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Also this issue: Operation Mean Streets Summer Fun Inky Shuffle Checkpoint Schweiker Happy as Clams |
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August 29-September 4, 2002
guvwatch
They’re off and running. OK, they’re off and rolling. While Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell is criss-crossing the state in his campaign bus, (for the record, GOP candidate Mike Fisher’s people insist on calling theirs an RV, to differentiate it from Rendell’s plain ol’ bus) there are always fires at home to be put out. This week, it’s Rendell’s old nemesis, MOVE.
MOVE is the radical, back-to-nature religious group behind two of the city's most famous botched confrontations: a 1978 shootout with Philadelphia police in Powelton Village, which resulted in the death of Officer James Ramp and the subsequent jailing of nine MOVE members; and the fiery debacle in 1985, which killed 11 MOVE members and burned down several blocks of a working-class neighborhood in West Philly. MOVE members blame then-Philadelphia District Attorney Ed Rendell for the carnage of both confrontations, and the incarceration of MOVE members and supporters. Rendell blames MOVE for the messes, saying that members broke the law and he was only doing his duty, while MOVE blames religious persecution by corrupt government officials, chiefly Rendell.
On Thursday and Friday, MOVE members plan to demonstrate in front of Rendell's Center City campaign headquarters, protesting a recent family court decision that granted an estranged father and ex-MOVE supporter unsupervised visitation of his son, who remains in the custody of his mother, a current member of the group. According to MOVE spokesperson Tiffany Robbins, it is against the tenets of their religion to separate a child from his mother, especially into the hands of a non-member like the father of the child in question, whom Robbins brands a "traitor."
"We're targeting Rendell because he was District Attorney during the '70s, and '80s, and he was the mayor when the present case regarding this child was filed," Robbins huffs. "He knows about this and has done nothing. This mother is being ordered to release this child into the hands of an unfit and abusive father. We are asking for Rendell to finally take a stand and stop the religious persecution of the MOVE organization by the government."
Asked for examples of the abuse, Robbins says the father was once overheard telling his 6-year-old son that he acts like a girl, and once bruised the boy during a spirited horseplay session. She also says he hasn't provided monetary support for the child, but the bulk of her objections seem to revolve around the fact that the father is no longer a supporter of the organization. Robbins also acknowledges the fact that the case has nothing to do with Rendell in the slightest, but they're targeting him just the same.
"There may be future protests and actions against others, but this week it's Rendell," Robbins says, adding that a letter-writing campaign is already under way targeting the family court judge who made the ruling.
"I'm not saying Rendell is responsible for this particular situation, but he is responsible for the start of MOVE's troubles with this so-called justice system. If it weren't for that, this may never have come up."
Rendell spokesperson Dan Fee hadn't even heard about the protest when Guvwatch called him for comment.
"When? This Friday? Ed's not even going to be in town," Fee says, chuckling. "He'll be on the bus traveling through the northern part of the state."
Fee goes on to say that the same folks held a demonstration at the campaign office a couple of weeks ago, and only three people showed up.
"Look, we respect the right of anyone to protest, and we respect the right of MOVE to have their opinion, but it's Ed's position that MOVE members were prosecuted for breaking the law, period. There's no persecution here. They are certainly allowed to disagree with that."
Oh, they disagree all right. And, according to Robbins, MOVE plans to remain a thorn in Rendell's side throughout the campaign and beyond. The fun, as they say, has just begun.
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