Odd Man Out

Can Anthony Williams become Pennsylvania's first black governor?

by Holly Otterbein

Neal Santos HIS FATHER'S SON: Anthony Williams, whose trailblazing father passed away earlier this year, is pictured here in his Chinatown headquarters. He has, in the words of one observer, added "sizzle" and "exuberance" to a sometimes dull campaign.

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Editor's note: This is the third in an occasional series on the little-known Democratic candidates for governor.

In person, the first quirky thing about Anthony Williams you'll notice — a trait that television cameras and photographs often fail to capture — is a small, golden tuft of fuzz at the top of his gray, curly head of hair. The 53-year-old gubernatorial candidate and 11-year state senator for Philadelphia's Eighth District seems to be brimming with such idiosyncrasies: On Twitter, his use of exclamation points is promiscuous. ("Had an exciting week! Biz forum in Lehigh Valley!") During interviews, he high-fives reporters and makes casual jokes about pot. At gubernatorial forums, he's the odd man out.

"In these forums, all the other candidates will be nodding along, saying the same sorts of things," says Terry Madonna, a Pennsylvania politics scholar at Franklin and Marshall College (F&M). "But Williams isn't. He has personality. He's added a sizzle and exuberance to the race."

But will a series of quirks take Williams to the governor's mansion, despite the fact that he entered the race late (at the end of February)? And can he win as a black man in a state that even Gov. Ed Rendell has suggested is racist? If Williams thinks so, it's in part because of his father's legacy. Hardy Williams, who died a month before his son entered the gubernatorial race, was a mainstay in Philly politics. He co-founded the Black Political Forum in '67, and was the first viable black candidate to run for mayor. A Daily News obituary remarked (justifiably) that Hardy Williams had "helped pave the way" for black mayors W. Wilson Goode and John Street.

Asked if his father's death motivated him to run, Williams demurs. "I don't know. I didn't think about that," he says. "Something that did affect me was when I had to make that decision, I thought that he wouldn't hesitate because of fear of failure. He'd run for the positions and issues, for communities that often get overlooked."

One of Williams' pet issues is school choice: He strongly supports providing parents with taxpayer-financed vouchers to pay for their children's private school tuition and public funding for charter schools — a position at odds with the powerful teachers unions and the Democratic establishment. "People of color are particularly asking for these options," says Williams.

He's right. Throughout the country, school vouchers have made for strange bedfellows — particularly inner-city blacks and white evangelical Republicans. Critics contend that the government funding of private schools not only raises constitutional questions — namely, tax dollars going to religious institutions — but also undermines the state's public schools. (Williams founded and is still a board member of West Philly's Hardy Williams Charter School. According to tax records, he doesn't receive a salary from the school.)

Such voucher programs are rare in the United States, Williams admits, but despite a paucity of evidence, he doesn't doubt that they could succeed in Philly. "How are they going to fail?" he asks. "What fails when you have money to send your child to a public school? People are concerned about the system failing. What about being concerned about the child and parent failing?"

This position has been a boon for his campaign finances. Of the remarkable $1.7 million Williams' April campaign finance report showed that he had received, almost $1.5 million came from PACs funded by three managing directors of Bala Cynwyd's Susquehanna International Group, an investment firm. Williams said the contributors, Joel Greenberg, Jeffrey Yass and Arthur Dantchik, agreed with his views on school choice, and that was that.

But a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article suggested otherwise. The article described the three as major stakeholders in casinos and gambling companies. (A subsequent correction clarifies that though Susquehanna International Group's holdings "include shares of gaming companies," neither "the investment firm nor any of its principals operates or controls any casino or other gaming company." Susquehanna International Group's directors did not return City Paper's calls.)

Though Williams says he hasn't taken any direct contributions from gaming interests — he and competitors Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner and Joe Hoeffel have all received donations from the pro-casino Local 98 IBEW Committee on Political Education — Williams certainly positions himself in a way that could attract them. He supports legalizing and taxing Keno and small chance games in bars. He opposes repealing the extension of credit to slot machines because, he says, "poor people don't get that credit anyway."

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Although, unlike Onorato, he doesn't have a city's economic revitalization to sell, Williams' campaign is similarly focused on job creation. The F&M economics major, class of 1979, believes that government funding for job training should be directed toward bioscience, pharmaceutical and technological industries. Williams has also touted his business achievements, like his role in bringing a new business corridor to Philadelphia's 60th Street, and co-founding Neighborhoods United Against Crime and Diversity Apprenticeship Program.

But some residents of the Eighth District, the community Williams represents in the State Senate, don't buy it. "After all the years he's been here, I don't see how our district has benefited from his leadership," says Tracey Gordon, president of the activist group Southwest Philly Concerned Citizens. "We have some of the highest rates of unemployment among African-Americans and youth here."

Still, Gordon, a black woman, does back Williams on at least one point: "I am an advocate of school choice," she says. "Parents should have the right to choose a school for their children."

But money aside, Williams' voucher support doesn't seem to be helping him with voters. An April 14 Susquehanna Polling and Research survey found Williams claiming just 4 percent of the vote, compared to 32 percent for front-runner Onorato. (Importantly, though, 43 percent considered themselves undecided.)

F&M's Madonna doesn't believe that race is Williams' biggest obstacle: "Obama carried the state by 10 points. I think voters would elect an African-American for governor. That doesn't mean I'm saying race isn't an issue at all, but racism is not Williams' problem," argues Madonna. "His problem is he should have been in this race a year ago."

But if this election doesn't work out, Williams has a backup plan: He'll also be on the May 18 primary ballot for his State Senate seat.

(holly.otterbein@citypaper.net)