising, and it appears now that he has to funnel his money to lawyers in an attempt to win in the courts.

“I know that Mr. Evans is desperate to grab headlines for his floundering campaign.

“These candidates have challenged my Nominating Petitions without questioning my honesty and integrity. And, I know now more than ever that I cannot let down the 24,000 Philadelphians who signed my petition for Mayor, and I will not let these most recent campaign tactics allow me to lose sight of their needs.”

Here's your Daily Reminder:

63 days until May 15th. Get involved to ensure the integrity of the process!

34 days until April 16th - the last day to register to vote in the May election. Go here for all the information you need about registering. You MUST be registered to participate on May 15th!

Tick tock... tick tock

If you're interested in the planning process of the Delaware waterfront, have we got a show for you! I just got the latest rundown for tomorrow's Radio Times on 91fm:

10am:
Challenges to redeveloping Philadelphia's waterfront.
On March 3, after a series of public meetings and forums organized by Penn Praxis, 500 people attended a conference where a group of leading architects presented their concepts for the design of Philadelphia's central waterfront. GARY HACK, dean of Penn's School of Design, and HARRIS STEINBERG, executive director of Penn Praxis, join us to explain some of the more interesting ideas proposed.

You'll be able to listen here live or check this post again for a downloadable .mp3 after the show.

This is a very interesting pair of press releases...

Wednesday at 2:30, Tom Knox and Dwight Evans will hold a joint press conference to "discuss the recently-filed court challenge to Congressman Bob Brady’s nominating petitions."

"During the news conference, Knox and Evans will make brief statements and answer questions from the media."

Knox's version (quoted above) is here; Evans is here.

Ok, will I totally jinx this race if I point out that the closest we've come to attacks thus far is a little bit of yapping back and forth at some forums, and having Knox and Evans gang up, very very gently, on Bob Brady?

At 1 p.m., Michael Nutter will release his proposal to offer incentives for local companies that hire ex-offenders.

It is illegal -- ILLEGAL, FOLKS -- in the state of PA to refuse to hire someone because he or she is an ex-offender.

Still, ex-offenders report that it is very difficult to find a job, even the most entry-level. That was one of the issues discussed in the Daily News' recent report on job creation and violence reduction.

(Gee, if we don't find a way to find work for ex-offenders, I wonder how they will spend their free time?)

We apologize for the late updates this morning -- a Verizon outage KO'd my internet at home. We're now back in business and covering all the news of the day!

The rundown, from Bob Warner and Mark McDonald's story today:

There were many challenges, mostly of council candidates. In fact, the only council candidate NOT facing a challenge is Matt McClure, a challenger running in the 4th district.

Also, don't forget Evans and Knox's press conference today!

Mayoral candidates
Bob Brady: Challenged by a group of voters backed by Tom Knox. State Sen. Dwight Evans, another rival for mayor, endorsed Knox's lawsuit. T. Milton Street filed a separate action against Brady yesterday. The lawsuits claim Brady failed to disclose a $8,727-a-year city pension on his official nominating papers.

Queena Bass and Jesus White: These two other candidates for mayor also face challenges. A voter named Joseph Quinones claimed that hundreds of their signatures on both their petitions had come from people who were not registered Democrats.

Council at large
T. Milton Street: He was challenged by Samuel Harris, who said Street had only 894 valid signatures when 1,000 are required.

Rep. Ben Ramos: Ramos was challenged by three city residents who accused him of omitting information from his financial-disclosure form.

Rev. Jesse Brown Jr. and Lorina Marshall-Blake: Both were challenged by Mary Beth H. Gray, who contends neither had enough valid signatures on his or her petitions.

District Councilpeople
Frank DiCicco, incumbent, 1st district: Nicholas A. Williams contends that DiCicco failed to disclose "gifts" in the form of free labor from Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods Inc., a group DiCicco co-founded and which figures in the corruption probe into state Sen. Vincent Fumo.

Anna Verna, incumbent, 2nd district: The Council president faces a challenge from candidate Damon Roberts, who challenged Verna's financial-disclosure statement, saying she had failed to list her husband's funeral home and failed to check a box that she is a public official.

Carol Ann Campbell, incumbent, 4th district: Campbell was challenged by two of her opponents, lawyer Matthew N. McClure and consultant Alfred Sanford, who said her financial-disclosure statement failed to include income from her political-consulting company and a political action committee.

Curtis Jones Jr., challenger, 4th district: McClure also challenged Jones' financial disclosure.

Alfred Sanford and Raymond Bailey, challengers, 4th district: Campbell's brother, Edgar Campbell Jr., and Steven Jones Sr. challenged both Sanford and longshoreman Bailey, contending they lack enough valid signatures. Jones also challenged Sanford and Bailey, using the same argument.

John J. Longacre, challenger, 5th district: Candidate Haile C. Johnston argues that businessman Longacre lacks enough valid signatures of registered voters.

Daniel Savage, incumbent, 7th district: He faces a challenge from two residents who argue that he failed to disclose his income from his 25 percent stake in a hair salon.

Marnie Aument Loughrey, challenger, 7th district: She faces a challenge that she has 770 invalid signatures out of the 1,380 that she filed. District candidates need 750 valid signatures.

Maria Quinones Sanchez: challenger, 7th district: Loughrey's mother, ward leader Donna Aument, challenged Sanchez, saying she failed to report real-estate holdings and creditors on her financial-disclosure statement.

Maurice J. Houston and Greg Paulmier, challengers, 8th district: Candidate Cindy M. Bass, an ally of Congressman Chaka Fattah, challenged both candidates' petitions. Bass said Houston has 506 flawed signatures out of 1,025.

Marian Tasco, incumbent, 9th District: Candidate Raymond T. Jones Jr. accused Tasco of failing to list any sources of income, specifically her Council job, which pays about $102,000.

Sheriff:
John Green, incumbent: Challenger Michael Untermeyer challenged Green on signatures.

Michael Untermeyer, challenger: Green challenged Untermeyer for allegedly failing to identify all his financial interests.

Jacque Whaumbush, challenger: Green challenged Whaumbush, alleging that he had failed to identify all his creditors and income sources.

Other:
Warren Bloom, challenger for city commissioner: Incumbent City Commissioner Edgar Howard challenged his signatures.

Scott Cummings, Traffic Court: The Mayfair Republican was accused of failing to obtain enough valid Democratic signatures to cross-file for a Democratic nomination.

Bob Brady got the first position on the mayoral ballot.

The rundown:
Bob Brady
Queena Bass
Michael Nutter
Chaka Fattah
Dwight Evans
Tom Knox
Jesus White

These positions are chosen randomly, at about 11 a.m. today -- by selecting numbered tags from a Horn and Hardart Coffee can, to be specific. Two candidates, Fattah and Knox, sent kids to draw their position (the kids didn't do that well, to be honest).

In City Council races, the big winner -- is this a theme? -- was Jim Kenney, the at-large candidate who drew first ballot position. That's a huge break in that race. That means that voters will see his name first when they go to choose for City Council, and that position, coupled with Kenney's name recognition, gives him a real edge.

Other council candidates' positions worth noting:

Ben Ramos, 5 -- while incumbent Juan Ramos is down at 20
Sharif Street, 8
Blondell Reynolds Brown, 17

And T.-for-Tough Milton Street? Waaaaay down there at 19. Sharif must be relieved.

Please feel free to make your jokes now about God owing something to the Democratic City Committee, given how random choices gave the machine extremely awesome ballot position. Personally, I am trying hard not to make "last shall be first" cracks, myself.

And when we do, we put them out there for you to comment. Here's one from a reader who is very concerned about the pet population:

I would like to raise an issue regarding the Major's race.

Debby Boyd

I haven't heard too much from the candidates on this issue but there is at least one City Councilman who has made this his... dare I say... pet issue.

Let me know if you've heard anything from any of the candidates, either in the news or at forums, that may have escaped my attention. It would be a shame if all of the candidates just rolled over and played dead on this issue.

I am going to post these as I go, based on demand, and then re-post the full list.

Here are the ballot positions for city council at large, Democratic:

1 James Kenney
2 William K Greenlee
3 Harry Massele
4 Alexander Wilson
5 Ben Ramos
6 Caryn Hunt
7 Wilson Goode Jr.
8 Sharif Street
9 Bill Green
10 Michael Ellis
11 Marc Stier
12 Jesse Brown Jr.
13 Matt Ruben
14 Maceo Cummings
15 Lorina Marshall-Blake
16 Andrew Toy
17 Blondell Reynolds Brown
18 Derek Green
19 T. Milton Street
20 Juan Ramos
21 Rodney Little

City Council at large, Republican:

1 David Oh
2 Jack Kelley
3 Patricia A. Mattern
4 Frank Rizzo
5 Phil Kerwick

District Council
1st, Democratic
1 Vern Anastasio
2 Henry Lewandowski
3 Frank DiCicco

1st, Republican
1 Michael A. Seidenberg

2nd, Democratic
1 Damon Roberts
2 Anna C. Verna

2nd, Republican
1 William Black

3rd, Democratic
1 Jannie Blackwell

3rd, Republican
1 Keith A. Hairston, Jr.

4th, Democratic
1 Raymond Baily
2 Alfred A. Sanford
3 Carol Campbell
4 Curtis Jones, Jr.
5 Matthew McClure

4th, Republican
Melvin C. Johnakin, Jr.

5th, Democratic
1 Darrell Clarke
2 Haile Johnston
3 John J. Longacre

5th, Republican
no candidate

6th, Democratic
1 Joan Krajewski

6th, Republican
1 Michael Ebsworth

7th, Democratic
1 Daniel Savage
2 Maria Quinones-Sanchez
3 Marnie Aument-Loughrey

7th, Republican
1 Gary Grisafi

8th, Democratic
1 Cindy Bass
2 Greg Paulmier
3 Irv Ackelsberg
4 Donna Reed Miller
5 Maurice Houston

8th, Republican
no candidate

9th, Democratic
1 Cecil Hankins
2 Marian Tasco
3 Raymond Jones
4 Lamont Thomas

10th, Democratic
1 Sean Patrick McAleer

10th, Republican
1 Brian O'Neill

The horse-race report is from Survey USA, for NBC 10, and it says, if the election were held today:

Knox: 25
Fattah: 22
Brady: 17
Evans: 13
Nutter: 11
Undecided: 8
Other: 5

Check out the graphic here.

