Also this issue: Y Stop Now? Board members of the Christian Street Y continue their struggle for independence. -Daryl Gale The Bell Curve City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

January 2- 8, 2003

political notebook

The Year That Was

by Mary F. Patel

January: The gubernatorial primary race between Democrats Bob Casey Jr. and Ed Rendell gets moving. The Democratic State Committee convenes for its endorsement meeting in Harrisburg. Casey wins the endorsement with apparently most of the party faithful lined up behind him. Pundits say that a candidate from Philadelphia will never win as governor.

February: Young men get busy. Mayor John Street's son, Sharif, takes the plunge and runs for a House seat against incumbent warhorse Frank Oliver. Andrew Hohns, a political unknown, challenges incumbent House member Babette Josephs.

March: There is much hype about the new voting machines that will debut in the May primary. The antiquated machines now in use date back to 1948. The push for a new machine began in 1998 when Councilman Michael Nutter sponsored a referendum for voters to decide if they wanted a change. The new models will be electronic; voters will press buttons to make their selections, just like a soda machine.

Michael Youngblood returns. The former aid to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, convicted in 1999 for extortion, tax evasion and other crimes while in charge of overseeing contractors in the homeless shelter Deliverance, is sprung from federal prison. Before leaving for prison, Youngblood had told an interviewer that he was framed and that when he returned he was going to get even. Now back, he says he's amused by rumors that he's about to stir up trouble.

April: Two prominent Fairmount Park Commission commissioners decide not to run for re-election. Fitz Eugene Dixon and Ernesta Ballard are leaving, thus creating two vacancies. The Commission has 16 members, 10 of whom are citizens appointed to five-year terms by the Board of Judges of Common Pleas Court. The other six members are ex officio. The Board of Judges uses this opportunity to clean house.

The gubernatorial primary race gets nasty, as the Casey campaign starts mudslinging and Rendell fires back. The tables seem to be turning against Casey, considered the favorite son earlier in the year. Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher sits back and waits to see who his opponent will be in November.

May: The Democratic City Committee holds its big primary fundraiser at the Sheet Metal Union Hall. Rendell takes the stage and is booed by Casey supporters who attempt to put up a Casey banner; Rendell supporters try to rip it down. State Sen. Vincent Fumo is hissed when he steps up to speak in support of Casey. U.S. Rep. and Democratic City Chairman Bob Brady, a Rendell supporter, yells at the crowd demanding order and reminds everyone that the Republicans are the enemy.

Rendell squashes Casey in the primary. Rendell has run out of money and has to raise millions more to beat Fisher. Newbies Sharif Street and Andrew Hohns both lose to the incumbents.

Councilman Nutter sponsors the Education Housing Bill, which would limit the freedom of college students in Nutter's district, specifically at St. Joseph's University. Neighbors' complaints about parking issues and off-campus students' loud parties prompted the bill. Some students and members of PhilaCity, a public and privately funded program geared to keeping students in the area after graduation, claim the bill is unconstitutional.

June: Councilman Thacher Longstreth, 82, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and is missing Council sessions. Speculating that he will not seek re-election next year, Republican at-large candidates start to line up.

Rendell removes Democratic State Committee Chair Tina Tartaglione, a Casey supporter, and installs state Sen. Allen Kukovich, who supported him.

July: Former Democratic state senator, legendary political consultant and Second Ward leader Buddy Cianfrani dies from complications of a stroke suffered on Election Day. Ward chair Tony Palmiere wants to succeed as ward leader but is challenged by Councilman Frank DiCicco, a Fumo ally. Palmiere engages the help of Local 98 Union head Johnny Dougherty, who Palmiere says made a bedside promise to Cianfrani before he died to help him. Palmiere wins. The dispute fuels the ever-growing tension between bitter enemies Dougherty and Fumo.

September: The gay and lesbian community suffers a setback when Commonwealth Court rules that the city's same-sex health benefits, instituted under former mayor Rendell, are illegal. The Urban Family Council, a Christian conservative group, challenged the benefits for city employees. Street orders an immediate appeal.

At an NAACP meeting, Mayor Street says the brothers and sisters are running the city. Republicans quote the remark in a mailing to Northeast Philadelphia as a tactic to help Fisher.

October: Street's former ally and mentor, Carl Singley, goes public with his displeasure for the mayor. He spars with Dougherty, a Street supporter.

November: Rendell beats Fisher in the general election and immediately sets up his transition teams.

December: Gay political activists celebrate a long-lobbied-for victory when Gov. Schweiker signs a bill amending the Pennsylvania hate crimes law to extend protection to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered.

Sam Katz announces he will again run against Street. The race looks like it will be mostly about race.