Sister Cities

D.C.'s former top cop heads north while Philly lawmakers gain Hill clout.

by Paul Fain

Philadelphia's incoming police commissioner is a veteran cop who looks just as comfortable chatting up President Bush as he does making routine traffic stops. Charles H. Ramsey, 57, takes over on Jan. 7, one year after he resigned as D.C.'s police chief, a job he held for nine years.

Crime rates plummeted during Ramsey's watch. Homicides in the former murder capital hit a 20-year low of 169 in 2006, down from 397 in 1996. Although gentrification and a development boom have helped cut crime, Ramsey gets some of the credit for taking a police force that was a scandal-ridden mess and leaving behind one that is generally regarded as effective and well-equipped.

Ramsey had his critics in D.C. In addition to the usual suspects like the police union and oversight-minded D.C. councilmembers, he occasionally irked residents of crime-plagued neighborhoods and even rank-and-file cops. A common knock was that Ramsey, a master of the sound bite, didn't always make good on big promises.

The chief also made his share of gaffes. His strategy of jailing hundreds of protesters before big marches, the so-called "Ramsey Plan," resulted in bystanders being hog-tied. Lawsuits and a D.C. Council hearing followed. And sometimes it seemed that Ramsey couldn't catch a break. Like in 2005, when car theft rates were plunging, he was mocked for having his own unmarked car stolen.

A more serious criticism was that he spent too much time on national security efforts around D.C.'s federal enclave. Overtime shifts for cops working World Bank protests or lavish funerals for former presidents were easy targets for critics concerned about basic policing.

But Ramsey's cozy relations with federal agencies and powerful politicians had its benefits, most notably in helping to secure funding for the force. He has remained active on the national level since his resignation, and last summer traveled to Iraq to offer advice on policing. Ramsey's contacts with Washington's power brokers could help him in Philadelphia, perhaps in landing federal grants.

No big-city police chief keeps everybody happy. But while there was grumbling on the force about Ramsey, he had a reputation as a chief who looked out for fellow cops.

So when he was named commissioner by Mayor-elect Michael Nutter at a press conference Nov. 15, it wasn't a surprise that his first action at the podium was to offer condolences to the family of Chuck Cassidy, a Philadelphia police officer who died two weeks earlier after being shot during a robbery.

"I've been in policing for almost 39 years," says Ramsey, who held court with former commish John Timoney at the 12th Street Irish Pub for a private book-signing event for Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner on Friday night, "and I've lost a lot of friends."

Rocking the D.C. Dais

The Democratic-controlled Congress has made Philly a player in Washington. The former blue-state backwater during the long Republican rule on Capitol Hill now sports several representatives in leadership roles in Congress.

With her fundraising clout well-established in only her second term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz has her hand on the purse strings with a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee. And this spring, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady assumed the powerful job of chairman of the Committee on House Administration [Philly on the Potomac, "The Mayor of Capitol Hill," Nov. 8, 2007].

Now, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah is getting in on the action. The Philly Democrat and failed mayoral candidate represents large swaths of the city, including West Philadelphia and University City. Last month, Fattah was appointed chairman of the Congressional Urban Caucus by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called Fattah an "expert on issues affecting major metropolitan regions."

The plan for the caucus is to pull together reps from big cities to tackle urban problems, as well as to build better ties between cities and the 'burbs.

Lay Your Bets

The primaries for the 2008 presidential election begin next month, and Washington's politicians have been picking their favorites. Some of Philadelphia's lawmakers in D.C. have yet to weigh in, including U.S. Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter.

On the other end of the involvement spectrum is U.S. Rep Patrick J. Murphy, who has campaigned for Barack Obama in New Hampshire.

Endorsing Rudy Giuliani is U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, who no longer has to worry about a "challenge" from Philly Mag editor Larry Platt; while Hillary Clinton has gotten backing from Reps. Robert Andrews (of South Jersey), Schwartz and Joe Sestak.

(pfain_dc@yahoo.com)

Paul Fain is a reporter in Washington, D.C. Philly on the Potomac appears sporadically in the news section.