Also this issue: Too Legit to Quit Billy Ciancaglini, budding lawyer and a relative of mobsters, is fighting hard to make good. -Deborah Bolling Women In Black: No Iraq Attack Local women plan post-war civil disobedience. -Daniel Brook Petitions Filed -- No Fatalities -Daryl Gale Independently Wealthy Philly's quirkiest newspaper may not make a lot of money, but it is rich in quality. -Deborah Bolling The Bell Curve City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

March 13-19, 2003

political notebook

Bleu Haze

by Mary F. Patel

Municipal Court Judge James "Jimmy" DeLeon kicked off his campaign as a candidate for the state Supreme Court last Thursday at a posh fundraiser held at the trendy retro lounge in Old City, Bleu Martini.

Hosted by a group of mostly youngish professional African-American business types who sipped blue martinis, the affair was attended by the likes of Marty Weinberg, Local 98 businessman John Dougherty and Sharif Street.

DeLeon last sought the endorsement in 2001 but stepped aside in favor of Kate Ford Elliott, who was the party's pick. (Elliott lost the general election to Republican Michael Eakin.)

DeLeon is supported by labor heavyweights such as Dougherty and Pat Gillespie, head of the Philadelphia Building Trades union.

"We will bring the court around with a real person from the neighborhoods and we will stop this nonsense," said Gillespie of the fact that Republican state Supreme Court justices outnumber the Democrats five to two.

Republicans took all of the appellate court seats in the 2001 election and the Democrats want a slice of the pie.

DeLeon will head up to Grantville this weekend and seek the endorsement of the Democratic State Committee for the one open seat on the state Supreme Court.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judges James "Jimmy" Lynn and John Herron are also seeking the Committee's endorsement for Supreme Court.

There are three Pittsburgh Common Pleas Court judges seeking the endorsement too: Judges Cheryl Allen, Max Baer and Jeffrey Manning.

DeLeon, a 15-year veteran on Municipal Court, has been heavily courting Democratic Party leaders for a few years now.

His fundraiser drew an interesting group of supporters, such as Shalom Abraham, who designed and built Bleu Martini, hoagie king Rocco DiGuglielmo, Pan Asian Association Chairman Quang H. Mac and attorneys Adrienne Thomas and Steven Marino, nephew of Montgomery County Commissioner Michael Marino. Steven Marino is also the former law partner of John's younger brother, Kevin Dougherty, who is now a Common Pleas Court Judge.

At the fundraiser, John Dougherty denied speculation that he was circulating nominating petitions for First District City Council candidate Vernon Anastasio at a birthday party for Joe "Pepe" Sinni.

Dougherty said that he is close with Henry Levandowski, who is also running against incumbent Councilman Frank DiCicco.

"I'm waiting until after the petitions are filed to decide," said Dougherty. (The deadline for filing nominating petitions was March 11.)

It is unclear how involved Gov. Ed Rendell will be in the whole Supreme Court endorsement process.

Diversity on the Supreme Court should be a big focus. Judges DeLeon and Allen are both black. There has only been one other black justice elected to the state Supreme Court, former Chief Justice Robert N.C. Nix Jr., and only one woman, current Justice Sandra Schultz Newman.

Judges Convention

This weekend, the National Conference on Juvenile Justice will convene here for its 30th annual convention. Common Pleas Family Court Administrative Judge Myrna Field is a chair.

On Tue., March 18, the judges will take a social break and tour the historic houses in Fairmount Park that have been inhabited by those in the legal profession.

Conventioneers will visit Strawberry, Laurel Hill and Sweetbriar Mansions, all former summer homes of famous lawyers and judges, and wind up at the Belmont Mansion for a reception.

The Belmont has been the center of controversy recently. The Fairmount Park and Historic Commissions refuse to recognize the current research conducted by the mansion's volunteers that the third floor of the mansion was part of the Underground Railroad. Contractors were engaged to restore the mansion but remove the third floor. Belmont president Audrey Johnson-Thornton, who now has the support of numerous community groups, has a meeting scheduled with Mayor John Street and members of both Commissions this week. The Mayor, meanwhile, has put a stop to the proposed demolition until he meets with all parties.

Johnson-Thornton, who is also the chair of the Women's Coalition to Re-elect John Street, intends to bring Richard Peters Jr. to the meeting. Peters is a direct descendent of the Peters family, the abolitionists who inhabited the mansion.

Johnson-Thornton also wants Historic Preservation Officer Richard Tyler to attend the Mayor's meeting and explain why he believes the mansion should be reconstructed to its 1816 appearance, arguably before the third floor was constructed. He and other Commission members maintain that there is not substantial proof of a slave connection at the Belmont despite numerous amounts of documentation supporting it.

"Are they waiting for me to produce a slave to say, "Yes I was there'?" asked Johnson-Thornton.

Sean Reilly has dropped out of the race for a Republican City Council at-large seat. Reilly was not endorsed by the GOP policy committee and now pledges his support to the endorsed five. The slate includes: Frank Rizzo Jr., Jamie McDermott, David Oh, Jack Kelly and Dave Hardy.