Candidates aplenty
for May’s primary

Campaign Bits
By Tom Waring

The May 15 primary ballot will be crowded, judging by the number of candidates who filed by the March 6 deadline.
The highest-profile race is the Democratic contest for mayor. The candidates are U.S. Reps. Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, state Rep. Dwight Evans, former City Councilman Michael Nutter, retired business executive Tom Knox, activist Queena Bass and minister Jesus White.
The winner will take on Republican Al Taubenberger, president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, who is unopposed in the GOP primary.
Voters will elect seven at-large Council members. Each party nominates five candidates.
The Republicans are incumbents Frank Rizzo and Jack Kelly, along with lawyers David Oh and Patricia Mattern and Phil Kerwick, a ward leader and candy company owner from Burholme.
There are 21 Democrats in the race. In a sign of weakness among Northeast Democrats, the only local contender is former state Sen. Milton Street, who lists his home address on Anchor Street in Wissinoming. Street was going to run for mayor but dropped out because the race already includes three strong black candidates.
Other at-large Democratic candidates are incumbents Jim Kenney, Wilson Goode Jr., Blondell Reynolds Brown, Juan Ramos and Bill Greenlee and challengers Matt Ruben, Harry Massele, Derek Green, Sharif Street, Alexander Wilson, Andrew Toy, Rodney Little, Lurina Marshall-Blake, Caryn Hunt, Marc Stier, Ben Ramos, Michael Ellis, Jessie Brown, Bill Green Jr. and Maceo Cummings.
In local district Council races, Frank DiCicco (D-1st dist.) will face Henry Lewandowski and Vern Anastasio in the primary. Michael Seidenberg is the Republican candidate.
Councilman Darrell Clarke (D-5th dist.) will meet Haile Johnston and John Longacre in the primary. No Republican filed.
Councilwoman Joan Krajewski (D-6th dist.) is unopposed, as is Republican Michael Ebsworth.
Councilman Dan Savage (D-7th dist.) will take on Maria Quinones-Sanchez and Marnie Aument-Loughrey in the primary. The Republican candidate is Gary Grisafi.
Councilwoman Marian Tasco (D-9th dist.) has three primary opponents: Ray Jones, Lamont Thomas and Cecil Hankins. There is no Republican.
Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.) and his Democratic opponent, Sean McAleer, are both unopposed.
Voters will elect three city election commissioners, with each party nominating two candidates. Incumbent Republican Joe Duda’s running mate is Patrick J. Carroll, a painter from Fox Chase. Incumbent Democrats Marge Tartaglione and Edgar Howard are joined on the ballot by Warren Bloom, Blair Talmadge and Anthony Clark.
Democrat Ron Donatucci, the register of wills, and Republican Dan Salvatore are unopposed in the primary. Sheriff John Green will face two opponents in the Democratic primary: Michael Untermeyer and Jacque Whaumbush. Vivian Miller, the clerk of quarter sessions court, is being challenged by Elaine Tomlin in the primary. The Republican is John Featherman.
Voters will elect three Traffic Court judges. Filing as Republicans were Scott Cummings of Mayfair, Fred Mari of Fox Chase and Bernie Strain. All three are also running on the Democratic ticket along with Mike Lowry of Mayfair, Candido Silva Jr. of Frankford, Wayne Johns, Sandra Mills, Curtis Alton McAllister, John Connelly, Robert Mulgrew, Brenda Reavis, Willie Singletary, Betty Townes, Albert Littlepage and Helen Hellon Divers.
Voters will elect four judges to Common Pleas Court and two to Municipal Court.
Filing as Republicans for Common Pleas Court were Stephen Conaway, Joyce Eubanks, Alice Dubow, Joseph Murphy, Marvin Williams and Michael Erdos. They also filed as Democrats, along with Rosa Ryan, Gerard Shotzbarger, Sandjai Weaver, Daniel Rendine, Elvin Ross, Ellen Green-Ceisler, Thomas Nocella, Scott O’Keefe, Linda Carpenter, Wendy Pew, Thomas Martin, Angeles Roca, Greg Coleman, Beverly Muldrow, Meredith Seigle-DiClaudio, Joseph O’Neill, Daniel Anders, Diane Thompson, Donna Woelpper, Christian Clemente and Robert Coleman. Ryan, Shotzbarger and Weaver live in the Northeast.
Murphy and Joseph Waters are the Republican candidates for Municipal Court. They also filed as Democrats, along with Shotzbarger, Weaver, Eubanks, Seigle-DiClaudio, O’Neill, Thompson, Robert Coleman, Sean Kennedy, Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde and Robert Kline.
Candidates file for both court races in hopes of getting the party endorsement and a favorable ballot position. Most will choose to drop out of one of the races.
Statewide, voters will elect two candidates to both Supreme Court and Superior Court.
Seamus McCaffery, a Superior Court judge from Bustleton, is among four Democrats running for Supreme Court. The others are Willis Berry, Debra Todd and C. Darnell Jones II. The Republicans are Paul Panepinto, Maureen Lally-Green and Mike Krancer.
The Democratic candidates for Superior Court are Anne Lazarus, Ron Folino, John Milton Younge, Timothy McCormick, Christine Donohue, James DeLeon and Jimmy Lynn. The Republicans are Bruce Bratton, Jacqueline Shogan and Cheryl Lynn Allen.

