A longtime watchdog gets a peek inside

After almost three decades peering into city elections from the outside, Fred Voigt is finally getting an insider's view.

Voigt, of course, is the former longtime executive director of the political watchdog group Committee of Seventy, which is best known for monitoring campaigns and weighing in on frequent Election Day fiascoes.

The group is also, by its nature, devoutly nonpartisan.

But not Voigt, not any longer.

There he was at last week's city commissioners meeting, sitting at the far end of a long table where a draft ballot design for the May 15 primary was under intense review.

Tim Dowling, a document specialist in the commissioners office, took advantage of the gathering to announce that mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah neglected to file a campaign-finance report with his office. "If he is filing that report, he should be filing with us," Dowling said, looking down the table as he spoke.

"Who are you talking to?" asked one observer.

Answer: Voigt, who promised to "get the word back."

Voigt later explained he was a "volunteer attorney" with the Fattah campaign - but said he had nothing to do with the missing finance report. - Marcia Gelbart

That Chaka Fattah sure can make a great TV ad, right?

Or so says a small chunk of our fellow Philadelphians, according to last week's Daily News/Keystone mayoral poll. According to the survey, 85 percent of voters have seen a TV spot during the campaign. And though most of those surveyed said businessman Tom Knox's constant stream of ads had been the most memorable, 4 percent said it was Fattah's television campaign they best remembered.

One problem: Unlike rivals Bob Brady, Michael Nutter, Dwight Evans and Knox, Fattah hasn't run any television ads.

Of those surveyed, 65 percent said memorable ads - presumably the real ones as well as the imaginary ones - were more likely to make them vote for a candidate. - Michael Currie Schaffer

A $1 million Philadelphia computer consultant who was ensnared in a pay-to-play scandal is headed to jail - but not for work she did here.

Jeanette Foxworth spent part of 2003 and 2004 working on building Philadelphia's new water billing system - an $18 million project that is only now on its way to completion. Turns out Foxworth also spent part of that time conspiring with a former Connecticut state senator to use his influence to enrich her computer business.

At least that's what Foxworth was convicted of last week, when a Connecticut jury found her guilty of making a payoff to the former senator, Ernest E. Newton II. Newton was a friend of Foxworth's ex-husband, former NFL player Tony Elliott, who played for the New Orleans Saints in the 1980s. Elliott was not charged.

Foxworth, who faces up to 20 years, was the subject last year of a Philadelphia city controller's report, which found that officials here had hired her to work on "Project Ocean" without making formal checks on her experience and references.

Controller Alan Butkovitz isn't done vetting the project yet, either. In about a month, he expects to issue another report "that recites the history of the city's failed efforts to implement this program." - Marcia Gelbart

Endorsements are a dime a dozen in election season. Most make little difference, especially in City Council races where incumbents enjoy huge advantages over little-known challengers.

But there are a handful that do matter on Election Day, and at-large City Council candidate Bill Green - son of former Mayor William J. Green - is piling up a bunch of those that count.

Gov. Rendell gave Green his imprimatur last week, saying he would be "a breath of fresh air on Council."

Green is lining up big-time labor support as well. He said he had the backing of the politically powerful Local 98 electricians' union, headed by John Dougherty, and that of the Building Trades Council as well. Green is set to announce additional union backing today.

That's thousands of boots on the ground working on Green's behalf come Election Day. The value of Rendell's endorsement is harder to judge, but it can't hurt a candidate who is styling himself in the governor's image. It doesn't hurt either that Rendell is otherwise staying out of the Council campaigns. Green is the only candidate to get his support.

"There is nobody in this state I would rather have the support of," said Green, who has known Rendell since boyhood. - Patrick Kerkstra