by Michael J. Mishak

Seeds of partisan discontent were being sown hours before Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz arrived at the Settlement Music School in Germantown last week for a Candidates Night sponsored by East Mt. Airy Neighbors, West Mt. Airy Neighbors and other Northwest community organizations.

Street operatives were busy greeting interested residents with fliers declaring, "[Katz] WANTS TO TAKE CITY HALL OUT OF THE HANDS OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MAYOR!!!"

The literature references a Republican City Committee mailer circulated among majority white areas in the Northeast and Northwest, imploring voters to "Take back Philadelphia." The mailer has drawn fire from the Black Clergy of Greater Philadelphia, among others. Katz has distanced himself from the controversy, disavowing knowledge of its existence, saying the committee sent the mailer without his campaign's approval.

Claiming the Republican City Committee is playing the "race card," the flyer asks citizens to "tell [Katz] to stop playing racial politics" and to clamor for the resignation of the committee's chairman, Michael Meehan.

The Street handout was contained within a red-bordered pamphlet picturing a seemingly disgruntled middle-aged black woman surrounded by the quote, "I'm sick and tired of paying OUTRAGEOUS auto insurance rates." The statement is attributed to "Anita Hunt, Philadelphia resident."

When opened, the pamphlet pits Katz, who "gets rich from big insurance," vs. Street, who "reduced auto insurance rates."

And to ensure that their seeds would flourish, Street supporters distributed another flier for fertilizer — an enlargement of a single paragraph from a Philadelphia Inquirer article with a Katz claim that he would allow nonunion companies to bid on a Convention Center expansion.

Germantown resident Diane Mohney, 58, joined the fray, wearing a sign that read "Defeat Katz in 2003 to Defeat Bush in 2004."

"Any Republican will be beholden to Bush," she said. "Katz will be asked to do what Jeb Bush was asked to do in Florida," Mohney said, adding that the Republican candidate would encourage fraudulent electoral practices to secure a GOP presidential victory. While acknowledging that the presence of a Republican mayor would not effect a sea change in the city's strong Democratic leanings, Mohney said that Katz would affect the presidential vote "just enough" for Bush to claim Pennsylvania.

And U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah, appearing as Street's representative, capitalized on Mohney's sentiment, providing the rain for a bountiful anti-Katz harvest.

Striding confidently through a throng of television reporters, Fattah addressed questions regarding a recent poll conducted in the wake of the federal probe into city contracts showing the besieged incumbent leading his Republican opponent by 10 points. The poll also indicates that the federal investigation has galvanized both candidates' bases, with blacks voting Street 7 to 1 and whites voting Katz 4 to 1.

"[Street]'s run the city in a way that has earned him the respect and support he deserves," Fattah said. "But polls don't vote. This is going to be a close, competitive race. We're pleased, and we believe Street can and will win."

With little audience concern over the mayor's absence, Street's surrogate — Fattah — urged the predominantly black audience to examine the mayor's record, emphasizing the incumbent's commitments to revitalizing neighborhoods and lowering auto insurance rates.

He also lauded the mayor's anti-drug Safe Streets program for producing a "crime reduction greater than that of any of the other top 10 cities."

Fattah expressed hope that the newly announced $40 million "last dollar" scholarship plan, through a city-school district partnership, will turn the city's youth away from anti-social behavior, and "show them that they have a future." The program will provide up to $3,000 for graduating college-bound school district seniors to cover leftover unsubsidized freshman year costs.

Then, Fattah went for the kill as he pushed the Katz-Bush connection, linking Washington's politics with Katz's candidacy. "The mayor has balanced the budget," he said. "If you want to find red ink, there's plenty of places to find it, but it's not here."

Connecting the Bush tax cuts with the Katz tax plan, Fattah said that borrowing $750 million to replace lost revenue from cutting the wage tax and phasing out the gross receipts tax was more "economic foolishness," labeling the Republican's plan "voodoo economics." The message: It didn't work for the nation, so it won't work for Philadelphia.

