April 29-May 5, 2004

pretzel logic

Rieger Mortis

by Howard Altman

It is morning in the bastion of liberal Democracy and all is not well with the process that, if you believe our president, spurred 19 young men to crash planes into buildings.

It is primary day in Philadelphia, a time for the populace to engage in our cherished right to vote in our great republic, which is killing to spread democracy. Yet, despite the gorgeous weather, it is a right few are enjoying.

"There won't be much of a turnout today," says my ward leader, Vernon Price, whom I meet on my walk to my East Mt. Airy polling booth.

"Twenty percent maybe?" I ask, jokingly.

"If that," he says, shrugging.

Admittedly, for Democrats anyway, there's not much being contested. Still, though it is nearly 8 a.m., I am surprised that I am only the fourth voter in my division.

"It's a big day for Republicans," says Democratic committeeman Rudy Tolbert, who expects that the heated GOP primary for U.S. Senate -- between incumbent Arlen "Single Bullet" Specter and Dumbo-looking fascist Pat Toomey -- might be enough to fire up the pulses of the district's Republican voters.

"All 23 or 24 of them," Tolbert says with a smile.

"Do you mean alive, or voting?" asks another campaign worker.

As much as I love Election Day, which for me is a combination of my birthday and Hanukkah, I usually don't get too worked up about the outcome of the races, other than for the White House.

I care. I vote. But I have cast my lot with many a loser and life goes on.

For some reason, I just can't let go when it comes to the 179th District state House seat.

Not that I am registered up there.

But the idea that an apparition like Bill Rieger can keep his seat for nearly 40 years -- even though he doesn't even live in the district and whose legislative votes are often registered by colleagues due to his absence -- really gets under my skin.

Worse still is that the Democratic leadership, up to and including Gov. Ed Rendell, thinks so highly of the work that Rieger doesn't do that they backed him, yet again.

Which just goes to show you how much Rendell and crew really care about the people in the 179th, largely Latino and among the poorest of the poor.

Tuesday being such a lovely day, I took a ride up to Rieger's district "office" to see how it was going in that buzzing hub of democratic energy.

The word office is in quotes because Rieger rents out space in the M&M Unisex Barber Salon at 3760 N. Eighth St. in Hunting Park.

He shows the district his pride by scribbling the words "District Office" on a piece of cardboard stuck up in a window.

Amazingly enough, however, when I arrive at the "office," there is no Rieger.

There is no anybody.

It is shuttered, bars over the windows, the steel door rolled down over the entrance.

The people who work in the small grocery across the street say they see people in the office "all the time."

Other people in the neighborhood say otherwise.

Emilio Vazquez, one of Rieger's challengers, walks by the shuttered "office" and shakes his head.

"He is never around," says Vazquez, who lives just down the block from the "office" and, as an opponent, has his obvious biases. "He has done nothing for this district."

That sentiment is echoed the next street over.

"He is never around here," says Juan Placeres, who is working the polls at the 43rd Ward, 20th Division, which is tucked inside a little house on North Darien Street with a Jesus postcard in the window and poll workers gathered around a television blaring La Mujer de Lorenzo, a Spanish-language soap.

"Look at this place," Placeres says with great anger. "All those years Rieger has been in office and the streets are still a mess, it's still not safe for our kids."

My mood brightens when Placeres tells me that turnout so far has been high for this division.

"We've had 48 voters so far," he says. "There is a lot of energy in the district. It is time for Rieger to go and people realize that."

Of course, the same note has been played in the 179th since 1967, when Rieger was first elected, yet the Ghost of North Eighth Street continues to haunt the district.

Over at Tierra Colombiana --the Famous Deli of North Philadelphia in terms of politicos gathering on Election Day -- Ralph Collazo, the perceived front-running challenger against

Rieger, is bowing heads in prayer with a power party that includes City Councilman Juan Ramos.

I ask Collazo and Ramos what kind of message Rendell sends to the Latino community by backing Rieger.

"There are no Rendell signs here, and you won’t see any of his campaign people," says Ramos, deflecting the question. "We’re just concentrating on getting this fine young man elected."

After a wonderful lunch, I head back over to the "office," to wait for a call from a psychic I know. I am hoping she calls back to perform an exorcism on the "office," to rid it finally of its ghost, but alas, she doesn’t call back in time.

A damn shame. Because with 96 percent of the votes in, according to WPVI’s Web site Wednesday morning, it looks like the Rieger, the absent ghost, will continue to haunt the 179th.