Methodology and survey size here.

Just got this update from the Philadelphia Business Journal, one of our affiliated content partners:

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation said Tuesday it will donate $200,000 to Project HOME to support the construction of a wireless Internet café at the central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Project HOME will provide staffing for the café through its Occupational Services Program, which teaches job skills to formerly homeless individuals and at-risk teenagers.

How great is that?! A potentially great partnership of a well-respected non-profit, two private companies and a part of city government. For $200,000 that's not coming from tax payers, library users get an internet cafe backed by the products of the Metropolitan Bakery, formerly homeless get jobs, the library gets a cool way to attract more users and a potential source of additional revenue.

Imagine if this kind of thing could happen all throughout city government. Have we seen ideas like this from the candidates? Whaddya think?

There's been a flurry of activity relating to ballot position drawings and candidacy challenges and while I like that stuff as much as the next political junkie, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up this column by the former managing director and current rabble-rouser, Phil Goldsmith.

In it, he takes issue with the strategy of gradual tax reductions that have been going on since the Rendell era. I'll let some of his words do the talking:

It's time to ask if Philadelphia's middle-class residents are being taken for a ride by the city's long-term tax-reduction strategy, which has provided them with little in return financially but threatens to undercut the city's ability to provide services critical to their quality of life.

That's about the combined annual budgets of the Streets Department, Recreation Department, the district attorney's office, Fairmount Park, Licenses and Inspections and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Now, we can chat about the revenue side of the city budget equation if you want, but I'm equally interested in the expenses side of the equation, which Goldsmith refers to here:

While you can always do more with less, rigid civil-service and city-charter rules and strict union provisions hinder the type of flexibility needed now.

And, so far, there has been little discussion by the candidates on how they would eliminate these structural impediments.

This is where I miss the short-lived candidacy of Jonathan Saidel. Remember him? He's the guy whose spokesperson took me to task for my review of his one and only policy paper. During my exchange with Mr. Fee he let on that Saidel had been in conversation with the heads of the city worker unions to figure out a way to deal with these healthcare and pension costs. I was anxious to hear what the result of those conversations would be since it's becoming clear that those going to be the two most important issues faced by the next mayor.

More important that murders? More important than good schools?

Yes. If only because if these long-term budgetary issues are not addressed quickly, there won't be any money for the cops, the schools, the asphalt for the potholes, the planning department, the rec centers, the park, probation officers, health inspectors, code enforcers, new trash trucks, tree planting or any of a number of things that we've come to expect or want from the city.

Is raising taxes, or at the very least, keeping tax rates at their current levels, an option? Mr. Goldsmith raises a good point. Philadelphia Forward and others have the other side. The candidates (and John Dougherty and Jonathan Saidel) have spoken on at least one tax.

What do you think?

Oh and to see another good debate going on about this, check out this post started this morning by Dan U-A over at YPP.

It took a bit longer -- these were in Harrisburg -- but here's the judicial ballot positions:

Judge of Common Pleas, Democratic

1 Linda Carpenter
2 Gerard Shotzbarger
3 Scott O'Keefe
4 Alice Dubow
5 Joseph Murphy
6 Robert Coleman
7 Thomas Nocella
8 Angeles Roca
9 Donna Woelpper
10 Thomas Martin
11 Michael Erdos
12 Christian Clemente
13 Diane Thompson
14 Greg Coleman
15 Wendy Pew
16 Marvin Williams
17 Beverly Muldrow
18 Daniel Rendine
19 Ellen Green-Ceisler
20 Meredith Seigle-DiClaudio
21 Daniel Anders
22 Elvin Ross
23 Rosa Ryan
24 Joyce Eubanks
25 Stephen Conaway
26 Sandjai Weaver
27 Joseph O'Neill

Judge of Common Pleas, Republican

1 Joyce Eubanks
2 Joseph Murphy
3 Marvin Williams
4 Stephen Conaway
5 Alice Dubow
6 Michael Erdos

This from Dave Davies:

Did candidates draw their ballot positions from a magic coffee can? Check out this fascinating quirk in the results: the three Democratic city council-at-large candidates who are sons of current or former mayors drew consecutive positions on the ballot, out of 21 possible positions….

7 – Wilson Goode, Jr.
8 – Sharif Street
9 – Bill Green

Municipal court, Democratic (hey, Smokin' Joe's daughter did well!)

1 Joseph O'Neill
2 Jacquelyn Fraizer-Lyde
3 Diane Thompson
4 Robert Coleman
5 Sean Kennedy
6 Joseph Murphy
7 Joseph Waters
8 Sandjai Weaver
9 Meredith Seigle-DiClaudio
10 Joyce Eubanks
11 Gerard Shotzbarger
12 Robert Kline

Republican
1 Joseph Waters
2 Joseph Murphy

Sometimes it's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. But why do that when you can just claim that you didn't do anything wrong? The Inquirer, Daily News and WHYY all have reports detailing a change in strategy by the Brady camp.

After several days of his campaign referring to the omission of Congressman Brady's city pension from his financial disclosure form as a mistake, Brady's lawyer, Stephen Cozen, has decided to pursue a different tack* and charge boldy forward stating that the omission was intentional.

It seems risky, given that their entire defense hinges on a judge intrepreting Brady's pension as a "governmentally mandated payment," which, according to the financial disclosure law, is not required to be reported by the candidate.

Most political observers expect this to go very quickly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for the ultimate decision. Who knows? By this time next week, we may be talking about 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination.

City Paper has a couple of pieces that attempt to analyze the Nutter campaign. Their "Insider" (who are you, Insider?!), attempts to break down why a "once promising" campaign seems to be on its way to a huge flameout. The Political Notebook questions whether Nutter is the reforming firebrand that he claims to be or just another darling insider of the Center City elite. (The links aren't working for me at this time, maybe you'll have better luck.)

So while, the campaign that I once called the "smartest but least watched" absorbs some negative commentary from one of the city's weekly papers, what has the candidate actually been doing? For one, on a day when three-fifths of the major Democratic candidates were in or around a courtroom, Nutter went to a prisoner re-entry facility to tout his plan (there's video too!) for aiding ex-offenders as they try to get jobs. The print edition of the Inquirer (on page B-3) gave Nutter a gift with this headline:

"Nutter: Help provide jobs for ex-cons."

When Nutter's television ads go on the air, you may just see that headline. It's got three key words in it: "Nutter," "jobs," and "ex-cons." Nutter is key because the ad makers won't have to make any kind of visual leap to connect the main idea to the candidate. His name is right there. "Jobs" has been and will continue to be an issue in every election from now until we cease to use money as a way to get stuff. "Ex-cons" - this will require a little more explanation, but most people understand the connection between crime, the murder rate, ex-offenders, probationers and parolees and a lack of economic opportunity.

So who will be putting these ads on the air? That's a question the Insider asks - does Nutter even have a media consultant? Well, coincidentally, today the Nutter campaign gave an answer. So if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise? Film that tree and put it on local and prime time television with a million-plus dollar ad buy and you can bet it will make a lot of noise. The question remains, will the voters like the noise they hear?

I repeat... there's NO money riding on this ;)

Josh over at Metro Philly's Fight for Room 215 blog has taken the time to seed all of the candidates for office, and the current mayor, in a field of 64. Check it out and send your picks to him so we can see who goes on and who goes home.

We get a lot of calls from people who think they're reaching one of the campaigns. I've fielded calls intended for the Nutter campaign (who actually wanted the Evans campaign) and I just got off the phone with someone who thought she was calling the Fattah campaign. Turns out it was the office of Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Having seen the inside of the call room when a candidate is making fundraising calls, I have a feeling that's what it was about.

There are some really creative people in this town.

This political poetry has been submitted to us by a reader with a poetic sense of justice. We thought you'd enjoy it, too.

In an election
until now dreary
Bob Brady flubbed
a disclosure query
Now all hell
is breaking loose
As Tom Knox milks
this golden goose.

When first challenged,
Bob didn't defend it
"If it's a mistake,
I'll just amend it"
Then he learned
you can't do that
Now he's taking
a different tack

Challenged in court
his plan is dandy:
Hire Steve Cozen
and his pal Sandy
(Not election lawyers
but yet
She just last year
saved Babette)

(And there's more...)

Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth and Student Voices are running a contest in the Daily News. Kids send in a question, and the best ones will be asked at a special forum in April.

And they have collected the cutest pictures of the candidates as kids...such as Al Taubenberger.

Read more here or have your kids send questions to questions@pccy.org.

Good post (as usual) on Young Philly Politics today on Brady's petitions.

It comes from Rep. Mark Cohen's blog. And in it, he reveals the provenance of "governmentally mandated benefits" -- which is the most recent excuse for Brady's omission of his city pension from his financial disclosure. Cohen says it means -- welfare, basically. Or unemployment compensation or workers' comp.

Go read Cohen's post -- it's fascinating. An excerpt:

"What one's important relevant experiences are depends on the issues of the day. For the next several weeks, I suppose my most relevant legislative achievement is this: I invented the term "governmentally mandated benefits" and convinced the House to stick it in the Ethics Code.

"This all took place in 1989 ... it was clear that ... some other Republicans were substantially motivated by a desire to keep recipients of such benefits out of public office to the degree possible."

And he goes on to talk about the imbalance of paperwork vs. real ethics.

By the way, here's an interesting document: We've scanned in Brady's amended disclosure. It's not easy to read, but if you'd like to, it's here.

I just want to make sure you all saw that the Committee of Seventy has put the May ballot into an easy-to-read, easy-to-share pdf:

It's here.

...free dinner, on the other hand, is a different story.

During the 2003 campaign, Sam Katz spent about $11 million to capture 41.3% of the vote. Essentially, he ended up spending about $58 per vote. Prior to the election, I did some math myself and figured that, with the amount that Katz would end up spending and the number of votes he'd need to win, if he just went out and gave that many people about $50 or, alternatively, took everyone out to dinner, he'd win.

Knox on the other hand, needs only about 100,000 voters, at $50 a pop -- we're talking $5 million. He and his free dinners may well be on his way to doing that. Judging from the latest poll, by the very serious-sounding "Pennsylvanians for Effective Government," or PEG, Knox has 22% compared to the runner-up, Chaka Fattah, at 17%. Brady, Nutter and Evans are all essentially tied for third, within the margin of error of each other, at 13%, 12% and 10%, respectively.

