Clout: Dems targeting Gerlach

SOME CONSIDER Friday the 13th a lucky day, while others wring their hands with worry. Clout is picking up a good news/bad news vibe for U.S. Rep.

Jim Gerlach

, the Chester County Republican who is leaving his suburban seat to run in next May's primary election for governor.

The Democratic National Committee this week declared that it will target Gerlach and 31 other Republicans in the U.S. House who voted against the health-care- reform bill. They represent districts that President Obama won in the 2008 general election. That's the good news, since Gerlach needs the support of Republican-primary voters, who tend to trend very conservative.

What's better than free advertising from the DNC?

On the flip side, Gerlach's bad news is that he will have to battle for those same voters with state Rep. Sam Rohrer, a very conservative Berks County Republican expected to enter the gubernatorial primary on Tuesday. The legislative districts now represented by Gerlach and Rohrer overlap. That may kick Gerlach right in the base.

Gerlach's campaign was happy to hear about the DNC plans. "If they want to help us raise Jim's profile that's great," Gerlach spokesman Kori Walter said. "We appreciate all the help we can get."

No close shave for Brady

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady is still sporting a thick head of hair, despite the howls of his Yankee-loving colleagues from New York. Brady challenged the congressmen from that state during the World Series to a head-shaving bet. He put his mane of mostly gray hair on the line, vowing to shave it to a Mohawk or off completely if the Phillies lost.

A dispute ensued.

Brady says nobody took him up on the bet. U.S. Rep. John Hall, a bald New York Democrat, says he accepted the Brady challenge. Now the New Yorkers are talking trash about Brady. Imagine our surprise.

"He's bald," Brady exclaimed when we asked him about the to-do over his hair-do. "Do you think I am that dumb, from the city of Philadelphia, to bet somebody something that they can't give, that they can't deliver?"

A Variety of problems

These are tough economic times for charities. And nobody knows that more than the local chapter of the Variety Club, which runs numerous programs and a camp for children with disabilities.

Executive Director Andrew Pack appears on his way out as the charity confronts a $1.4 million deficit. A big part of that comes from the discovery that federal payroll-withholding taxes haven't been paid for months.

Pack told us yesterday that he discovered the problem, which he blamed on a bookkeeper, in July, and tried to devise a solution. The charity's board just learned about it in the last month.

"I tried to fix it," Pack said. "My read on this was I truly could have gotten them out of this by raising money. And I feel like they didn't stand behind me."

The board met last night and installed John Dougherty, leader of the local electricians union, as president. Dougherty, active for years in the charity, had been serving in the less-public role of chairman before yesterday. Variety Club spokesman Jeff Jubelirer said the good news is that no programs or services are being cut and no layoffs are planned.

Council PR contract still a go?

Mayor Nutter's team just announced that the city is facing yet-another deficit - $31 million - by the end of next June. City Council, meanwhile, is mulling two offers from local communications firms to provide "strategic planning and communications services."

Price tag: $80,000 to $100,000 for a year with options to renew for up to three more years. Predicted first assignment: Explaining why Council is spending that kind of money when the city keeps running short of cash. We caught up with Council President Anna Verna this week and she saw the question coming. "You and I are on the same wavelength," Verna said when we asked if the contract was a good idea at this time. "It's an issue."

We hear Bill Miller of Ross Communications, who was awarded a $25,000 contract to do the same sort of work for Council last year, bid for the new deal with a rate of $150 to $200 an hour, depending on which employee was handling Council business. We also hear that Kevin Feeley, a former city spokesman when Ed Rendell was mayor, who runs Bellevue Communications, bid a $100 hourly rate.

Quotable:

"I was elected to go after people if they've done wrong. Even if

they've helped me, if they do wrong, we're going to go after them."

- State Attorney General Tom Corbett, responding to critics who think he should not lead a massive political-corruption case while running for governor.