You know, Fattah's ethics policy paper discusses campaign finance limits. And this is what it says:
Uphold the Law Regarding the City's Campaign Finance Limits. As Mayor, Chaka Fattah will enforce whatever the courts decide regarding the city's campaign finance limits. Mayor Fattah will work to establish a clear set of guidelines for all candidates for city offices to follow, ensuring a level playing field for everyone. Fattah will also strongly back efforts by Gov. Rendell to enact statewide campaign finance reform.
I am sure that Fattah's point is that there isn't a level playing field (hey, here's another opportunity to point out that even self-funded candidates can indeed be beholden to special interests!), and he wants the highest court possible to weigh in on this matter so that he has every opportunity to argue for a level playing field ... but this does seem like a relevant time to point that quote out.
Comments (7)
What may be the worst part of all this is that Fattah could very well have violated the rules with the way he spent his pre-campaign contributions. Since the board of ethics seems to be waiting on a court decision before enforcing the city's campaign finance laws, the cynic in me wonders if the appeal is an attempt at postponing any disciplinary action until after the election.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 3, 2007 3:51 PM
Dave,
I don't think that it is cynical to wonder this about Fattah's appeal. I think it is cynical of Fattah to argue that because Knox can loan himself unlimited $$$, we should toss donor restrictions out the window.
Furthermore, I don't think that it is cynical to assume that Fattah is in fact guilty of violating the campaign finance laws in question, (i.e. the spending of his "expolratory" committee on a promo website, etc.)and whether or not the law stands after the Supreme Court challenge, Fattah clearly thinks he is above the rules.
If this is the way the guy plays to get into office, imagine how 8 years of this kind of unethical behavior will take a toll on the city. We will wish for the days of John Street.
Also, after reading the backround on Fattah's accountant/financial manager and her ties to the very roots of those who spurred the FBI probe(at Phillyblog, Phillyville & at YPP), I am now convinced that Fattah has something to hide by not disclosing his tax information.
IF THE MEDIA WOULD DO THEIR JOB, and do a little digging, instead of leaving it up to the bloggers, I reason we would all come to see that Fattah has alot of skeletons in his closet. It would be suprising if he were clean after 30+ years of political service anywhere, let alone in this city.
On a related note- I am sick of YPP getting tons of props for being THE progressive voice on the web, when one of their two moderators, Ray Murphy, is employed by Fattah and has been more than usually biased when commenting on Fattah's shady dealings and defending him to the point of constant hostility toward other bloggers opinions on the matter. I'm glad that Daniel-UA is providing a counter voice on Fattah, but Ray's recent posts are, at least for me, undermining any progressive cred. they have built up over the years.
Posted by Liz | April 3, 2007 4:51 PM
I also heard that Ray Murphy also recently used the Philadelphians Against Santorum mailing list to send out a Fattah campaign advertisement, despite the fact that the user agreement for the list states that it will not be used for anything other than PAS communications.
Posted by Dave![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/nextmayor/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 3, 2007 5:12 PM
Could someone verify this?
Posted by Anonymous | April 4, 2007 10:28 AM
I can verify it. Last week Ray sent out an email under his name, but from Fattah for Mayor, to members of the Philly Against Santorum list encouraging them to come to a meeting with Fattah. Here's what the PAS privacy policy says:
"Email Newsletters and Action Alerts, Online Fundraising and Advocacy:
"The email addresses and other information collected from subscriptions,donations, advocacy campaigns or other opt-ins to the Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress newsletters are not sold, or disclosed to any third parties except for APNI, the company that provides and supports the software for this website. These addresses will only be used by our organization to send out Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress communications (for example, the Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress newsletters). You will not receive any mailings you did not request. The email addresses collected at Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress are stored on a server hosted by our technology provider Action Potential Networks Inc.."
Posted by Max | April 4, 2007 11:40 AM
Dan,
You are correct that "Groups sell and lend lists to other groups all the time"
But this is a progressive group with an explicit PAS privacy policy:
These addresses will only be used by our organization to send out Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress communications (for example, the Philadelphians Against Santorum, a campaign of PA PAC for Progress newsletters). You will not receive any mailings you did not request.
Is this what we expect of a progressive leader?
Posted by karen | April 4, 2007 3:37 PM
No, this is not what we expect from a "progressive" leader. Ray Murphy has essentially sold out Young Philly Politics and Philly Against Santorum to the Fattah campaign. It's not that I don't think that Ray has a right to do these things, I mean, he was a founder of both operations. I just think we should stop giving him so much credit for being "progressive" now that he is officially playing the game and is on the payroll of someone (Fattah) that is suing to overturn ethics laws here in Philly so that he can take big money donations (without which he seems to feel he can't win)! There is nothing progressive about that. I believe that Ray Murphy's politics are in fact less "progressive" and more of the
"politics is comprimise" slant. In other words, sell out Philly's ethics rules so that Fattah can try to help the poor. While this might sould great to Ray, this is an old school political P.O.V. in Philly (West Philly in particular, where Ray is from) and is not something I am comfortable to see this website constantly applauding.
Posted by Liz | April 4, 2007 4:06 PM