Goodman mayoral candidacy adds to question of race in campaign

In Philadelphia political campaigns, it's called the racial math.

A leading candidate can see his or her prospects diminish if someone of the same race becomes a candidate for the same public office.

The numbers are starting to add up for State Sen. Anthony H. Williams' bid for mayor - and not in a good way for him.

The Rev. Keith Goodman, senior pastor of the North Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church, said he will announce Sunday afternoon his candidacy for mayor in the May 19 Democratic primary election.

That will make Goodman, 42, the fourth African American in an expanding Democratic field of seven candidates. Williams is also African American, as are former State Sen. T. Milton Street Sr. and former PGW spokesman Doug Oliver.

Asked during a recent interview about political gamesmanship and the impact his candidacy could have on Williams, Goodman took a long pause.

"I think he's a nice person," Goodman said. "I sense that, as a career politician, he is willing to take special-interest money for things that don't always benefit the people that I serve."

Goodman pointed to public-education funding as an area where he and Williams will likely clash.

Williams, a supporter of charter schools, ran for governor in 2010 on a pro-school-voucher platform. The founders of a hedge-fund firm in Bala Cynwyd gave Williams more than $5 million for that run and are expected to spend big to back him for mayor.

Dawn Chavous, Williams' campaign manager, said she knows Goodman and "spoke to him recently about his plan to run." Asked if racial math came up in that discussion, she declined to comment.

"I was pretty surprised by the fact that he decided to do this," Chavous said. "But I told him everyone has the right to run."

Goodman said he has met with former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. and City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, seeking their counsel about a campaign.

Goode calls Goodman "a very talented young man with special gifts" for music, preaching, and community organizing. Goode also calls Williams the "leading black candidate" and sees the numbers starting to turn against him.

"It's a math game," Goode said. "I think there's no question that, if you have two or three African Americans, then the person who might have been the leading candidate might be hurt by that mathematical game."

The Rev. Terrence Griffith, president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, agrees. He said adding another black candidate for mayor can hurt Williams' chances to win.

The Williams campaign was the only one Saturday to say it received advance notice of Goodman's intentions.

Street was caught off-guard especially, saying that he had been leaving messages for Goodman for some time, seeking to use his church at 16th and Oxford Streets for his own official campaign announcement.

Instead, Street said he will hold that event Tuesday at a different church, 10 blocks from Goodman's.

Street predicted Goodman will have little impact on his campaign.

"I think he will probably do Sen. Williams some damage," Street said.

Lauren Hitt, spokeswoman for former City Councilman James Kenney, who is white, said his campaign knew nothing about Goodman becoming a candidate.

Stuart Rosenberg, campaign manager for former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who is also white, said she knew nothing about Goodman's plans.

Nelson Diaz, a Latino, didn't know about Goodman's candidacy, according to a spokesman.

Goodman says he hasn't seen any candidate focusing on matters of importance to the people he pastors to. "I think that, as an African American who pastors to a predominantly African American church, if I speak to those issues there are people in the community who will connect to it."

The racial math has sparked controversy before.

Opponents of Ed Rendell's successful 1991 mayoral campaign used the motto "Show Burrell, run Rendell" to suggest that former City Councilman George Burrell, an African American, was running to split the black vote in the Democratic primary to benefit Rendell, who is white.

Republican Sam Katz in 2003 accused then-Mayor John F. Street of pushing for John McDermott to run as the Constitution Party candidate for mayor to split the white vote. McDermott was thrown off the ballot due to problems with his nomination petitions, which were circulated by supporters of Street's campaign.

Goodman may face his own legal challenge as a candidate. He said he lived in Philadelphia from 1999 to 2003 and then moved to Chester, where he was working at another church. Goodman, who ran as a Democrat for the Chester City Council in 2005 but lost, moved back to Philadelphia only last month.

Philadelphia's Home Rule Charter says "the Mayor shall have been a resident of the City for at least three years preceding his election" and be 25 or older.

"I realize I might face a legal challenge from someone at some point," said Goodman, who notes that the charter does not say "consecutive" when describing the three-year requirement. "It's worth a try."

A candidate supporting a challenge against Goodman would have to consider the public perception of fighting in court to remove a church leader from the ballot.

215-854-5973 @byChrisBrennan