Perhaps most encouraging is that 22%, the same number that Knox got, are still undecided and that two-thirds of them aren't even leaning towards a candidate. That leaves a LOT of room to move. PEG Prez. David W. Patti says it best:

“Two-thirds of the ‘undecideds’ said they aren’t even leaning toward a candidate and those who are appear to be fairly evenly distributed across the five candidates,” reported Patti. “No one is statistically out of this race.”

So don't worry, folks, your vote still counts and there's still a lot of campaigning left. In fact, we now have a countdown clock on the main page to help you keep track of the important dates coming up: 31 days left to register (deadline April 16th), 60 days until the Primary and 235 days until the Coronation General Election.

Here's your weekly update of upcoming events in the mayor's race!

As you know, The Next Mayor is keeping an ongoing calendar of events in the race. Visit our home page to see it -- or to submit an event.

Also, folks who are signed up for our e-mail updates get this posting first. If you'd like to join that list, visit the home page and click on "sign up for updates" (top right corner).

Upcoming Events:

TUESDAY
Mayoral Candidate Forum on Aging Issues
(Tuesday, March 20, 10 am to 11:30 am, Philadelphia Senior Center – 509 S. Broad Street)
The Philadelphia Association of Senior Services Administrators (PASSA) and the AARP-PA will host this mayoral candidate forums on aging issues. An additional forum will be held April 17 in Vernon Park.
The event will be moderated by Willo Carey of WHYY. Senior Center participants and the public are invited to attend. For information call AARP at 866-389-5654

Educational session for Latino voters with limited English skills
(Tuesday, March 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Lighthouse, 152 West Lehigh Avenue)
The City’s Board of Elections is hosting a series of community information exchange meetings to listen to concerns from "Limited English Proficient" voters and help better prepare them to vote in the upcoming local and national elections. These meetings are being held in connection with the Board’s recently announced LEP Advisory Group. For information, call (215) 425-7800.

WEDNESDAY
Building Agenda for Next Mayor: Poverty, Migration and Community Building
(Wednesday, March 21, 3:30 pm to 5 pm, Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut Street)
Focusing on West Philadelphia’s immigrant and receiving communities, this forum explores how civic organizations are pursuing community and economic development at the local and international levels. Participants will ask what the city’s next mayor can and should do to promote shared prosperity as Philadelphia strives to become ever more a “global city.”
Panelists include: Dr. Bernard E. Anderson, Whitney M. Young, Jr. Professor of Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Matthew Creighton, Philadelphia Migration Project, Penn Demography; Agatha Johnson, Founder and CEO, AfriCaribe Micro-Enterprise Network; Thoai Nguyen, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition; Alisa Orduna-Sneed, Executive Director, The Partnership CDC. Moderator : Domenic Vitiello, Penn Urban Studies Program.
For more information on the broader series of Public Conversations, click here.

Society Hill Civic Association Mayoral Candidates Night
(Wednesday, March 21, 7pm to 9pm, Society Hill Synagogue, 418 Spruce St)

THURSDAY
Phila. Block Captains Mayoral Forum
(Thursday, March 22, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm)
Candidates will discuss the important issues concerning the quality and access to health care and public health for the city. Block Captains, Co­Captains and concerned neighbors are invited; to reserve your place, call (215) 563-5343 ext.113 or e-mail: eryan@philamedsoc.org

FRIDAY
Energy & Transportation mayoral candidate forum
(Friday, March 23, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm, Friends Center Meetinghouse, 15th and Cherry St)
How will our next mayor meet the challenges of rising energy costs, peak oil and global warming? This question and more will be answered at the Mayoral Candidate forum on Energy and Transportation. Sponsored by the Energy Coordinating Agency, along with Friends Center, Pennsylvania League of Conservation Voters, PenTrans, and Philly Beyond Oil. The event will be facilitated by Zack Stalberg, CEO of the Committee of Seventy.
Post your questions to the candidate here. For more information call 215-988-0929 ext. 242 or RSVP to carols@ecasavesenergy.org

(ETA: The Fattah camp directs me -- and you -- to check out his fiscal stability plan to see his tax plans. Good point.

Also, his business plan is out: It's here.)

At 11 a.m., Chaka Fattah will unveil his plan for job growth. Could this be the statement on business support and expansion -- including a statement on business taxes -- that he said was coming after he unveiled his opportunity agenda?

(The opportunity agenda, by the way, is Candidate Fattah's big idea. I heard him speak in a small group about it recently, and I realized how much weight he puts on it. It's easy to get stuck on the one idea of selling the airport, but if you really want to know what Fattah wants to do as mayor, you should try to read the rest of it, too.)

Speaking of schools, which is the focus of our main page today...

Bob Brady -- hey, there sure have been a lot of press releases out of the Brady camp lately! -- will announce a plan for more after-school programs at a Fishtown rec center at 3:30 today.

(And he's opening a Northeast Philly campaign office a few hours later.)

Finally, amongst Friday's snow, did everyone see that Michael Nutter has hired mayor-maker Neil Oxman as a media consultant?

I am hoping beyond hope that the journalists who attend the Brady and Fattah events today remind both of those candidates about the numbers laid out by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (or PICA) in this report (or if you prefer, in flash Power Point form here.)

Just a reminder that within the first 3 years of the next mayor's first term, assuming that he is able to negotiate new contracts with the city worker unions that keep things roughly where they are, pension costs and health benefits for current and retired city workers will consume roughly 1 out of every 4 dollars of the taxes that you and I pay the city. This, friends, is the 800-pound gorilla riding on the back of the giant white elephant in the room.

Maybe we need a local equivalent of the "Fiscal Wake-up Tour" being led by the Comptroller General of the United States.

Anyway, let's all remember these facts when Congressmen Fattah and Brady announce plans to spend more money on programs, that while admirable, may not be possible.

Just got a media advisory from the Brady campaign. Candidate Brady is postponing this afternoon's announcement about after-school programs due to "scheduling conflicts."

Maybe he wasn't ready to answer my question.

I know we're a Milton-free zone, but I thought you would want to know: Milton survived his second challenge today. So he stays on the ballot.

If you are a Nutter supporter. Basketball, politics -- and an open bar for an hour.

Seriously, would an open bar improve the forums as well?

... Mayor Street to end the Community College strike tomorrow.

(ETA: Nutter postponed this event, though he did meet with strikers today. - W)

As tempted as I am to ask him to wave magic press statements at other city problems -- can he call for an end to the city schools budget shortfall, too? -- I must point out that Nutter and CCP go way back. In 2006, as one example, Nutter proposed increasing the school's budget by $3 million; it was increased by $1 million.

Forgive me a couple of musings. Like everyone else, I'll be waiting for word of the Brady challenge hearing today.

And in the meantime, I am thinking about these things, which I imagine you are, too, so I'll share them.

1) Just how far does the Philadelphia Democratic machine reach? Does it reach into this hearing? (That's no knock on Patrick J. Toole Jr., the 73-year old Luzerne County judge who will rule today on whether Brady should be thrown off the ballot for failing to disclose his city pension on his nominating papers. I certainly have no reason to doubt his fairness.) Does it reach to the state Supreme Court?

Most important: Will we be able to tell during today's hearing, or will there just be that quiet understanding of Brady's position and experience as leader of the Democratic City Committee? And if so, do people with that level of power and experience get a pass on a "technicality?"

Or is Brady's power one of those Philadelphia phenomena that doesn't exist outside of the SE PA bubble?

2) What's the right balance between letting voters decide who the best guy for the job is and requiring candidates to fill out what is really a non-challenging form accurately? Should paperwork technicalities be forgiven? Should they be forgiven when they are committed by a representative of the machine that has used them punatively in the past? (And a related question: Does Judge Toole have a forgiving philosophy when it comes to these slips, or does he see the rules as the rules?)

Feel free to discuss. Or share your own musings.

In the meantime, check out Dwight Evans and Tom Knox joining forces to defend their position in a letter to the editor of the Inquirer; and check out the motion that those two filed in the case yesterday (scroll down to the part about Paul Rosen).

We'll keep you posted all day!

The Bob Brady show is underway. As expected, he's not there.

(ETA: Of course he's there. He was subpoenaed. Mea culpa.)

More interesting, he's not at the AARP forum going on right now either.

As a newsroom wag pointed out, he's an expert on pensions! (Well, now he is.)

(ETA: Knox missed the AARP in favor of the hearing as well, and Evans was in H'burg for meetings, session and an Appropriations Committee meeting. So there you go.)

Excuse me. Brady is found: He's in sitting in his court hearing with spokeswoman Kate Phillips.

So far, there's been testimony from one witness: James Kidwell, a deputy director of the city pension fund, who said Brady did indeed receive a pension of $8,727 last year.

Now, they're waiting on a witness from the Carpenters' Union to arrive to testify about Brady's pension.

...and I didn't even start it.

Via Philebrity, this ad for Democratic 1st District Council candidate, Vern Anastasio: (Editor's note: Phawker e-mailed us to protest that they had the A-Team video up yesterday. Duly noted.)

I can personally attest, that since I've been VERY slowly moving from an apartment at 9th and Lombard to a house at 6th and Bainbridge by carrying one boxload at a time all weekend, walking on this exact stretch of sidewalk was a real bite in my butt. At least when it was sex club, the owners always shoveled the sidewalk.

OK, folks, Brady is expected to be on the stand...right now.

Updates as often as we get them, thanks to the excellent reporting skills of the Daily News' Bob Warner.

Check out the (at this moment) results of the philly.com poll on Bob Brady:

READER POLL
Should Bob Brady remain on the ballot for city mayor?
Yes (49.9%) = 200
No (50.1%) = 201

Total votes= 401

We're very conflicted about the guy, aren't we?

(For the updated numbers, go to philly.com)

(ETA detail throughout - Wendy)

One of our folks is back from the Brady show. The reports are that the exchanges were pretty testy -- but that folksy, somewhat charming Judge Toole is keeping the parties in line. (They didn't even take a lunch break. I think that's against some sort of Philadelphia law.)

Basically, Brady's take on the events is that he don't know nothing. He said repeatedly that he showed the forms to his lawyer and accountant, who said it was OK, and then he signed it.

Brady answered a lot of questions with litanies of "I don't understand the question" and "I don't understand." There was some back and forth about whether he knew what being "vested" in a pension plan means. In other words, you wouldn't want him to do your taxes for you.

