Clout: Is Katz out of the bag for Democratic mayoral run?
PHILLYCLOUT confession time: We were a bit doubtful that Sam Katz would really run a fourth campaign for mayor, this time as a Democrat, when we first wrote about it in May.
PHILLYCLOUT confession time: We were a bit doubtful that
Sam Katz
would really run a fourth campaign for mayor, this time as a Democrat, when we first wrote about it in May.
We figured Katz enjoyed that people were asking him to consider it. And it couldn't hurt that the buzz was coming just as Katz was looking for funding to complete a documentary series on the history of Philadelphia.
But now we think there could be much more to this, in part because Katz may be reaching out to the very people who helped former Mayor John Street defeat him in their 2003 rematch.
Shawn Fordham, a former Street aide in City Hall who ran the 2003 campaign, says "three or four" Democrats have asked if he is interested in running a primary-election campaign next year to challenge Mayor Nutter.
Was one of them Katz?
"I would prefer not to comment on that," said Fordham, who now manages an office in Washington for the Social Security Administration but still lives in Philadelphia. "I don't want to put anybody out there."
And then there is Tracy Hardy and the political field work he just wrapped up in Washington for council president Vincent Gray's successful Democratic primary challenge this week against Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Hardy worked on Street's 2003 re-election campaign and in his administration and then did field work for Tom Knox's campaign for mayor in 2007. Knox this week said he would run against Nutter in the primary if Katz doesn't.
Hardy told us he went to work for Gray at Fordham's suggestion and has heard from both the Katz camp and the Knox camp about the possibility of a run next year.
"I know they expressed some concerns," Hardy said about Nutter's time in office. "Right now we're just conversating."
'Shame of a City,' a sequel?
Speaking of 2003, local documentary filmmaker Tigre Hill should be available to film a sequel to "The Shame of a City," his captivating behind-the-scenes look at Katz's last run for mayor.
Hill's new film, "The Barrel of a Gun," recounts the conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Sure to generate some controversy will be a cameo appearance by the same two New Black Panther Party members who caused a stir during the presidential election in 2008, when they stood outside a North Philadelphia polling place as "security," armed with a night stick and an attitude.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit in January 2009, alleging that the pair engaged in voter intimidation, won a default judgment, then dropped the case.
The case is a favorite touchstone of outrage for Fox News and right-wing bloggers.
The fact that one of the New Black Panthers is heard in the film saying, "Kill every cracker you can find" should provide for plenty of cable-news fodder.
Hill's film premieres Tuesday night at the Merriam Theater.
Tickets can be bought at Kimmelcenter.org. Proceeds benefit the Daniel Faulkner Education Fund.
Nice work, if you can get it
Question: What do you call a city worker who gets a six-figure DROP payment, a pension check and then a consulting contract?
Answer: A friend of Council.
Council yesterday handed former staffer Charles McPherson a fat $125,000 consulting contract for a year of budget advice.
McPherson, 60, was Council's chief financial adviser until he retired in April 2009, after 37 years, departing with a $528,434 Deferred Retirement Option Plan payment and an annual pension of $113,500.
Before McPherson's departure, Council President Anna Verna tried and failed to get his retirement date extended by a year. Since his departure, McPherson has essentially continued to do his old job as a volunteer. Under state law he was not eligible to receive a contract until at least one year had passed.
Asked if the contract - subject to an open-bid process - looked bad given the city's tough fiscal times, Verna said she needs McPherson because "Council does not have the expertise to be dealing with these outside issues."
And on the question of whether the contract was tailor-made for McPherson, Verna snapped: "That's not true."
McPherson didn't respond to a request for comment made through Council's press office.
Quotable:
"They spent 140 hours and millions of dollars and your time investigating my Christmas-card list. I couldn't make this up."
- Former President Bill Clinton, predicting that the GOP will spend the next two years investigating President Obama's administration if it takes control of Congress in November.
Staff writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
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