Heard in the Hall

Democractic mayoral nominee has three "Town Hall" appearances on tap this month. The ever-careful-not-to-sound-presumptuous Team Nutter characterizes them as campaign stops, but Al Taubenberger won't be in the room.

October 17th – YMCA – 1724 Christian Street – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
October 20th – Boys and Girls club – 1709 Kinsey Street – 2 pm – 4 pm
October 25th – 5120 Chestnut Street – YMCA - 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this morning regarding the legality of the city's campaign finance law - almost 18 months since that question was first raised.

These days, with a mayor's race that is not much of a contested election, there has been little brouhaha over the law, which created the first-ever donor limits in Philadelphia elections.

Among other issues is the central matter of whether the city, under the state's election code, has the authority to regulate campaign contributions. State law is silent on the matter, which has left some people (the city itself as well as Democratic mayoral nominee Michael Nutter) arguing that the city is perfectly in its right to do so. Others (former mayoral candidate U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and labor leader John Dougherty) believe the city ordinance is unconstitutional.

This is an oversimplification of things, but one trial court ruled last year that the law was invalid, while another trial court said it wasn't. Then a Commonwealth Court in April declared it legal. Now it's the turn of the state's highest court.

No decision, of course, is immediately expected.

Tonight, dozens and dozens of them were stuck in the grass divider at Columbus Boulevard and also across the fences and walls not very far away. They were blue and red and green and yellow. They were square and rectangular, sort-of-large and extraordinary large.

CAMPAIGN SIGNS! FINALLY!

Yes, Election Day is three weeks away - and here at long last in this lackluster campaign season was indisputable evidence.

The occasion: The Democratic City Committee's pre-election day fundraiser, held at the cavernous Sheet Metal Workers Hall.

"There are too many people who think this election is done. It is not done!" shouted party chairman Bob Brady, squashed on the dais by the dozens of candidates - for judge, City Council, statewide jobs - that he had just called up to join him.

And then he announced the main attraction: "The next mayor of Philadelphia - Mayor. Michael. Nutter!"

And Nutter for the first time had before him an audience he never quite had before. "It's party time! It's party time! It's Democratic Party time!... Bob Brady is absolutely right. This election is not over," he continued, repeating that 22 - "22! 22!" - days remain.

But so much for the pomp and circumstance. On to two of the more memorable happenings of the night.

The first was the appearance of Tom Knox who Brady, in his good-natured way, made a point of inviting up to the dais. (Knox has said he is interested in running for governor or a U.S. Senate seat, and tonight he sought to affirm that. "I'm going to do something," he said.)

So along with Nutter, there on a shared stage stood three of the five candidates who ran in the May primary - Brady and Knox (the former archenemies) and Nutter.

Brady referred to it as something about "showing Democratic unity."

The second intriguing episode happened a short time after. As Nutter exited the stage and worked the crowd, he stopped at a certain table to take a photo.

It was with state Rep. Frank Oliver, the party treasurer, and Councilwoman Carol Campbell, the party secretary who last year denounced Nutter for "sticking a knife in my back."

Campbell's likely successor - she lost her seat in the primary - had a word for that picture. "It's an oxymoron," said Curtis Jones. "An oxymoron."

So exactly how unnoticed and underplayed are the current campaigns being waged for an election that is three weeks away?

Consider that, to date, just 1,294 absentee ballot requests have been received, says the city's election board.

It's a number that, when he heard it today, made City Commissioner Edgar Howard shake his head.

In 2003, when Sam Katz challenged Mayor Street, unsuccessfully and for the second time, more than 10,000 people had sought out absentee ballots.

How's that comparison for an indicator of voter turnout Nov. 6?

An animated Michael Nutter held forth at a South Philadelphia town hall tonight, swinging back-and-forth between his familiar wonkish riffs on taxes and a rhetorical style that can only be likened to that of an African American minister or some sort of populist rabble-rouser.
He was working the cadence, the repetition, the call-and-response, the whole thing.

Judging by the reaction of the crowd, Nutter pulled it off. He was emphatic, he was passionate, he was ... distinctly mayoral. The event was held in a cavernous YMCA gym, which helped lend a church hall feel to the meeting, but it made for terrible recording acoustics. We have some fuzzy audio which we'll try to clean up and bring to you tomorrow, but for now, take a look at some of what he said.

