I Saved Payton

I am responding to the Mar. 20 article that ran in the Philadelphia Public Record, “Payton’s Petitions Appear Wobbly”.

I was never “hired” by State Rep. Tony Payton or his campaign. All of my efforts, including managing his successful 2006 campaign, were donated. I believed at the time his fresh ideas and energy could revive the 179th House Dist.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that if I was never hired by Payton, then I could not have been fired by him.

My volunteer efforts during this 2008 campaign involved organizing and mobilizing local citizens of the 179th Dist. to circulate the Representative’s nomination petitions, using street lists. Next, the petitions were visually inspected for “kitchen table” fraud prior to notarization. During this entire process, one petition was rejected. Before leaving to work with an out-of-town client, I ensured all petitions were submitted to the Representative’s campaign in plenty of time to be re-inspected against the voter file.

Of the 300 valid signatures required to be on the ballot, my circulators accounted for more than 250. In the end, the signatures I donated are responsible for Payton winning his case and remaining on the ballot.

I’m sure there are a number of campaigns that would have appreciated a similar contribution.

On Mar. 14, a meeting was convened which included the Representative, his campaign manager David Dix, and several others. The discussion centered on campaign activities, and updates on the impending court case involving the petitions. Never once during this meeting were the petitions that I contributed called into question.

I am not clear why Payton was inclined to use my name during court testimony as the petition fraud culprit. Perhaps he wilted under cross examination, “misspoke” as Senator Clinton recently did in her “Sniper Fire” comments or needed a convenient alibi. Whatever the reason, I felt compelled to address the Representative’s attempt to damage my integrity and reputation I have been building over the past 16 years performing exceptional work for over 60 Democratic candidates in 25 states.

For it was my exceptional work that made it possible for a political novice, housing counselor, and Community College student become the State Representative of the 179th Dist.

Blair Talmadge