April 22-28, 2004

city beat

They Can Stand the Heat

Balmy temperatures can't keep locals from a political forum.

by Doron Taussig

All of the state House candidates at a forum Sunday night at a Center City Church expressed surprise at the size of the audience. It was a beautiful evening, but about 80 people decided to stuff themselves into a relatively small room to watch Terry Gillen, Andrew Hohns and Babette Josephs pontificate about their respective good traits and qualifications. In fact, Gillen said that she was "in awe" of the audience, noting, "I don't know if I'd be here if I didn't have to."

The forum at the First Unitarian Church, at 21st and Chestnut, organized by the Young America Political Action Committee, a bipartisan civic association dedicated to involving young people in politics (this might explain the use of the phrase "shout-out" in the introductions). The race in question was the Democratic primary for the state House seat representing the 182nd District, which encompasses parts of Center City and some neighborhoods to the north and south.

The candidates were given two minutes for an opening statement, 90 seconds to answer questions collected from the audience and another two minutes to make a closing statement. Throughout the evening, regardless of the question, each candidate sought to hammer home some central themes of his or her candidacy.

Josephs, the incumbent, has been representing the district since 1984. She emphasized her experience and seniority, trotted out her high-profile endorsements numerous times -- her closing statement was a list of representatives who had driven long distances to campaign with her -- and cited legislative accomplishments.

She also expressed some strong convictions: Josephs wants to see the wage tax reduced, and she said so enough times to make you wonder whether Sam Katz had inhabited the body of a diminutive woman. Josephs is opposed to caps on pain and suffering payments in medical malpractice suits (she believes they discriminate against the elderly, who don't receive employment compensation) and expressed a desire to "take guns away from private citizens" -- rather extreme permutations of the typical liberal line.

The representative came across as an uncompromising leftist who was the most experienced sound-biter in the group. She won a hearty applause for her response to a question about publishing the photos of people arrested for soliciting prostitutes: "I don't believe you can make anything safe by violating people's civil rights!"

Andrew Hohns, a 25-year-old investment banker, ran against Josephs in 2002 and won 43 percent of the vote -- a very strong showing for a young insurgent. Hohns' central theme was his desire to bring energy to the district leadership -- he used the word "energy" more times than Josephs mentioned the wage tax--and he expended a good amount of energy attacking the incumbent.

"Our district hasn't originated a bill that's become law in over a decade," he claimed.

The challenger returned again and again to the theme that Philadelphia is not as great a city as it could be: It needs to find ways to attract young residents, reform its tax code and garner more influence in Harrisburg, he said.

Hohns found himself on the defensive about his donor base -- Josephs tried to portray the challenger as a tool of the powerful -- but he managed to turn the attack into an opportunity to list endorsements from various unions and civic groups. In his closing, Hohns dwelt on his youth: "The world turns, the torch is passed."

Terry Gillen, an economic development consultant by trade, served as the deputy commerce director in the Rendell mayoral administration. She is the policy wonk of the candidate field, and it showed in both her words and her demeanor. Her answers to audience questions were often the most thorough: She avoided sound-bite answers, preferring instead to say that an issue was "hugely complicated," or "the devil's in the details" before launching into a detailed discussion.

But while Hohns and Josephs each walked out in front of the podium as the evening went on, engaging the audience with a conversational tone, Gillen stayed behind it, speaking into a microphone that was entirely unnecessary in such a small room. The issue Gillen touched on most frequently was economic development, particularly creating a friendly environment for small businesses. She occasionally invoked her working relationship with Gov. Rendell, but didn't stress the point too much -- Rendell has endorsed Josephs.

Through it all, there was one heated moment: Josephs accused Hohns of being a Republican at heart, observing that he had once been a registered Republican, claiming that he had GOP attitudes and alleging that his money comes from such sources as banks, big media, insurance companies and "Big Tobacco."

When Josephs uttered those words, a couple of people in the audience snickered and said, "now wait a second." Hohns called the claim "outrageous," saying that he had never taken a dime from big tobacco and derided Josephs for failing to cite a specific issue on which he held a Republican position. Gillen was left out of the exchange altogether.

No one could be said to have won the audience -- rather, the real competition in the room was between the partisan portions of the crowd, who attempted to out-clap each other every time their preferred candidate finished a statement.

Josephs may have had the edge in this department, but not because she had brought more supporters -- one man wearing a "Josephs" button had a clap like a popping balloon.