On Philly's Dirty Streets & Looking Out For Each Other
When we were younger we didn't need a law, we didn't need a bill, we didn't need a resolution, we didn't need a government to tell us: come outside and sweep your steps, wash down your sidewalk and make your neighborhoods clean. We didn't need anybody to tell us that because we cared. About where we lived and who we were and what we were about. We need to bring that back, a sense of community pride, a sense of ownership, a sense of caring about each other. We are our brothers and sisters keepers. We ARE our brothers and sisters keepers. And we need to pay more attention to what goes on next door and down the street. Now I understand from time to time you might see a kid doing something wrong and you say, 'well I don't want to say anything to the kid because they might say something back to me.' Say something. Say something. Show that you care. They're looking for direction and they need your help.

On Voting For Change
We're sick and tired of what's been going on. We're sick and tired of corruption in our own City Hall. We're sick and tired of indictments coming down like raindrops, here in the city. We're sick and tired of being sick and tired. And that's what happened, and that's what that election was all about. Well let's finish what we started in the primaries, because there is an election on Nov. 6. ... Because if you want change in the city, you got to come out and vote for it, ain't nobody giving up nothing for free. Bring a friend, bring a neighbor, bring a family member, bring somebody you don't even like...

What I need to know is... are you ready? Are you ready for change? Are you ready for change in this city? Have you had enough of what's going on? Do you want to get a job opputunity up in here? Do you want to make a safe neighborhood? Do you want to create economic opportunity?

On Supreme Court Elections
They only handle the big cases. You know, things like whether there should be a school takeover or not. Who should be in charge of the Parking Authority. Who's going to run the Convention Center. Or whether or not we should have gaming in this city. All decdied by the Pennsylvania Supreme Sourt. Some folks think that we're not going to show up to vote, and they can just go and grab two Supreme Court seats and three Superior Court seats, and let them have the mayors race and we'll run the city and the state by holding the court system. ... I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so.

Note: file photo from election night.

Never let it be said that Vern Anastasio shies away from a fight. The South Philly Democrat, fresh off a brutal May defeat at the hands of Councilman Frank DiCicco, appears to be contemplating a challenge against none other than Congressman Bob Brady.
We haven't yet spoken to Anastasio, but he's emailing supporters to let them know he's considering it.

Update: Brady didn't talk to us directly, but here's what he told press secretary Karen Warrington: "The congressman says, 'let him run, the more the merrier, join the party.'" Still no word from Anastasio.

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CONFIDENTIAL. DO NOT FORWARD.
October 19, 2007

Hello Friends:

First, I want to thank you, again, for joining Leslie and I in last Spring's primary. As an official member of GFOV (Good Friends of Vern) you helped us do about as well or better than any challenger against any elected incumbent in City Council. We sure did have fun.

I have some exciting news. I wanted to let you know that a small group of supporters and I are exploring an exciting opportunity -- getting involved with next Spring's Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District seat in Pennsylvania.

We're now exploring this opportunity as we gauge what it might take to stand for such an important post.

Why would I run?

(rest after the jump...)

This clip really speaks for itself. From Saturday's televised debate.

Hat tip Philadelphia Will Do.

Another great YouTube moment, posted first over at Metropolis. Democratic traffic court nominee Willie Singletary - he of the suspended license and $11,000 in moving violation fines - appeals to a crowd of bikers for their financial support. Singletary pretty much comes right out and tells them he'll be their friend if he's elected and they find themselves in his courtroom.

Opponents of Eighth District City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller have long had a problem: There have been too many of them on the ballot.

Enter this year's Independent challengers, who don't want to see the opposition vote split again, giving the Democrat another term in office.

Tomorrow, the Rev. Jesse W. Brown Jr. and Jim Foster say they will sign an agreement that whoever gets at least two of three newspaper endorsements will be the Independent candidate. The other will waive the white flag.

Brown is already ahead of the game, with the Inquirer's support. The deciding factors will be the decisions of the Daily News, and City Paper.

