NEWS . Cocktails With...

Queena Bass

Civil-rights activist, mayoral candidate, Democrat


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Published: Feb 28, 2007

When looooong-shot mayoral candidate Queena Bass responded to an interview request by suggesting we meet in the lobby of the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Something along the lines of the crazy cat lady on The Simpsons, I guess.

This was based on the years of receiving unique fliers from the North Philly-bred activist who nearly culled 2,000 votes in the 1999 election. The ones that declared, among many other things, "The Philadelphia Television News Media has caused me emotional and financial hardship by not telling the TRUTH" and "This City of Brotherly Love needs to put LOVE into leadership."

Yep, couldn't wait to meet her. For, in a race dominated by suits and career pols, Bass brings something unique to the dais: unpolished femininity.

Here's the quick resume: Bass entered the public consciousness in the mid-'90s when, having been let go from her job at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, she set up shop outside with a bullhorn and racial-discrimination allegations. (The basis? She had more seniority and education than anybody in her office but, as the lone minority, was let go anyhow. A lawsuit, in which she represented herself, followed and ultimately went to D.C., where the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it.)

By 1999, she decided to run for mayor, and got smoked. She tried again in 2003, but was thrown off the ballot. (Neither time was she permitted to debate, even by the League of Women Voters, she noted ironically.) Now, facing eviction from her Center City apartment (she blames Jefferson both for that and the lack of TV coverage any of her campaigns have received), she's digging in for Round 3.

"This time," she tells me after declining a cocktail while I ordered a pre-rush-hour Miller Lite, "I really think I have a good chance."

To which I tried to ask at least seven different ways: Are you crazy? You have no money, experience, campaign platform or institutional support. How on earth can you win? Bass — whose hyper-youthful demeanor gives little indication that she's lived more than half a century — wasn't having it. Nope. Not one bit.

"If TV [news] did its job, everybody would know that I was the first in the race, and not Michael Nutter," says Bass, who declared her intentions last year. "If they leave me out, it's as if I don't exist. But I'm out there, and I have an army of supporters this time! We need a clean slate in City Hall; there are too many of the wrong people in there now. We need people like me who have compassion."

A longtime pianist who had to give her piano away before a recent move, Bass goes on to say that while A Time to Kill is her favorite movie, what with its lessons of ignorance-begetting-tolerance, the perseverance theme of Rocky rings true for her.

"It's a real uphill battle. I feel it. I just have to stay strong, but things are going to be different this time," she says, admitting that she doesn't have any concrete proposals other than making the city a more loving, considerate place. "It's just like the Bible says, 'With God, all things are possible.' You never know what can happen."

But c'mon, can a Bass victory really happen?

"If I don't win," she concedes without conceding that she can't win, "I'll have a very good showing this time."