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Fattah, a Democrat who is leading in the early polls for mayor, visited George Washington High School last week. He was invited by senior Chris Haines, the school’s representative on the citywide student government board.
The seven-term congressman, who ousted incumbent Democrat Lucien Blackwell in 1994, visited several classrooms, where he blamed the nation’s rising debt on the costly war in Iraq. In his talk, the 50-year-old lawmaker encouraged the young people to get involved in the political process. In his case, he ran and lost for city commissioner in 1979, then was elected to the state House of Representatives three years later to become that chamber’s youngest member.
Fattah teamed with the city and School District of Philadelphia to create College Opportunity Resources for Education/Philadelphia — known as CORE Philly — to provide freshman-year tuition for high school graduates attending Temple, Community College of Philadelphia or 13 state universities.
"The future with a college degree is much better than without one," he said, adding that a study shows college graduates earn an average of $1.3 million more in their lifetime than non-graduates.
If elected, Fattah will hire 200 individuals to work on education and other issues with families with children. The coordinators will be assisted by city agencies.
On the topic of crime, Fattah mentioned his support for an anonymous tipline that individuals can call to report illegal guns. If the weapon is seized and the owner arrested, the tipster will receive $1,000. A related program provides a $200 grocery credit and two tickets to a 76ers game to anyone who turns in a gun.
"They can turn them in, no questions asked," he said.
To raise money for some of his initiatives, Fattah would lease Philadelphia International Airport to a private operator. The revenue would be used for, among other things, the purchase of laptop computers for students.

• • •

Evans, another Democrat running for mayor, released a strategy for making neighborhoods vital economic centers.
As a state representative, Evans has tried to revitalize West Oak Lane by building up Ogontz Avenue and assisted citywide efforts such as building and expanding the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The legislator contends that neighborhood development is one way to decrease crime. He noted that the only area of the city that experienced a decrease in shootings in 2006 was the Northwest Police Division, where his district is centered.
If elected mayor, he would generate economic development by promoting Philadelphia as a place to make movies and records; establishing and strengthening community development corporations in every neighborhood; bringing business support services to neighborhoods; increasing health care and building construction education options in public high schools; reorganizing SEPTA routes to enable workers to get to jobs easier; and promoting Philadelphia as an international tourist destination.

• • •

Brady might have to fight to stay on the ballot. He failed to list his city pension on a financial-disclosure form filed with his nominating petitions.
The deadline was Tuesday for any Philadelphia Democrat to file a challenge to his candidacy in Common Pleas Court. Milton Street said he would file such a challenge, explaining that the city Democratic Party — chaired by Brady — often files similar challenges against unendorsed candidates. The Times went to press before the deadline.
Brady filed an amended statement of financial interest in what he called an "overabundance of caution." He hired attorney Steve Cozen to handle a potential challenge. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com