I see that Arlen Specter has raised close to $10 million so far and that he has $9.3 million in the bank. Pat Tommey is sitting on $1.8 million.
philly.com
Also, it looks like Philadelphia could be in line for a new mayor.
opinionjournal.com
Well, Dog My Katz!
A conservative just may be the next mayor of Philadelphia.
Thursday, October 16, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT
PHILADELPHIA--A century ago, the muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens described Philadelphia as "corrupt and contented." Back then, the City of Brotherly Love was being shaken down by a Republican machine. About 1950, that machine collapsed and was replaced by a Democratic one, with which the overtaxed city now is no longer "contented." Challenging its dominance is an unlikely Republican reformer running in next month's mayoral election. If he wins, Sam Katz could initiate the kind of reform agenda that Rudy Giuliani used to revive New York in the 1990s.
Mr. Katz, a 53-year-old businessman, exemplifies the way a lot of liberal baby boomers have come to mature politically. In the 1960s he protested the Vietnam War. In the 1970s he managed the campaigns of many liberal candidates in Philadelphia--including that of former civil-rights activist and congressman Bill Gray. In the 1980s, Mr. Katz became head of the nation's largest municipal finance advisory firm, and he gradually became disenchanted with liberal solutions. In the 1990s he ran twice for mayor on a free-market platform, losing four years ago to Democrat John Street by one percentage point.
Now he is again challenging Mr. Street by calling for an end to Philadelphia's status as the city with the highest wage taxes and car insurance costs in the country. Many of his proposals were echoed yesterday when the city's Tax Reform Commission issued an interim report recommending reductions in the taxes and regulations that have helped lower the city's population by 6% since 1990. The Pennsylvania Economy League found that city residents considering leaving reported the wage tax was the biggest factor weighing on their minds, with 60% saying the "additional tax burden outweighed the benefits that come with living here."
Mayor Street says the city can't afford more reductions in the wage tax without affecting basic services. He touts what he says has been a successful Neighborhood Transformation Initiative that floods drug-infested neighborhoods with extra police patrols.
But whatever positive aspects of his record the mayor brings up are overshadowed by discussion of a federal investigation into corruption in his office. Earlier this month, police officers found a state-of-the-art listening device in the mayor's office that had been placed there by the FBI with a judge's approval. For two weeks the bug picked up conversations the mayor had with a select group of visitors. The mayor says he is guilty of no wrongdoing but has acknowledged that he is a "subject" of the federal investigation. That term means he is within the scope of the investigation but not a "target" in imminent danger of being indicted.
Mayor Street has operated under a cloud of controversy ever since his 1999 statement that people who gave to his campaign would have a better chance to win city contracts and those who didn't couldn't expect much. In a radio debate this week, Mr. Street contended he only meant to say that his contributors would have a "greater chance" of getting lucrative contracts. Among the contracts that have proved controversial during his term are one for $13.6 million at Philadelphia International Airport with a firm that had ties to Mr. Street's brother, Milton Street. This past summer, federal authorities issued a subpoena for 25,000 pages of documentation on the contract and how it came to be issued. Another subpoena has been sought for records from the city's Minority Business Enterprise Council.
Despite the ethical cloud that threatens to engulf the mayor, he would normally be considered a favorite for re-election in a city where Al Gore won 80% of the vote in 2000. Voter fraud has also been documented as playing a role in deciding close elections in Philadelphia, where the voter-registration list has more names than the city has adult residents. But this year those factors may not be enough.
Mr. Katz didn't win a single union endorsement in his photo-finish loss to Mr. Street in 1999. This year, the city's largest municipal workers' union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has broken with the mayor over his management style and endorsed Mr. Katz. Last month, a meeting between the mayor and AFSCME members turned into a shouting match, during which Mr. Street yelled that he would "win this election without you if I have to!"
Other unions that are backing Mr. Katz include the Firefighters, the Housing Authority Police, the Gas Workers, the Communications Workers, the Food and Commercial Workers and the Painters union. While their support has led him to soft pedal calls he made in previous campaigns for the use of competitive bidding in some city services, Mr. Katz doesn't appear to have made major concessions in exchange for their support.
The voters Mr. Katz has the most trouble with are blacks, who make up 43% of the city. Mayor Street has tried to energize them by claiming the federal investigation of his office is part of a White House effort to discredit a black mayor. No polls have been taken on what effect that message is having with minority voters. Certainly Mr. Katz is making more of an effort in black neighborhoods than he did in the past, partly by calling for better policing that takes into account the suspicions many minorities have of the local men in blue.
One of Mr. Katz's most effective commercials features Robin Holts, a Democratic lawyer, who looks at the camera and says, "I don't care about your color; I don't care about your political party affiliation. I'm looking for the person who has my best interest at heart. This is the City of Brotherly Love, and the brother I'm voting for is Sam Katz." Next month's election will test whether Mr. Katz's emphasis on creating jobs and economic growth overcomes the traditional suspicion minorities have of white candidates in Philadelphia.
Mr. Fund is a contributor to OpinionJournal's Political Diary, a premium e-mail service edited by Holman Jenkins. Click here for subscription information and sample columns. |