Brady -- a gregarious soul, if not exactly Charles Schwab -- didn't speak to the press as he left the City Hall courtroom this afternoon.

It was an unusual scene. Knox came -- with his wife. And to break the political ice, the judge sternly ordered the room to smile before beginning the day.

One other thing that's come out: Brady, who as we know is an unpaid adviser to the carpenter's union, accrues pension benefits from that union. Every month he accrues pension benefits from them that are practically equivalent to full-time.

The judge in the Brady matter says he will rule "as quickly as possible" - though he didn't say when that would be. He did mention dates a week from now. But he also warned the attorneys in the case that, if they wait to get additional material to him, they'd be too late.

Also, we told you the judge had a sense of humor: He read a limerick about a judge who died and went to the pearly gates and said he was entitled to heaven - he said he'd already been through the hell of an election ruling in Philadelphia.

Looks like someone wrote this press release before the event happened.

I was there. Unless Evans, Brady, and Knox were disguised as the multiple news microphones on the table, then they weren't there.

Google Video of the entire event should be available by the end of the day tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Click through some of the headlines for today, compiled here, and see if you can figure out which piece has caused be to invoke the "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" rule.

G'night folks. I'm going to go see if I can make 5 bucks shoveling the sidewalk in front of Dicicco's campaign office.

Reflecting on Tuesday's hearing...

One thing happened, and one thing hasn't happened yet -- and may not.

1) The thing that happened: Bob Brady looked vulnerable. He didn't come across well on the stand, saying he didn't understand his pension plan and signed his disclosure because his advisers said it was OK.

This apparently led the judge to ask if there was an IQ test to be mayor (what else does that question mean?) and led one Daily News columnist to say he really didn't look like a mayor during this very public performance. It seems clear that Tom Knox, in particular, will use Brady's admissions once the mud truly starts to fly. (After the hearing, Knox entertained the press corps for some time, saying, "If you can’t fill out a form, you shouldn’t be mayor.")

Same thing goes for the information that came out that Brady is socking away a n-i-i-i-ce pension from the carpenters' union, though Brady's role as an "adviser" is not full-time or, for that matter, paid.

Very feather-beddy. It doesn't sound very ... seemly.

2) And yet. The thing that didn't happen is the one that really matters. The judge hasn't ruled, and no matter how rough today was for him, the very powerful Brady is not off the ballot. And the people we talked to today are not certain at all that this was a knockout punch.

They guaranteed only appeals, and a process that will be racing throughout the primary season.

Anyone who was near Philadelphia in 2003 (or, frankly, pick an election) knows that things bounce funny in Philadelphia politics. What seems awful can be spun into a campaign-galvanizing event. I'm not coming down on one side or another, here. Just reminding you that we've got more than 50 days of drama to go.

Now, because we give you everything on the race, here's your guide to more coverage:

Story by the Daily News' Bob Warner and column by Jill Porter

From the Metro: Knox takes strong swipe at Brady and Josh Cornfield's blog

From Mayorpalooza

From AP via Channel 6: Brady Fights to Stay on Ballot in Mayor's Race

From KYW1060 and Channel 3:
Court Hearing Challenges Brady On Primary Ballot

Seems like a good time to figure out what the candidates were doing yesterday.

Brady
Called as a witness to testify in a hearing to determine whether he will stay on the ballot.
Forced to skip a forum about issues related to aging, Brady nevertheless learned something about retirement planning.

Knox
After showing his face at a forum on issues related to aging at the Philadelphia Senior Center and leaving a surrogate to spout some stuff about "joining the Navy when he was 16," bolted to get to City Hall. Resisting temptation to measure the windows in the mayor's office for his new drapes, he proceeds to the courtroom for the Brady hearing. No word on whether he talked about issues related to aging.
Tipped his hand on what his anti-Brady television ads might say if he were to run them. Showed that carpenters aren't the only ones who know about nails.

Fattah
Arrived slightly late for the forum at the Philadelphia Senior Center and left early to go to Washington. Apparently, unlike Knox, he likes Katrina victims.

Evans
I'll the check the tape again, but unlike as stated in this press release, I don't remember seeing him at the aging forum.
None of the newspaper accounts of yesterday's hearing place him at the courtroom. Is it possible he was actually just doing his day job?

Nutter
According to this just uploaded video of the AARP-PA sponsored mayoral forum on aging issues, Mr. Nutter spent the morning with a packed house of people who are known to participate in voting at very high rates. Judging from the number of television cameras in attendance and microphones placed in front of Nutter at the start of the forum, you'd have thought he would have gotten a good amount of coverage from this. Here's what I found - read the last sentence.

Oh, wait, here's more but can we count it since it's not television or a headline in the newspaper?

Taubenberger
Also attended the previously (and very often) mentioned forum. Skip ahead to about 12 minutes and 50 seconds into the video to see Mr. Taubenberger answer a question in German. Makes me kind of glad we'll have him around until November.

Dwight Evans will get the endorsement of major African-American criminal-justice groups, including the Guardian Civic League, Cops and Citizens for Justice and the Sentinels of Law Enforcement, tomorrow.

Each of the candidates sat down with the Guardian Civic League for in-depth conversations prior to this endorsement.

It's also an appropriate time to note that Evans has bought some ad time lately. I keep seeing the "Table" ad around the local news. Things are heating up...

You probably know the Philadelphia Gas Works best by the hypenated adjectives that often precede it's three letter initials - "debt-ridden," "patronage-laden," "mis-managed." Ok, I forced that last one but you get the picture. The oft-derided PGW, its latest request for a rate increase and Councilwoman Blackwell's response to that request were the subject of the Daily News Editorial today.

The PGW problem is a complex and complicated issue that, at its core, is a question of what services municipal government should be responsible for and, if it's determined that they are responsible for it, what is the best way to do that. This is further complicated by the fact that different parts of Philadelphia expect PGW to be one of three things or possibly some combination of all three - sort of like a unholy trinity of city agencies:

1. A typical city service (or public good for all of you Economics 101 students): If you need your trash picked up or a sinkhole needs a fixin', the Streets Department takes care of it. If you need a permit to make an addition to your house, you go to L&I. If you want to eat a picnic lunch under a tree by the Schuylkill, the Fairmount Park Commission makes sure the park is in good shape. Well, if you need gas, you go to PGW. The management and oversight of PGW is a little more complicated than that of the Streets Department or L&I but essentially, natural gas, whether used for cooking or heating, is considered to be a service of the "big C" City. This is something that affects almost all of us (like streets or sanitation) whether we use gas or not because chances are we'll walk into a building that relies on gas for heat or we'll eat at a restaurant that uses gas for cooking.

2. A social service agency: Similar to functions of the city that are intended to support the poor, children, seniors or people with disabilities, like social workers or public health clinics, PGW is expected to provide heat on the coldest nights of the year for people who otherwise would freeze. PGW itself devotes a good chunk of its website explaining programs that are available for lower income or special needs customers but the fact remains that many of us think that when the poor, children or seniors lose their heat in the winter because PGW shuts it off, the gas works is being the bad guy.

3. A major source of revenue for the City: And here's where it gets tricky. We pay wage and property (and other) taxes to cover the functions of most government agencies (Streets, L&I, Recreation, etc.). Some departments charge some kind of user fees for certain functions - permitting, skating at the ice rink, etc. - but for the most part they are funded by taxpayer dollars. The user fees are nice but no one expects them to cover large chunks of the budget for the agency that collects them.

The Department of Human Services is funded in part by local taxes but mostly through federal and state taxes but still, it's our tax money, whether we need it or not. We've come to accept that arrangement because we realize that we as a nation, commonwealth or city do have some responsibility to care for the least among us and government, "for all of its flaws," is the best way to aggregate those resources and get them to the people who need them the most.

PGW, both a public good and a social service, is not only supposed to cover all of its own expenses through the money we pay for gas, but it's also supposed to return to "the City $18 million a year as compensation for its tax exempt status and as a return on the City's investment." The City, counts on that $18 million every year as part of their general fund revenue but has recently, according to a page 171 of this edition of the City's Five-Year Plan, been granting that payment back to PGW. The City also made a $45 million loan to PGW in 2001 so that it cover its debts, a loan that the City expects to have paid back by 2009. As the the PGW section of the Five-Year Plan states and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority agrees (on page 10), the Gas Works is in some bad shape:

PGW’s problems are so deep that it is possible that the City will have to make additional financial contributions or even that a PGW financial collapse will damage the entire region.

Chilling.

So not only is PGW not returning $18 million to the City as a "return on the City's investment" in owning its own gas works, it's not even making enough to cover all of its own expenses which include interest on about a billion dollars in debt.

What does this all mean for the next mayor on the day after a state judge asks if there's "any education requirement... IQ requirement" for being mayor?

I'll leave that up to you but I invite you to try something I just did. Go to the front page of the website and put "PGW" in the search bar in the upper right. You'll see a couple candidates who have actively talked about PGW, most notably Dwight Evans. (ETA: here's Evans' press release advocating selling PGW; here's Daily News coverage of that announcement.)

You should also read through the candidate profiles done by our content partners at the Philadelphia Business Journal. All of them seem to touch a little bit on PGW.

And remember this quote, which I'll repeat for dramatic effect:

PGW’s problems are so deep that it is possible that the City will have to make additional financial contributions or even that a PGW financial collapse will damage the entire region.

Anyone and everyone who is interested in the mayor's race absolutely MUST read this fantastic article by the Daily News's Mark McDonald.

Finally, finally, finally, someone has taken the time to do a thoughtful piece about the city's impending fiscal crisis - a crisis that threatens not only all of the lofty plans and programs being put forward by the current candidates, but also a number of the functions that the city already performs.

You'll remember that I've been calling on people - journalists covering the race and the tuned-in electorate who are attending the forums - to pepper the candidates with questions about how they'll deal with this situation every time they see them.

Any time a candidate proposes to hire more police officers, or put surveillance cameras up or plant 50,000 trees, the questions should NOT be "how are you going to pay for that?" The question should be, "what are you going to do to make the city's fiscal situation more sustainable?" Their answers should immediately be followed up with the following quotes (dutifully gotten by Mr. McDonald) from the city worker union leaders with whom the candidates will have to negotiate a solution:

But Robert Eddis, FOP Lodge 5 president, said defined-contribution plans are a nonstarter.

