Dems gather to bolster
stock in Northeast
Campaign Bits
By Tom Waring
Local Democrats are supremely confident about their prospects in state legislative and other races this November.
Northeast Democrats gathered last week outside their headquarters, at 7727 Frankford Ave., to bash Republicans and predict sweeping victories.
“Philadelphia should have an all-Democratic delegation,” said state Rep. Tony Payton (D-179th dist.), adding that Republican incumbents were “not doing much for the people of the Northeast.”
Payton was joined by fellow Reps. Mike McGeehan, John Sabatina Jr. and Mark Cohen, state Sen. Mike Stack, City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski and state House of Representatives candidates Brendan Boyle, Rich Costello and Harry Enggasser.
Also on hand was Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan, a Mayfair resident who was appointed to the bench and will run for a full term next year.
Democrats set their sights on Republican state Reps. John Perzel and John Taylor, along with the seat of retiring Rep. George Kenney.
McGeehan, expressing sadness over the recent death of Petal, the Philadelphia Zoo’s 52-year-old elephant, said he wouldn’t be unhappy if voters replaced those GOP stalwarts with Democrats.
“We could do with three less elephants in the state House,” said McGeehan, referencing the Republican Party symbol.
McGeehan said Republicans such as President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential candidate, “have failed the people of this country” in the last eight years.
The local Democratic headquarters was used in the spring by the campaign of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who beat Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary, but who lost the nomination.
Now, the windows are decorated with campaign signs for Payton, Sabatina (who is unopposed), Boyle, Costello and Enggasser.
Right now, Republicans maintain a 29-21 advantage in the Senate and Democrats hold a 102-101 edge in the House.
Cohen, who is unopposed, said Democrats have a chance to win control of the Senate and predicted that the party will win from 114-118 House seats in the election.
The Republican Party label is unpopular, according to Cohen. As an example, he cited Republican House Speaker Dennis O’Brien’s write-in effort on the Democratic ballot to prevent a Democrat from opposing him in November.
Stack, noting that Boyle ran two strong races against Kenney, contended that the challenger “scared the incumbent into retirement.”
Boyle, who once worked for Stack, faces Republican Matt Taubenberger, a Kenney aide. Boyle is favored to win.
Enggasser is a current Stack aide, but not for much longer, according to the senator.
“He’s going to beat John Taylor,” Stack predicted.
Costello, a former Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 president, is taking on Perzel. Current FOP leader John McNesby and other union members attended the rally, and McGeehan announced the challenger as the “next representative of the 172nd Legislative District.”
Democrats are giddy over their political prospects because of the unpopularity of Bush, whose poll numbers are suffering because of the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices.
Boyle cited three recent special congressional election victories by Democrats in formerly Republican seats in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Boyle, Costello and Enggasser are all running in districts that will probably support McCain over Obama.
Enggasser, Democratic leader of the 45th Ward, said he’ll back Obama.
Boyle is for Obama, too, but his campaign — like his efforts in 2004 and ’06 — will instruct voters to first look for his ballot number instead of pushing the straight Democratic ticket.
Costello is supporting Obama but said his sole focus will be on his contest.
Boyle announced that, if elected, he would introduce a bill to prohibit employers from firing workers who had to take time off after becoming victims of domestic or sexual violence.
“Women who are fired because they are recovering from domestic violence are victimized twice,” he said. “We simply cannot allow that to happen.”
Victims would be permitted to take unpaid leave.
Boyle supports a similar bill introduced by City Councilman Bill Greenlee (D-at large).
Other cities that have adopted similar laws include New York, San Francisco, Miami and Washington, D.C.
John McDermott is collecting signatures to win a place on the ballot in the 13th Congressional District as a member of the Constitution Party.
A Bustleton resident, McDermott is seeking to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz and Republican Marina Kats. He needs about 3,000 signatures by Aug. 1.
Earlier this year, he tried to run against state Rep. John Perzel in the Republican primary, but his name was removed from the ballot for insufficient signatures.
McDermott is also collecting signatures for Constitution Party candidates Chuck Baldwin (president), Hagan Smith (attorney general) and Danielle Warren (state treasurer). ••