The Brady Pulpit

by Mary F. Patel

The party faithful gathered for the Democratic City Committee's annual fall fundraiser at the Sheet Metal Union Hall last Monday night; the turnout was much larger than at the party's May primary fundraiser.

Then, the party was fractured due to the wide array of mayoral candidates who bucked the party endorsement for mayor. U.S. Rep. and Democratic City Committee Chairman Bob Brady was the party pick for mayor, but endorsements went out the window when other strong party leaders dissed the party to run. Tom Knox was the only one of the failed Democratic mayoral candidates to show up; Brady called him onstage to show the masses that he harbored no hard feelings despite some nasty barbs exchanged during the campaign. Knox made the rounds with political confidant Michael Youngblood.

The other losing mayoral candidates, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and state Rep. Dwight Evans, were no-shows. But Brady is still chairman of the party, so he wielded his power to call for unity and rally for votes.

"Don't think this election is over!" said Brady.

The party brass is concerned that local Democrats will not make much of an effort to get out the vote because they may feel the election is over since mayoral candidate Michael Nutter, City Council candidates and row officeholders are shoo-ins. That may very well be, but Brady remains concerned about the appellate races for Supreme and Superior Court.

Supreme Court candidates Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd, who both attended, may be affected by low voter turnout, which could give the Republican judicial candidates an edge out west. Also floating around were local judges up for retention votes. With progressive groups furious that the judicial system accepted a pay raise, the movement to not retain judges is a worry.

Nutter, running for mayor against Republican Al Taubenberger, arrived and joined Brady onstage. He has adapted a similar style to Mayor John Street during his public speeches, yelling into the mic at a high volume to energize the crowd.

Soon-to-be-former City Councilwoman Carol Campbell, who lost the 4th District primary to Curtis Jones, held court at a front-and-center table with gal pal Mary Mason.

Surprisingly absent was state Sen. Vincent Fumo, because he is up for election next year, but Rob McCord, who is running for state treasurer in 2008, took advantage of the massive gathering. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll hung out and said she has no plans to run for governor in 2009 but is fully focused on getting Hillary Clinton elected next year. Maybe Knoll is looking for a D.C. appointment?

The real workers that night were the committee people and ward leaders who paid $150 a ticket, but who are expected to turn out the vote each Election Day.

The Other Burrell

George Burrell has left the building — the building that housed Innovation Philadelphia (IP), that is. Burrell, formerly Mayor Street's governmental-affairs point person, started a new job last Monday as general counsel at PRWT Inc., a local company providing payment, call center, mail and other support services to businesses around the country.

After leaving City Hall, Burrell succeeded Richard Bendis as CEO and president of IP, where he worked for a little over a year. Inspired by economist Richard Florida's "creative economy" theory, IP was designed to attract entrepreneurs and young professionals here as well as develop ideas and concepts to propel and promote the city as a place to attract innovative thinkers. IP's $2.5 million budget is funded mostly by the city with some federal funding so it would be the next mayor's call whether to keep it, especially since IP was Mayor Street's initiative.

"I didn't want Michael Nutter to have to think about whether or not to keep George Burrell as a member of his team," said Burrell, who hopes Nutter would see the value in IP. "There is a real potential for economic growth here, such as building film studios. We have hosted successful networking forums for young people to teach them the skills needed to succeed in a creative economy. We were working along with the University of the Arts with their similar concept."

Nutter was out of town Tuesday, and unavailable for comment. Still, Burrell is looking forward to the future.

"I am very excited to be working for one of the largest African-American companies in the nation and I look forward to expanding its footprint," he said. "I am also looking forward to enjoying life more and playing a little more golf."

(rcpatel@aol.com)