Brian McBride, president of Local 22 of the International Firefighters Association, said, "We gave up wage increases in the past so that we could have better pensions and health care. We will strongly oppose any move to a defined-contribution plan or joint control of our health plan."

Take these quotes, print them out, carry them with you and every time you see a candidate, I implore you to use them to go all "Tim Russert" on their ass and follow up a question about the health and pension benefit crisis with the quotes. It's important to remember that while there are obvious financial solutions to the problem - defined contribution, joint management of health care - there are political considerations as well. We, as a city, might have to prepare for a pretty long strike before an agreement is reached and the next mayor better prepare to be a one-term mayor if we can't handle that strike.

And again, if you need more information about this impending fiscal crisis - a crisis that'll make the near financial collapse of 1990 look like the time you accidentally missed a credit card payment due date by a couple days, read PICA's reports here or here.

I also have to point out that the Daily News is now allowing people to comment directly to their articles. There seems to be an awful lot of vitriol directed towards the city workers who receive these benefits. I really don't see how that helps the situation but if people want to use that forum to blow off some steam, I won't quibble. You can use this post as a forum for those kinds of comments but I think we'd all be better served if we tried to discuss some real solutions to the problem. Judging from the statements given by the candidates about this crisis, those guys could use all the help they can get.

ACORN toured the city in a bus today, visiting each campaign's HQ to hand out postcards, signed by voters, to promote its Housing, Heat, & Home Repair Platform -- which is part of its PeopleFirst collection of issues in the race...

...and, on an unrelated note, there were two mayoral stories in the new Philly magazine. One, "The Dwight Stuff?" is on Dwight Evans and his struggles to connect with voters. The other, "Electile Dysfunction," argues that Tom Knox is blowing his chance to be mayor with some recent public appearances.

OK, I know it is Friday, and Dan has been stretching our brains quite a bit lately.

But I have one more heavy thing to throw at you:

The budget watchdogs at the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority have a new report out on prison costs, which are increasingly eating up the city budget (at least, what's left after pensions).

What's very interesting about this report is that the problem is not merely that we have more prisoners - the costs of all the things that prisoners need are increasing even faster than the number behind bars.

* Since the 1997 fiscal year, healthcare costs have grown almost 200% while the average inmate census has grown 55%

* The per-inmate cost of healthcare for inmates has grown 85 percent since fiscal 1997, only slightly faster than the 79 percent growth in healthcare costs for prison employees.

* Food costs have increased by about 30 percent since fiscal 1997 (though that is roughly at the rate of inflation, and per-inmate costs are down).

* By fiscal 2007 - when one of five guys we know will have a new job - overtime costs are projected to be 160% higher than they were in fiscal 1997; those costs have grown much more rapidly than the number of inmates.

Hey, great! We've got a prison system that's busting at the seams and costs are actually growing faster than our overcrowding problem.

This is when I really am amazed that five competitive candidates are beating themselves up for this job.

Not only that, but many of them have addressed improving systems for inmates when they re-enter society.

Michael Nutter has a prisoner re-entry plan that encourages businesses to hire former inmates; re-entry was also part of his "Safety Now" plan.

Dwight Evans called for a collaborative approach to prisoner re-entry - as well as setting aside one-quarter of any money sent to inmates in a savings account to cushion the return to outside life. (As a state Rep., by the way, he worked with Rep. John Meyers and the PA Board of Probation and Parole Board on a pilot program to improve re-entry by lowering parole caseloads, requiring therapy and community service work from ex-offenders, and providing incentives to companies that hire parolees).

Chaka Fattah called for a kind of ex-offender Job Corps "that allows ex-offenders to work toward achieving educational goals while working to rebuild local communities and gaining job skills."

And Tom Knox has set a goal of reducing recidivism by 25%, including by offering training programs for prisoners.

A little over a month ago, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia submitted a questionnaire to the candidates for mayor in an attempt to gauge their support or opposition to issues that are important to cyclists. The questions were:

Would you support the creation of a Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator to shape transportation policy?

Would you support all-day closures of Martin Luther King Drive to through traffic, while continuing to allow auto access to the upper drive parking areas?

Well, the answers are in and you can read them on the Bicycle Coalition's blog.

If reading isn't your thing, check out the visual summary (inspired by the Fonz) presented as a grid by the Bicycle Coalition. According to this, most of the candidates gave an unequivocal "aaaaaay!" to the most of the questions.

Boom boom boom boom...

And I continue to beat this drum.

So, a day after Mark McDonald enlightens tens of thousands of Philadelphians about a crisis that threatens to suck up a huge chunk of their tax dollar before that dollar is ever put to fixing the streets or picking up the trash, City Council, in its infinite wisdom, decides to (surprise!) do the politically expedient thing.

Imagine you're McDonald. One day, you're working on a story about how Philadelphia's city worker pension fund assets only cover about half of its expected liabilities and the next day, you're writing about how City Council decides to override a mayoral veto to give pensioners more money from that fund. Reporters in this town must begin to feel like they're Nurse Ratched writing a newsletter about the comings and goings of Randle Patrick McMurphy and Billy Bibbit.

Lest you think that the situation is hopeless or that this is a uniquely Philadelphia problem, you should know that municipal and state governments are facing the came problems all over the country. Management Insights, a weekly column published in collaboration with the Government Innovators Network at Harvard’s Kennedy Schoolof Government devoted it's latest edition to the challenge faced by public sector in attracting a retaining top talent. Choosing a career in public service, specifically in government, often meant giving up the opportunity to earn higher wages for similar work in the private sector but receiving a top-of-the-line benefits package in return.

Well, the time has come for the government employers to pay the piper. As their baby-boomer employees reach retirement age, they'll be cashing in on those pensions. According to the column, municipal and state governments will face a number of challenges:

How will we create and sustain high-performance organizations that can attract and retain top talent and produce results that matter most to citizens? How will we finance the pensions of the current workforce? How do we deal with health care for the large baby-boom generation of public employees? Are the current approaches to wages and benefits financially sustainable and attractive to a new generation of workers?

The answer: get a bunch of really smart, or "smaht" (this is a publication from Harvard, afterall), people together to solve the problem:

Enter the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. The center will focus on research in the areas of public-sector retirement and retiree health savings security.
...
Partnering with leading universities and researchers working in the areas of pensions and retiree health care, the center will produce studies on the impact of demographic trends on employers in state and local governments and document leading practices to shorten the learning curve for employers. In addition, the center will develop — and advocate for — best-practice approaches to compensation, health care, retirement, and other benefits.

So maybe there's hope. I'm sure we have just as many smart people, in government and otherwise, who can come together to solve this problem. It'll be up to the next mayor to bring them together and if he does he'll get from me.

No, not Artemis Ward, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli* , "Arts" refers to arts and culture.

I just got around to opening my copy of the Arts and Culture Advocate, newsletter of the Greater Philadelphia Culture Alliance. It's been sitting on my desk for a few days and the pile finally shrunk down enough so that I could get to it. On page 5, they have an entire section devoted to providing arts enthusiasts with a number of hard hitting questions for the candidates in the event that they have a chance to question the candidates at a forum, a fundraiser, or in line at Starbucks.

Rather than re-type the questions here, I refer you to this handy flyer that GPCA has prepared in an effort to get arts and cultural issues a fair amount of play during the campaign.

So far, their strategy seems to be working since two of the candidate (Brady and Fattah) have already released their own plans for building and supporting arts and cultural institutions. Dwight Evans touched on the performing arts a little while ago with his idea (shared by this blogger) to make Philadelphia into "the Hollywood of the East."

It's unfortunate that neither Brady's nor Fattah's plan has even a whiff of the ambition and vision that more progressive mayors with a better idea of how to lead a regional economy have used to support the arts. Denver, for example, got together with the other counties in its region to establish the Scientific and Culture Facilities District funded by a regionwide .01% sales tax paid by everyone in the region. This tax creates a dedicated funding stream that is then redistributed to arts and cultural institutions throughout the entire region.

I have no idea how much money a similar plan would generate in this region. but I do know one thing - the way intraregional relations are now, there's about as much chance of such a thing passing as there is for the Phillies to win at least 20 games in April. Then again... real leaders can make the impossible, possible.

*Two Fonzie references in one day? Must be a Friday.

By now, we've all been beaten over the head with news about SEPTA's funding problems. Governor Rendell is riding around the state trying to gain public support for his plan to generate funding for mass transit by taxing oil companies and leasing the turnpike so he can sell it to a wary state legislature.

Meanwhile, another mass transit agency, MARTA, which stands for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, has earned a spot in on the Government Innovators Network - program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. MARTA, which receives no funding from its state government, has taken to "selling space on its buses, trains and rail stations with the gusto of a NASCAR racing team."

For example:

Ads are shown on video screens hanging from rail platforms and on televisions bolted inside buses and rail cars. Buses and trains have been wrapped to create rolling billboards touting everything from new condominium towers to bail bondsmen. The transit system was the first in the nation to place ads inside subway tunnels in a way that creates short moving pictures for riders in passing trains.

This month, MARTA is pushing the envelope again, becoming the first to wrap buses in ads made from a special material that glows in the dark.

(That use of the subway walls to create huge "flip books" seems really cool, but would it look as cool as this?)

Apparently, at this point advertising only generates about $5 million a year for MARTA but there's plenty of growth potential.

Just one more thing to think about...

Some things to call to your attention even as the weekend begins...

Do not ever, ever, underestimate Bob Brady as he works the streets and the airwaves. And that's what he's doing now. I just saw his "endorsed by cops, endorsed by Lynn Abraham" TV ad again today, and now he's announced plans for a big Saturday blitz:

"A caravan of supporters will make stops along the way to energize people across the city. The last leg of the tour will begin at the 3300 block of South 20th Street around 3:00 p.m., and hit neighborhoods throughout South Philadelphia including a stop at Pat’s and Geno’s for a quick cheese steak….wit.

“I am running for Mayor, and takin’ my campaign to the streets where violence is at a crisis level, and our schools are in a chaotic state,” said Brady about his Saturday afternoon campaigning.

“On Saturday I will barnstorm the City and touch the people who support my bid for Mayor, and every week until the election I will continue to fight for things that matter to them.”

Meanwhile...

