January 27-February 2, 2005

political notebook

by Mary F. Patel

Jerry's Bid

Philadelphia NAACP president and Philadelphia Sunday Sun publisher J. Whyatt Mondesire said he is seriously considering a run for U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah's seat next year.

"If Fattah keeps screwing around with the mayor's race," he said recently, "I'm going to do it."

Mondesire noted that he is angered by what he called the "cabal" of Mayor John Street's top aides George Burrell and Shawn Fordham and their efforts to control the next mayor's race in 2007 by floating Fattah's name for mayor so that Street could run for the congressional seat in 2008. [Disclosure: This reporter occasionally appears with Mondesire on Channel 6's Inside Story.]

"Fattah is not the candidate," said Mondesire. "The mayor's race is between state Rep. Dwight Evans, Councilman Michael Nutter and [City Controller] Jonathan Saidel."

Mondesire added that Fattah is not doing his job as a congressman; he's too focused on public relations issues and not enough on the war and the lives it has cost.

"He has lost his vision," Mondesire surmised. He claims Fattah's base is weak, and cites as an example Fattah's legislative assistant, Cindy Bass, losing a ward-leader endorsement last week to state Rep. LeAnna Washington for the special election on May 17 that will fill the 4th District Senate seat formerly held by Allyson Schwartz. (Schwartz was elected to Congress.)

He pointed out how Fattah also tried to run his daughter, Frances Fattah, for one of two seats on the Board of Directors of City Trusts, a powerful entity that manages all money and property left to the city. Frances Fattah lost the Democratic seat to city Councilwoman Marian Tasco, a longtime Mondesire friend.

Mondesire criticized Fattah for running his 27-year-old daughter against a 66-year-old experienced woman like Tasco in order to expand his power base.

"There has been a lot of interest in my candidacy," said Mondesire, who lives in Fattah's district. "One of my key supporters is Pam Africa," a member of MOVE and the head of the "Free Mumia Abu Jamal" movement.

If he runs, Mondesire must resign his position with the NAACP.

"Jerry and I have always had different political views," said Fattah, a 10-year U.S. House member who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee. "He supported Sam Katz and I supported John Street. I supported Blondell Reynolds Brown for re-election to City Council, and he threatened to run someone against her. Now who has the weak base? Anyone who is interested in running for my seat is welcome, because I have a very strong base with full support from the voters."

Fattah said he wasn't concerned about Bass' endorsement loss to Washington, noting that ward-leader endorsements did not translate to votes. (Bass said she was still considering her options.)

"Jerry has done a very good job with the NAACP, and I wish him well," he said.

Fattah and Fordham confirmed there had been no discussions about the mayor and Fattah's seat. Fordham added that if the mayor wanted to run for any future political office, he could do so.

Fordham said Street would not run if Fattah remained in office, but he did not rule out Street running if Fattah's seat were vacant. He disagreed with Mondesire's assessment of Fattah's record.

"Congressman Fattah is an excellent congressman, and a lot of the appropriations he secures go to the city," he said, noting that Street has made no decision about his own political future.

GOP Control

Philadelphia's Republicans are still trying to figure who their candidates will be for district attorney and city controller.

Last week's column mentioned that Hillel Levinson, the late Mayor Frank Rizzo's two-term managing director, was considering running for controller. Another interested Republican is Jonathan Goldstein, who said that he met with city GOP General Counsel Michael Meehan a few weeks back and presented a 30-page proposal on his vision for the controller's seat.

"I am prepared to knock on doors citywide in the middle of August," says Goldstein, a 35-year-old Penn Law School student. "I suspect that I will need at least $250,000 for the race, and I can raise that kind of money."

Averse to a primary fight, Goldstein said he will honor his party's choice, although he said that he doesn't think Levinson can trade on the Rizzo name since a lot of people in the younger age groups that Goldstein considers his base didn't know Rizzo.

Goldstein ran unsuccessfully for a House seat against Democratic state Rep. Babette Josephs in 1998 and 2002.