He championed Street’s "reasonable and responsible" approach of cutting the wage tax incrementally, adding that $200 million in taxes had already been cut during the mayor's first term. Fattah said that Philadelphians would see more savings from a reduction in auto insurance rates than from the Katz-advocated wage tax cut.

Labeling Katz's campaign as one of distractions, Fattah said Street has been "at the forefront" for a quarter-century while Katz "has done everything other than public service."

"If we make the right choice, we'll reap the rewards," he said. "If we make the wrong choice, we'll suffer the consequences, and the consequences are in Washington."

Fattah said that Bush and Katz were "philosophically connected," and that Katz would fund raise for the presidential incumbent, making enough of a difference to prohibit Democrats from winning the city by the overwhelming majority needed to win the state. Electing Katz, Fattah said, would help invite a national deterioration into Philadelphia.

"Katz wants to build a prison," Fattah said. "Street wants to build schools. It's not a choice for me." The audience resounded with chants of "Street."

Sam Katz

With television news cameras rolling, Katz  — accompanied by his wife Connie — charged up the center aisle of the school's auditorium and pointed to Mohney's Bush-Katz sign. "Philadelphians are pretty smart people," Katz said. "How many people think that there are a lot of Philadelphians, who when they get ready to vote for president in 2004 and they're faced with the choice of pushing this button or this button, that the last thought before they push that button is going to be, 'What does Sam Katz want me to do.'"

Hushed laughter floated over the audibly discontented audience.

"I'm running for mayor not to advance the agenda of the national Republican party — on which many issues they and I disagree strongly," he said. "I'm running for mayor because I care about Philadelphia."

Tired of hearing about the city's potential, Katz said his administration would "change the politics of this city," enacting a plan that would create jobs in addition to transforming neighborhoods.

"The quality of ideas trumps everything in this campaign," Katz said. And the Republican challenger claimed he had the ideas to reposition the city as a national competitor, something Katz claims Street's "pay-to-play" politics has hindered. "This is an administration that has done business with its friends," Katz said. "Philadelphia continues to be run for about 500 people. And I'm sick of it. I've had enough of it."

Heckling mixed with applause in an environment that grew more tenuous by the word.

Growing agitated by the cold reception, Katz lost his cool, becoming more pointed, and blasted Street supporters for their lack of civility. Katz said that the mayor's supporters have routinely screamed at him and disrupted civil debate at various functions throughout the campaign. "This is the city John Street has given us," he said.

The comment prompted an apex of discontent as the room roared over Katz's attempts to speak. It was the first of several times he looked to his wife Connie for support.

The onslaught continued: "We can't afford a Republican mayor." "The issue is George Bush."

Katz bit back. "The issue is John Street," he said. "George Bush is not going to sit on the second floor of City Hall." Katz followed up by promising he would not engage in fundraising activities for the president or campaign on his behalf.

Combating a Democratic strategy to align the Bush tax cuts with Katz's tax plan, Katz assured the audience that floating bonds to finance an operating deficit is not a Republican idea. Katz said that then-mayor Rendell hired Katz's firm Public Financial Management to float $275 million in bonds to finance a deficit left by the Goode administration. And as recently as five months ago, Katz said, the school district sold $317 million in bonds to finance its deficit. "I don't want to cut services," he said. "I want to cut taxes," Katz said.

A flustered Katz attempted to answer civic activist Rosalind McKelvey's claim that in 37 years of public service, she hadn't seen the candidate in the city's communities.

After looking to his wife, Katz detailed his work with Greater Philadelphia First — educational finance reform, advocating for more early childhood education resources, transportation improvements. But the audience exhibited gross disinterest.

John Staggs

A visibly beleaguered Katz left as Socialist Workers candidate John Staggs took the stage.

He took the opportunity to make a statement regarding the federal investigation involving the mayor, characterizing the probe as consistent with the FBI's "long history of political harassment."

As he spoke about his visions to "abolish capitalism" and fight police brutality, the audience thinned exponentially. Germantown had already received its fill of theater for the evening, retiring to think about competing visions for their city and whether their vote on November 4 would affect the nation's highest office in 2004.