...Michael Nutter, not one to back down from a press-stunt challenge, will give away free smoke detectors in West Philly (at the corner of 60th and Chestnut, at noon) and then spend some time with the local businesses out there. “We try to reserve time on Saturdays to meet business owners and talk with residents,” said Nutter in his press release. "They have a lot to say about what they want out of the next Mayor.”

Ditto for Chaka Fattah, who will announce his plans for new after-school programs Monday...

In other news...

Former Philadelphian John Hickenlooper -- oh, and he's the highly regarded mayor of Denver now -- is coming back to his home region on April 18 to talk about how he's addressed Denver's challenges (ending a $70 million deficit? Reducing crime? Transit? Done!), and what Philadelphia might learn from it.

The program is sponsored by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, in conjunction with the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. And later, they're bringing in D.C.'s Mayor Anthony Williams. For more, visit the Economy League's site.

...and, just to note the Philadelphia passion of it, and the pretty good summation of the race so far, please check out Mike Mallowe's column in the Evening Bulletin.

Here's your weekly update of upcoming events in the mayor's race! (And it's a busy week.)

As you know, The Next Mayor is keeping an ongoing calendar of events in the race. If you sign up for updates on the main page (top right corner) you can get it delivered via e-mail.

And we're happy to announce that we are now working with the Fels Civic Exchange to bring you an even more complete guide to the week to come!

Saturday

Bob Brady "Takin' it to the Streets Tour"
(March 24, noon, North 22nd Street)
A caravan of supporters will travel for about three hours from Hope Plaza on North 22nd Street and West Lehigh Avenue to South Philadelphia. For more information, click here.

Michael Nutter to give out smoke detectors
(March 24, noon, 60th and Chestnut streets)
Nutter will give out smoke detectors at the corner of 60th and Chestnut at noon Saturday, and then talk with local business owners. For more information, click here.

Monday

Tribune poll released
(March 26, 10:00 a.m.)
The Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest black newspaper, will announce the results of its second poll on the upcoming Philadelphia Mayor’s race.

Chaka Fattah to release after-school plan
(March 26, 10 a.m., Redeemer Christian Life and Education Building at 24th & Dickinson Streets)
Fattah plans an announcement of after-school programs. For more information, click here.

Tuesday

Frankford Business Professionals Mayoral Forum
(March 27, 6:30 to 8:30, St. James Lutheran Church, 5185 Castor Avenue.)
Candidate forum.

Next Great City Community Presentation
(March 27, 6:45 to 8:30, Fishtown Recreation Center, E. Montgomery and E. Girard)
A coalition of over 60 organizations, led by Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, is recommending to the Mayor and City Council 10 actions to "make every neighborhood better, maintain and improve the city's infrastructure and assets, and attract new investment, jobs, and people."
These 10 actions have been thoroughly researched and screened for popular support and range from adopting modern zoning to stopping sewer backups and flooding.
Sponsored by the Neighborhood Advisory Committee of NKCDC. Funding provided by the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development.

Wednesday

African & Caribbean Business Council Mayoral Forum
(March 28 6:30 to 8:30, Club Sikira, 1040 S. 57th Street)
Candidate forum.

Thursday

ACORN: Mayoral Candidates Forum
(Thursday, March 29, 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, Bright Hope Church, 12th Street and Cecil B Moore Avenue)
Philadelphia ACORN PAC is sponsoring a Mayoral Candidates forum with invited candidates State Representative Dwight Evans, Former Councilman Michael Nutter, Congressman Michael Nutter, Congressman Bob Brady, Businessman Tom Knox, and Congressman Chaka Fattah.
The forum will focus on issues, problems, and solutions of low and moderate income communities. The candidates’ views and interpretation of Philadelphia ACORN Housing, Heating and Home Repair Platform and how it can be implemented to further develop struggling neighborhoods and families.

Germantown Mayoral Candidate Forum
(Thursday, March 29, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Yarnell Hall at Germantown Friends School, 31 West Coulter Street)
Sponsored by the Philadelphia Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Germantown Settlement, Northwest Advisory Committee (NWAC), Germantown 76, The Seven G’s, Germantown Friends School and Central Germantown Council (CGC), this mayoral forum will focus on the communities located in the Northwest part of the city.

Saturday

Pentecostal Clergy PAC Mayoral Candidate Breakfast
(March 31, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., 1159 East Chelten Avenue)
Candidate breakfast.

Next week

Mayoral Candidate forum on Children's Issues
(Wednesday, April 4, 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Free Library of Philadelphia, Main Branch, 1901 Vine Street)
The Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth is hosting a Mayoral Candidate Forum on children's issues on Wednesday, April 4th, starting at 6:30 p.m., at the Free Library.

I can't believe it's getting this close...

This weekend, we had TV commercials on the air from Michael Nutter, Bob Brady, Dwight Evans and (of course) Tom Knox. We have Brady doing a PR twofer, with his "Takin' it to the Streets Tour" and doin' a little of what he's known for -- settling the Community College strike. Next week will be a blur of announcements, forums, polls and generally escalating back and forth over who's got the right stuff to be mayor.

Folks, there are only 50 days left 'til the primary -- and they are going to be jam-packed.

At The Next Mayor, we wanted to celebrate the 50th day to go. So we have a number of special things coming today.

We'll be rolling them out all day. Here's the first: We've commissioned a very small, unscientific, and rather illuminating survey. (And we want you to take it. Keep reading, past the jump.)

We asked 50 leading Philadelphians -- the city's most prominent non-profit and university leaders, top developers and corporate leaders, but also those in independent media, bloggers, professors, political analysts and others -- to rate the race so far.

We asked them:

1) Are they registered to vote in the Democratic primary?
2) Are they working for, volunteering for, or donating to a mayoral campaign, or do they plan to do so in the primary?
3) Do they see voters as interested and engaged, or disinterested and unengaged in the race?
4) What issue is most important in the race?
5) Is there an issue that they wish were more prominent in this race?
6) If the Democratic primary were held today, who would they vote for?

Results are still coming in. But, so far:

Only 32 percent say voters are interested and engaged in this race; 50 percent say people are disengaged and uninterested. Ten percent answered "other," and their comments were particularly illuminating:

"Some very vocal people out there [are] wanting to seek answers and are active in many fronts. Others are oblivious and have defeatest attitude like it just doesn't matter. No one will be able to change [the] system."

"The usual suspects seem interested and engaged but the typical resident remains removed from the issues and the candidates. People in general seemed to be dismayed by politicians. We must continue educating the public about the importance of voting and learning about the candidates and the issues so they can vote with some level of knowledge and certainty."

The Next Mayor officially kicked off on December 5, 2005 - that's 476 days ago for those of you keeping count. Since then, we set out to learn as much as we could about the issues facing the city and the region and the candidates who hope to tackle those issues.

We've talked to people where they live, in their neighborhoods, places of businesses, "hang outs," and special events.

We've brought a whole range of people into the studios of WHYY for a series of intense, 90-minute sessions during which we've poked and prodded them about what they think the major issues are for this race and the type of leader whom they're looking for to take over as the next CEO of the city and region.

We've tracked the candidates to many of their various community forums, starting the day after Election Day 2006 all the way to just last Friday (edited to change link and add: thanks to Albert and Philly Future for that account). We've even been able to get video of some of them to share with you in their entirety.

We were even able to get the current mayor, who's not one known to embrace the media by any stretch, to offer us his opinion on what the greatest challenge will be for his successor.

So throughout the day, I'll be reviewing those lessons and asking you, who have been following the race just as closely, if not more so, as we have been, to offer your own thoughts on what you've learned about the issues and the candidates. If I miss an issue or an important point about a candidate, PLEASE, bring it up in the comments. I may even boost it to the up into the next post just so nothing is missed.

Lesson 1 (and trust me, I don't have the energy or creativity to come up with 50 lessons so I'll just number then as they come to me):
Crime is big but not as big as you think.

Back in August 2006, the Daily News and Dr. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College, released the first "Keystone Poll" on the 2007 mayor's race. Setting aside, for a moment, what several hundred voters thought about a bunch of men who hadn't even officially declared their candidacies (except for Nutter), let's focus on what the poll told us about issues. By a HUGE margin (even wider than the Sixers' 124-74 drubbing at the hands of the Rockets), voters considered the most important problem facing Philadelphia today to be "Crime, drugs and violence."

The number was staggering. Sixty-four percent of those survey cited "Crime, drugs and violence" while the next category, "Education, schools, programs" got 5%. Considering that the margin of error in the poll was 5.1%, "Crime, drugs and violence" could be considered the ONLY problem facing Philadelphia today. The numbers were similar in the second Keystone Poll released last January.

So why isn't crime as big an issue as you think it is?

To supplement polling, The Next Mayor decided to dig deeper by asking people to think about the crime issue in a different way. The participants in our Community Forums informed us that crime is a problem but it's actually more of a symptom than the root cause. At its core, the crime problem is a manifestation of a lack of jobs and poor educational opportunities. This group, in particular, made that link directly and gave great suggestions to the next mayor (the guy, not the project) about what he could do to solve the so-called "Number 1 Issue" of this election.

But what did folks who live in one of the sections of the city that has been most afflicted with this epidemic of violent crime have to say? Were they asking for more police on the streets? Longer sentences? More prisons? In short, were they looking for the typical suggestions offered by a "Law and Order" candidate during an election marked by high crime numbers?

Nope.

In this edition of Counter Intelligence (Quicktime required), we heard from folks in Kingsessing, in Southwest Philadelphia, who made the insightful link between lack of jobs and job training, abandoned buildings and crime.

So there you have it. Lesson 1 - crime is big but not as big as you think. Give the people of Philadelphia a lot of credit for understanding what it takes to reduce crime permanently and sustainably.

Check back here throughout the day for more lessons.

[ETA: We've posted the full press release here.]

Chaka Fattah is still the leading mayoral candidate among the city’s African-American voters, but Tom Knox has gained significant ground over the last six months, according to a survey sponsored by the Philadelphia Tribune.

The telephone poll, conducted last week by a respected Washington consultant, Ron Lester and Associates, asked 400 likely voters, all African-American, whom they would support if the election were held today.

The results:

Chaka Fattah …. 27 percent

Dwight Evans …. 18 percent

Tom Knox ………14 percent

Mike Nutter…….. 9 percent

Bob Brady……… 8 percent

Nearly one-quarter of the city’s black voters – 24 percent -- remain undecided, according to the survey.