Miller will still face Green Party candidate Brian Rudnick. But as for the Independents, Foster said the candidate who bows out will tell supporters to help elect the other Independent candidate: "We have decided it would be beter to have one of us go against the Miller machine," he said.

No surprise here. Democratic Mayoral nominee Michael Nutter has said in the past that he's got a good relationship with new DC 47 president Cathy Scott. He'll need it. Scott and Nutter will soon be sitting on opposite sides of the table, trying to hammer out a new labor deal that works for DC 47's members and solidifies the city's shaky financial position. It's going to be a major challenge for the next mayor.

David Oh's hitting the airwaves this weekend, with an ad touting his Inquirer editorial board endorsement and the other organizations backing his candidacy.

One thing that doesn't come up at all? The fact that David Oh is a Republican candidate for City Council.

Oh's campaign manager says you can spot the ad on the big network channels this weekend.

The Committee of Seventy sent out a press release earlier (see posting below) announcing tomorrow morning’s first scheduled address by Philadelphia’s newly-elected mayor.

But the watchdog group never meant to say WHO that mayor would be.

That part of the news release – saying the speech would be delivered by the “New Mayor-Elect of Philadelphia (likely Democratic and former City Councilman Michael Nutter)” - was apparently inserted by the media firm, Bellevue Communications, that Seventy hired to get the news out.

“It had been edited to include the name of the likely winner of tonight’s election,” Seventy vice president Ellen Mattleman Kaplan told us a few moments ago. “The Committee of Seventy would never have named the winner of the election prior to the outcome.”

That's the view of the Inquirer's Tom Ferrick. Take a look at his analysis here.

Answer: Not a heck of a lot of familiar faces.

In fact, if anything underscored the lackluster Election Day that was yesterday, it was the lack of hype and buzz at The Palm at lunchtime today.

That doesn't mean the place was totally uninteresting.

New City Councilman Bill Green took up a chair at a table of half-a-dozen plus union members of John Dougherty's Local 98. He said he plans to catch up on his sleep for the next day or two, and then get to work building his staff.

Also munching away was campaign ad man Neil Oxman. His lunch guest: Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball.

The Mayor-elect talks about new days and new ways. Here are the people he has selected to make it happen.

Philadelphia, November 28, 2007 – Today Mayor-elect Michael Nutter announced the co-chairs for his transition team. This committee will work to prepare for the Nutter Administration in January 2008.

“I am very excited about the extraordinary talent and diverse experience of the individuals who have agreed to serve on my Transition Team. These people have stepped forward to serve their city and will be helping us prepare as we build towards the beginning of my administration in January,” said Nutter.

To read more, click here.

From Inquirer reporter Joseph A. Gambardello

This may not qualify as guerrilla campaigning, but state Senate candidate John J. Dougherty’s people have struck on a way to get name recognition with young voters on a Friday night. A pub crawl.

Traveling in a trolley, Dougherty supporters -- including some eye catching young women -- visit selected bars. They wear Dougherty for Senate badges hand out literature and where possible also put up posters. Of course, they also patronize the bar they are visiting.

Two stops on Friday by 14 supporters included Tir Na Nog at 16th and Arch and the Public House at Logan Square.

Keely Wittrock, 26, of Port Richmond, said taking part in the pub crawls allows her to both show her support for Dougherty and to get people of her generation to vote.

“We have all the power in the world to make a change,” she said.

Rose O’Brien, 25, of Fishtown, said she backs Johnny Doc because “he will fight for the working class.”

Does it work?

There’s no way to tell, but when was the last time you heard a conversation about a state Senate race in the men’s room,?

Democratic City Committee just voted to endorse electricians' union leader John Dougherty for the First District Senate seat.
Why is this odd? Two years ago, Dougherty was ousted as city committee treasurer, largely because of a squabble he was having with Democratic Party chairman Bob Brady.
Why is this not odd? With seemingly endless campaign funds to draw from thanks to the union dues of his members, Dougherty has plently of GOTV money to spread around now, and in years to come.
The entire City Committee did not vote at the noon meeting, only those ward leaders who live in the First District.
Larry Farnese, Dougherty's opponent in the primary along with Anne Dicker, lambasted Dougherty, calling him a "thug" in a statement to City Committee provided below.