April 25-May 1, 2002

pretzel logic

Matos the Funmaker

by Howard Altman

If you haven’t had enough fun watching the Rendell-Casey uglython, then take a ride up to the 33rd Ward, a festering stinkpot of political pugilism where charges of racism and thuggery are flying fast and furious.

In one corner of this tumultuous tilt you have Carlos Matos, office manager for and brother-in-law of state Sen. Tina Tartaglione. Matos, known as a highly effective behind-the-scenes political operative, is a colorful character of prodigious proportions who once made a tidy little sum by selling the charred ruins of the Quaker Lace factory to the Board of Education and who burnished his reputation when he was arrested outside the courtroom -- where he was being tried on bribery charges in 2000 -- for hitting a political rival and threatening his life. Matos was found not guilty of the bribery charges and the threat charges were later withdrawn.

In the other corner you have a number of people aligned with 33rd Ward Leader Donna Aument who say that Matos threatened their lives and tried to turn a ward leader's election in this rapidly changing neighborhood into a battle between Latinos and Anglos.

The latest hilarity began back in February, says Leon “Buzz” Bazzoli, a Democratic committeeman and Aument supporter, after Matos visited his house seeking to convert him to vote against Aument.

At issue, says Bazzoli, was the committee-member elections, which take place throughout the city on primary day. Committee members vote for the ward leader, thus the interest from Matos.

Bazzoli says that he told Matos that Aument was "doing a good job" and that he was not going to support Matos. Days later, says Bazzoli, he received a telephone call from Matos.

"He called me up and said, å am going to get your ass on Election Day, you little S.O.B.,'" the 75-year-old Bazzoli says, adding that he called police.

(In a telephone conversation Tuesday, Matos, after heartily laughing when I listed the complaints against him, denied threatening anyone, chalking it up to "figments of their imagination." He adds that he is not running for ward leader of the 33rd Ward.)

Bazzoli is not the only Aument supporter to complain about Matos.

Carol Devine, a Democratic committeewoman in the 16th Division, says she too was visited by Matos, whom she says she invited in because she'd heard "he'd been badmouthing me, going around the division, calling me å white woman.' I have no problem with someone running against me if they feel I am incapable, but I have a problem with somebody running against me because they do not like the color of my skin."

A few days after visiting her house, Devine says Matos called her.

She says, "He called me up screaming, å do what you have to do, and I'll do what I have to do.'" Devine says that Matos then slammed down the phone.

"My husband called Tina Tartaglione's office and said he would appreciate it if Carlos stopped calling the house and didn't contact me," Devine says. "He actually scared me to death on the phone. He is so intimidating. The following day, I had nothing but hang-up phone calls, or somebody on the other end of the line but not speaking."

Devine says she is concerned for her safety on Election Day.

"I think it will be difficult to work the polls this year," says Devine. I think he will have people there to intimidate us. If this keeps up, a lot of people are going to stop voting."

Tartaglione was on a Democratic Senate retreat and unavailable for comment by press time, according to a staffer.

The most recent alleged Matos run-in took place Sunday.

Mike LeFevre, also an Aument supporter, says that while he was canvassing the 4000 block of I Street, Matos pulled up in a car, got out and started threatening him.

"He said, å am going to fucking get you,' that å don't know who you are fucking with' and å don't know what I can do to you,'" LeFevre says, adding that he filled out a police report accusing Matos of making terrorist threats. District Attorney spokeswoman Cathie Abookire confirms her office has received LeFevre's complaint.

LeFevre says the threats came after two visits by Matos seeking to lure him away from supporting Aument.

"When I got home, my wife was begging me to withdraw" from running for committeeman, LeFevre says. "She is terrified for me and her and our two children. I told her I cannot withdraw. I refuse to roll over on the basis of someone threatening me."

Aument says that she contacted Tartaglione to complain about Matos and said her ward would not endorse her "unless she got Carlos out of the ward."

Aument says that, though she personally supports Bob Casey Jr. for governor, the fact that Matos campaigns for Casey might lead the 33rd Ward to endorse Ed Rendell.

³Why have I not been locked up?” That is the question Carlos Matos poses when told of the complaints against him.

"All I can tell you, my friend, is that there is a reorganization going on in the 33rd Ward. This has nothing to do with Carlos Matos. This is about a whole community suffering a lack of representation. What they are doing is not just unjust to me, but to the people in the community. Why are they trying to start racial discomfort among those people there?"

Aument and company say it's the other way around, that Matos is the one fomenting racial disharmony.

Ah, elections, Philly-style. Another good reason the primary won't drag into summer.