Lester credited Knox’s television advertising with his climb over the past six months. Last October, he barely registered among African-American voters, getting just 1 percent in a similar poll.

Let's take a minute to tout the new blog by the Inquirer's Great Expectations project. This ongoing project, done by the Inquirer Editorial Board, is a big-think effort: It's about the hopes and dreams of the city as reflected in the mayor's election -- with the goal of setting an agenda for the lucky guy who gets the office.

Though the Inquirer and Daily News (one of the partners of The Next Mayor) are often editorial competitors, in this case, we're helping each other. The Next Mayor will link to Great Expectations, and they will link to us. That's because both newspapers see this race as something city-changing, and we are serious about using every tool at our disposal to cover the race in an accurate, fair, interesting, voter-focused and issue-focused way.

So, good luck, Great Expectations!

(bumped to the top)

We interrupt our Lessons Learned with 50 days to go to bring you this: the first Nutter ad. Watch, then we'll discuss.

I'll have some thoughts in the next post this post later.

(Edited to add)
Ok, as promised (or threatened) here are my thoughts.

Very interesting tactic but not surprising at all. We've been saying for a while now that Michael Nutter has been running his campaign as if he were running against John Street. In fact, back in February, I used this very succinct post to explain Nutter's entire campaign message in five words. This is what I said:

Here's my guess at the "message" that Nutter is hoping voters bring into the booth with them: Nutter is not John Street.

We've been gathering examples of this "run against Street" strategy since the beginning, from this post that Wendy did about Nutter's call for a crime "state of emergency" to any one of the following press releases:

NUTTER ISSUES STATEMENT ON MAYOR STREET’S BUDGET ADDRESS
MAYORAL CANDIDATE MICHAEL NUTTER ASKS MAYOR STREET “WHERE’S THE BOARD?”
MICHAEL NUTTER STATEMENT ABOUT MAYOR STREET’S COMMENTS ON CRIME IN PHILADELPHIA

Will this work?

On the one hand, aside from citing crime as a major problem, two of the things that a vast majority of Philadelphians seem to agree on are (1) John Street is not doing a good job, with only 22% giving him an Excellent or Good in job performance and (2) they don't like him too much, giving him a 58% unfavorable rating. In addition to that, the first question asked by the Keystone Poll is whether people feel that the city is generally headed in the right direction, or do they feel that things are off on the wrong track. Wrong track wins by an overwhelming 61-31 margin. The number was similar for the first Keystone Poll taken last summer. Neil Oxman, Nutter's media adviser, in this clip taken during an interview with WHYY's Brenda Jorett back before he took the job with Nutter, explains that the "wrong track" number is the same for every racial group.

So Nutter's strategy, in order to differentiate himself from Tom Knox, who has the advantage of a 3-month headstart on campaign ads, is to take that right direction/wrong track number and the Street favorable/unfavorable number and mash them together. Personify the dissatisfaction that people are having with the city in the form of someone the voters know. Make the connection that the pollsters are making - that people don't like Street so they don't like where the city is headed. Then make ads like this that tout his record as the anti-Street.

But doesn't this strategy put Nutter's support in the black community at risk?

Judging from the Tribune Poll, that support is already pretty low. But he doesn't need the entire black community, just like he doesn't need the entire white community or the entire Hispanic community. He only needs the rather substantial portion of each community that is dissatisfied with the current direction of the city and its current mayor. Besides, any part of the black community that is satisfied with John Street or is a big Street supporter, is probably going to go for Fattah or Evans. In a race like this, there's no such thing as "the black vote" just like there's no such thing as "the white vote" or "the latino vote," no matter what the leading voices of those communities might say. There's just black, white, latino and asian voters and many of them are going to make their decision based on more than just the color of the candidates skin.

Unfortunately, the Tribune Poll did not measure Street's favorable/unfavorable rating or his job approval rating nor did it ask whether respondents felt the city was moving in the right direction or was on the wrong track. That would be a pretty telling number.

But what about Knox? Hasn't he already taken Nutter's message and run with it?

Yes and no. There are slight differences between Knox and Nutter. Knox is trying to run as a total "outsider" with no ties to anyone.

Nutter can't use the Knox strategy of running as an "outsider" since one of his big advantages is that he has been working on the inside for so many years. But he can play that up by pointing to his legislative achievements, his knowledge of city government and his greater level of experience. Afterall, while Philadelphians may think the city is moving in the wrong direction, they haven't made the connection with "government" as much as they have with Street. When asked what qualifications they're looking for, 22% say "experience in politics or business" with most of them probably thinking "politics." No matter how dissatisfied they are, Philadelphians are extremely reluctant to leave government to someone with very little or no governmental experience. In fact, if you look down that list of qualifications, "Not attached to current city politicians" only gets 3%.

In a sense, Knox may have spent the last three months tee-ing it up for Nutter. He's run tons of ads to remind people how dissatisfied they are and gotten good movement on his poll numbers. Now this other guy (Nutter) can come along, say he's been battling John Street - the personification of their dissatisfaction - for years and say he's got experience that Knox lacks. The only thing left for him to do is to run a little from the left with ads that tout his plans for prisoner re-entry and boosts for public schools and make sure that all the ads can stay on the air until Election Day.

Then we see how well each campaign has done in building a field operation.

We had dueling after-school program announcements Monday, from Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah.

Here's your guide to compare and contrast:

Brief description:
Chaka Fattah: Expand after-school programs by working with the School District, as well as faith groups and community organizations, "to ensure that every child, ages 12 to 16 has access to after-school" care. The programs would be housed in schools, city facilities or perhaps community institutions (like those run by the faith groups). He'd hire teachers to work in the programs to stress academics. He'd also create several "21st century community learning centers," modeled on Project H.O.M.E.'s Honickman Learning Center, throughout the city.

Bob Brady: Would expand after-school programs to serve 15,000 more students at each of the city's 150 rec centers. (Now, only 90 offer after-school programs.) His after-school programs would be run by the city Rec Department and Philadelphia Safe and Sound, but he would broaden the partnerships supporting the after-school programs to include community groups and, notably, businesses.

Cost and funding:
Chaka Fattah: $15 million, paid for by part of the proceeds from the sale of the Philadelphia International Airport -- this is part of his Opportunity Agenda (which I've said is his big idea for the race).

Bob Brady: $15 million ($5 million to the Rec Department and $10 million to Safe and Sound) paid for by federal grants (he, too, mentions the 21st Century Learning Center grants, which are part of the federal No Child Left Behind act), as well as city funding. He also wants to get businesses to sponsor after-school programs, both to fund them and to bring more attention to the programs.

Stats supplied in support:
Chaka Fattah: (To support his 21st Century Community Learning Centers)

"Between two assessments in October 2005 and May 2006, 82% of students who participated in Honickman's program had made gains in their reading ability on the STAR Reading Growth Report and 75% also made gains in their Math ability."

Bob Brady: (In a section called, "The Facts")

"In 2005 more than 3,900 juveniles were arrested, approximately 1 in 12 of which were under the age of 13 in 2005 / Roughly 5,000 students drop out of the Philadelphia School District every year. / Philadelphia’s juvenile crime rate which has risen 9% over the last four years."

You can read Fattah's full plan here and Brady's full plan here.

Or you can just turn on your TV, since Bob Brady's new television commercial mentions his plan prominently. It also stars D.A. Lynne Abraham and touches on school safety. It's set to start airing Tuesday...

AND NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!

Come take our survey of the state of the race. It is brief -- only six questions -- and it will help us develop coverage for the remaining 50 days of the primary.

Click here to take our survey.

If you'd like to compare, we gave the same survey over the weekend to 50 Philadelphia leaders. The final results of our (highly unscientific) survey:

Still, 50 percent of those polled said voters "seem uninterested and disengaged" in the race. 30 percent said voters seem interested and engaged.

Crime remains the top issue in the race, followed closely by "government, politicians or leadership." Education and schools tied with taxes for third place. We especially liked the write-in vote for "Trust, competence and incumbency (voters want the first two and hate the last)"

Among issues that voters wished would come up more often, we had new votes for "Character of the front-runners, Fattah and Knox" and another vote for repairing decaying sewer systems (by the way, Knox has brought this up in the past.)

And, among those we surveyed in our (again, completely unscientific) quiz, Michael Nutter came in first in the horse race, followed by Dwight Evans and Chaka Fattah. Tom Knox and Bob Brady tied for fifth, and Queena Bass got a vote!

We asked you to take our survey -- and boy, have you responded.

(If you haven't taken it yet, it's here. Please do!)

What's really interesting about the responses to date is that, since the beginning of this survey, half of the respondents have said that voters "seem uninterested and disengaged." And that's exactly where responses to that question remain. No matter how many people take the survey, half of them think voters have tuned out.

Among the interesting comments on this question:

"Blogs and other entities seem very engaged, but I don't know how engaged the citizens of Philadelphia are. The number of choices may be too overwhelming to choose from."

"Voters run the risk of being mis-led by the press, and an onslaught of TV commercials from one candidate in particular."

and

"I would like to see more Republican activity."

Crime also remains at the top of the issues of the race, with "government, politicians and leadership" remaining at second place.

The people who took our (highly unscientific) survey said that, despite the prominence of crime in the race, they want more information: "Crime; the candidates all sound the same, with the same formula answers and no creativity. There is a crisis in Philadelphia right now, and none of the candidates seem to even register that with any kind of urgency."

Nutter remains the top vote-getter, with almost 37 percent of those surveyed saying they'd vote for him.

An interesting report from Dave Davies, of the Daily News:

Members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers have voted to remain neutral in the mayoral primary, union president Ted Kirsch reported last night.

“I don’t think anybody really presented a clear vision for city schools,” Kirsch said of presentations the mayoral candidates made at a union membership meeting March 15.

Nearly 8,000 members cast ballots at city schools. The option not to endorse received 31 percent of the vote, followed by Chaka Fattah at 21 percent, Tom Knox at 18 percent, Bob Brady at 14 percent, Michael Nutter at 10 percent and Dwight Evans at 5 percent. Al Taubenberger, the Republican candidate, received 1 percent of the vote.

(Bumped to the top to keep the conversation going...)

Breaking news: The Brady campaign says a judge has ruled that U.S. Rep. Bob Brady will remain on the ballot for the May 15 primary.

(NEW: Read Brady's response in his press release, here.)

