Republican real estate agent John Featherman files for 2011 Philly mayoral election

As a Republican, real estate agent John Featherman knows it is nearly impossible for him to get elected mayor of Philadelphia, where most voters are Democrats.

But Tuesday, he filed paperwork for the 2011 race, saying he wanted "to make sure that Nutter understands that there are people who don't agree with what he's done."

Featherman, who works for Prudential Fox & Roach, said he had been upset about tax increases and about the failure to create a more business-friendy climate.

"If you're an Amazon.com, you're not going to come here," he said, because the city taxes business revenue, even if firms don't make a profit.

Nutter, too, has called for ending that levy, known as the gross-receipts tax, but backed away from such plans as the economic meltdown created a $150 million hole in the budget.

Featherman, 45, also has been a critic of his own party, which is rife with conflict over the continued leadership of Michael Meehan.

In announcing Featherman's candidacy Tuesday, Michael Cibik, Fifth Ward Republican leader, said Featherman would "reform the stagnant and ineffective Republican City Committee, along with energizing, expanding, and developing a new Republican base here in Philadelphia so we finally have a viable two-party system in the City of Brotherly Love."

Featherman has run for political office before, including a 2007 effort to unseat Democrat Vivian Miller as clerk of quarter sessions. She recently retired amid allegations of poor performance in her office.