Also this issue: Bender on a Roll The city’s most famous forensic sculptor has two new projects on tap. -Jenn Carbin Guilty, Eh? International row follows Philly conviction of Canadian for trading with Cuba. -Steve Eckardt Art Attack A brawl over a wall near Peirce College. -Jenn Carbin Sins of the Fathers Two papers, two approaches to covering the biggest story on the religion beat since the Reformation. -Frank Lewis City Beat

April 11-17, 2002

city beat

Map Quest

Guvwatch

by Daryl Gale

As you’ve probably heard by now, on Monday a U.S. District Court panel threw out the state’s redistricting map, calling the plan unconstitutional. Unless the state legislature comes up with a new plan, local races could be in some disarray -- especially if the primary elections for Congress have to be postponed. Of course, what we wanted to know is, how does this affect the governor’s race? The short answer is, it may not affect it at all, but the folks involved aren’t taking any chances.

Flavia Colgan, spokeswoman for lieutenant governor candidate Catherine Baker Knoll, says the jury is still out on the possible impact of the court's ruling on the governor's race.

"If all that happens is that the congressional primaries are postponed from May until the fall, it probably won't affect the governor's race at all," says Colgan. "If the Republicans decide to appeal the ruling, they may decide that it's better to hold the primary in September, and they may well have a case."

If the Republicans do appeal, what happens to state attorney general and GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher? Fisher is running unopposed in the primary, so a delay doesn't appear to hurt him at all.

"It is quite a development," says Fisher spokeswoman Kelli Phiel. "but the only way it affects us is if the primary gets pushed back. There has been some talk about pushing the primary back to September, but it's all still up in the air. No matter what happens, it changes nothing here. We're gearing up for the election in November, and we'll be ready regardless of what happens between now and then."

Over on the Democratic side, where the campaign is turning into a bloody knife fight between former Mayor Ed Rendell and state Auditor General Bob Casey Jr., the camps are guarded in their comments on the possible fallout from the ruling. Rendell's folks say it's their candidate who would benefit from a delay.

"We're the ones with the momentum in this race," says Rendell spokesman Dan Fee. "People from all over the state are responding to Ed's message, so it stands to reason the more time we have to get that message out, the better it would be for us."

Casey's press secretary Troy Colbert gave the shortest, most concise answer we'd gotten on the subject.

"No comment," said Colbert.