Luzerne county Common Pleas judge Patrick Toole found Brady should have disclosed pension contributions the carpenters union makes on his behalf on his candidate’s statement of financial interests.

But Toole said Brady acted “in a reasonable and responsible manner” in filing out the form and should be allowed to amend his filing.

“Whenever possible, election contests should be decided by the hand of the voter in the election booth and not by the pen of the judge in a judicial chamber,” the judge found.

He concluded that Brady was not required to disclose his city pension, because he found it falls under an exception in the disclosure requirements for “government-mandated payments.”

In a prepared statement, Brady said he was continuing his campaign, and said rival Tom Knox had “crossed the line with mean-spirited personal attacks on me and thousands of working men and women.”

After Brady’s less-than-stellar performance on the witness stand in the case, Knox said of Brady, “if he can’t fill out a form, he shouldn’t be mayor.”

Today, the Knox campaign is deferring comment to its attorney Paul Rosen, who said in a telephone interview that Judge Toole had “created a special exception for Brady that’s never existed for anyone else.”

Rosen plans to appeal the decision to commonwealth court.

Given all the interest, now would be a great time to link to the Daily News' excellent blog Attytood, where Will Bunch has a great post on Brady and the environment.

An excerpt:

"It makes one a little more queasy when a congressman continues to received decent sized pension contributions every year from a party that lobbies on bills in the House -- and when he's changing his position on one of their issues."

OK, I am not a cynical person. However, I feel I must point out a few things.

First, you may have missed it because we kept bumping up the Brady news to the top of the blog, but did you see that the teachers' union, of all groups, has decided that NONE of the candidates gave them what they wanted to hear about education?

"None of the above" actually won the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' endorsement vote -- after the union had each of the candidates come in for one-on-one meetings. (The press release is here.)

In it, PFT vice president Jerry T. Jordan said, "PFT members care a great deal about the election, but they are waiting for a clearly articulated vision about the future of the city's public schools."

Second, in our continuingly unscientific poll of the State of the Race with Fewer than 50 Days To Go (take it here!), our respondents have made one thing clear:

A solid half of them say that voters seem uninterested and disengaged.

Now, the responses are mounting -- and yet that stat remains absolutely unchanged. (About 25-30 percent of those surveyed say that voters are actually interested and engaged.)

Again, I am not a cynic, and I am heartened by how this race has become, in many ways, a showdown of issues. (Have you SEEN how many policy papers these folks have on their candidate pages? Crazy.) The candidates have told us what they'd like to do (even if they may have trouble paying for any of it) and then made themselves available to any voter who wants to see them live at a dizzying array of forums. If you want to pick a candidate based on the issues, your biggest problem is finding time to read everything available.

Still. Both the PFT vote and our teeny, unscientific survey have reminded me that 1) what the candidates are saying remains less than satisfying to even committed voters and 2) we've got a big challenge to reach those who aren't paying attention at all.

Dan and I will keep talking about this in the next 48 days or so.

Back to our 50 Days survey results...

Crime remains resolutely, unshakably the top issue, though education is making a newly strong showing. And our respondents cited a number of issues that they wish were more prominent, including gentrification and SEPTA:

"I would like to see the issue of public transportation brought more to the forefront. The main debates of crime prevention and environmental reform do touch on this issue some, but with the lease with SEPTA to ending as this new mayor is ushered in, I believe more time should be dedicated to this problem."

And Nutter is still tops among those we surveyed, with more than 40 percent of the vote. Knox is second, then Brady, Evans, and Fattah.

Since just about everything can be referred back to a Simpsons episode or line (that happens when you've been on the air for almost 20 years), I couldn't help but think of the above quote when I got this press release:

Citizens Uncover Philadelphia Law Prohibiting Casinos on North Delaware Avenue

PHILADELPHIA, PA: Today citizens publicly announced that they have uncovered a law prohibiting casinos in along North Delaware Avenue. The law is zoning code Ch 14-1624 which prohibits any venue whose primary purpose is "entertainment of guests and patrons" is allowed. Casinos would thus be excluded.

There's more. Read the whole thing.

Anyone wanna place your bets on whether this tactic will ultimately work?

There's a very good editorial in today's Daily News about Brady, Rendell, the Community College settlement and the art of fixing things in Philly.

Read it here.

Your SEPTA bus bounces over a pothole and narrowly misses a bicyclist who has been forced into traffic because this part of town still doesn't have bike lanes. You're going to be late to work again. Which is crazy, given the amount you pay for your weekly TransPass. And you know you can't afford to lose this job: your roommate is still out of work thanks to the School District's budget-trimming, and neither of you is sure how he's going to help pay the ridiculous rent your apartment is charging.

And jeez, doesn't anyone in Philly throw away garbage? There's today's Daily News blowing down the street, with yet another front page regarding yet another crooked politician. The record-setting murder rate isn't even making the front page anymore. There is something about casinos blowing over your foot -- that's the solution offered to a city of dwindling jobs, rising costs and skyrocketing crime? Doesn't anyone have a better idea? Can't anyone change the course the city seems to be determined to take? And what can you do about it, anyway?

YOU CAN VOTE.

The Next Mayor is delighted to announce that we are joining forces with Philebrity to make it even easier for you to change the city.

Soon, we will launch a joint voter-registration effort. We'll be throughout the city, signing up people who deserve a voice in this election.

In the meantime, however, we need help.

We're looking for volunteers for our effort. The work shouldn't be too hard, and the hours are good. Plus, you'll know that you made a real difference in Philadelphia.

If you are interested in being a volunteer, e-mail us here. And please e-mail this post to your friends and others. We want the leaders of this city to hear from all Philadelphians -- and that starts with you.

We have a sneak peek at Dwight Evans' arts plan -- it's here.

Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah also have released arts plans.

And, if you want to talk about this more, you can attend this event:

The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia today announced they will jointly host a mayoral forum on arts and culture issues. The April 15th forum, done in partnership with the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and Dance/Philadelphia, will run from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM at the Academy of Natural Sciences on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Doors open at 1:30 PM.

Josh over at Fight For Room 215, a blog that we're a big fan of, has been running his own version of March madness using local elected officials and candidates for office. Just like the real March Madness, his version is down to its Final Four... oh wait... their may be some copyrights involved here. Ok... for "March Madness" substitute "Late Winter Lunacy" and for "Final Four" we'll use "Ultimate Quad."

Anyway, the last people standing may surprise you.

Click on those links and vote. Unlike last spring, I doubt there will be as many machine breakdowns.

...I know that after today, almost all of the candidates will have tried to convince us that they do.

Joining Dwight Evans, Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, Michael Nutter will reveal his plan for arts and culture.

Sorry, no sneak preview. You'll have to trek over to Love Park at 12:30 today to get more. Or just check back here later. I'm sure the Nutter folks will send out details of the plan by 12:46 or so.

That will leave Tom Knox as the only candidate not to put out some kind of statement about arts and culture. If that's your major issue, you can ask him directly at the arts and culture mayoral forum on April 15th at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Ouch. Tom Knox takes a whoopin' from the City Paper:

Are you willing to present to City Council a proposal to put a cap on rents in Philadelphia and work toward a "bill of rights" for tenants?

After two weeks of phone and e-mail inquiries, and an in-person meeting between a CP staffer and a campaign spokesperson, Tom Knox declined to respond.

The italics is so that you know I'm citing someone else's work. The bold is actually in the web version of the City Paper.

How hard would it be to throw up some boilerplate answer, even if it's "no" and an explanation?

Put this together with candidate Fattah's hesitancy to release his financial records and we start to get a picture of what the media relations of some of the candidates will be like once they become mayor.

Considering that media relations has been a major weakness of the current mayor and could be used as an explanation as to why he has had a hard time getting broad support for his own programs, we should definitely pay attention to how the candidates deal with the media as things heat up down the stretch.

(edited to add, 4/2/07) In the comments for this post, Knox spokesperson, Susan Madrak, explains why candidate Knox did not answer the question posed by the City Paper.

Wendy has this on the front page and for good reason.

I've had some numbers written in big, green highlighter and taped to my cubicle for about two months, ever since I first got wind of the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board's "Tale of Two Cities" report (suggested subtitle: "It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times").

Those numbers are:

45% of working-age adults in Philadelphia are not working or looking for work.

That means Philadelphia ranks 96th out of the top 100 cities in labor force participation.

20% of 16-24 year-olds are not in school or working.

19-25% of adults without degrees are unemployed.

But wait, there's more. From the Daily News:

Getting Philadelphia's education levels - the number of people who have graduated from high school, for example, or have advanced degrees - up to equal the state's level would raise the city's potential tax base by $1.8 billion, or 10.5 percent, the report said.

Over 60 percent of the city's adults are considered "low-literate," meaning they have very poor reading skills.

Ok. I'm convinced.

WHYY's Susan Phillips captured an interesting moment on tape after yesterday's City Council session, during which Council voted to override the mayor's veto of the anti-casino ballot question.

here.

As the vote concluded, some members of the building trades unions and anti-casino activists got in a "tussle" outside of Council chambers.

Is it something about this particular issue that has the Council voting in such lockstep against the wishes of the building trades unions or is it a sign that those unions are losing influence in general?

Frank DiCicco, not very well-liked by certain segments of the building trades unions anyway (*cough*Dougherty*cough*), decided to throw a couple more rocks at the bee's nest with this quote (from the DN):

DiCicco responded by pointing out that Gillespie lives in Delaware County, adding, "If a casino was going to be placed within 1,500 feet of his suburban home, I think he'd be having the same argument and fighting for the same reasons that we are."

What do you think is going on here?

Now that I have your attention, here is Nutter's arts and culture plan. The section I'm referring to in the title says this:

Provide children with tickets to sporting events and cultural events by working with box owners, corporations and other patrons who do not use their tickets. When seats go empty and tickets are unused, the performers and athletes are not served. Providing students with the opportunity to attend these events broadens their world and creates an appetite for sports and arts and culture that helps the City in the long run.

I'd add that there should be more Phanatic Fun Zones at Citizen's Bank Park so that I... I mean, the kids have more places to get hot dogs and small sodas for a buck each.

I'd also add, that we can provide them an appetite for sports and arts and culture but since none of the mayoral candidates have talked about funding for the schools to provide arts education in the schools during the school day and after school sports, they'll have to satisfy that appetite on the streets.

To his credit, Nutter talks a little about afterschool arts programs two bullet points above the one cited.