Touched By An Angel!

by Tony West

Vanessa Brown’s unexpected triumph in the Democratic primary election for the 190th State House seat was triggered by a stranger she probably will never meet again.

Brown was standing in line in a corridor of the Pennsylvania Dept. of State in Harrisburg, waiting to file her nominating petitions to get on the ballot for another go at incumbent Tommy Blackwell. She had tackled him once before, in 2004, without making much headway. But she was sure her petition signatures were valid.

She was gossiping with fellow candidates in the queue when one of them – she didn’t even notice who – suggested she examine Blackwell’s petitions as well as her own. “I’m looking at my opponent; why don’t you look at yours?” he advised her.

Brown looked – and struck paydirt. Hundreds of Blackwell’s signatures appeared dubious. She challenged them in court and won, sweeping Blackwell’s name off the ballot. Blackwell mounted a write-in campaign, a desperate tactic that seldom succeeds. It didn’t this time and Brown defeated him by a 10-to-1 margin in her West Philadelphia district, where any Democrat’s victory is assured in the fall.

Still a bit stunned by her victory, Brown says of her mysterious advisor, “God sends you angels to guide you.”

A lot more than luck went into Brown’s win, however. The 41-year-old single mother is a lifelong, fourth-generation resident of the Mill Creek community. A seasoned community organizer with West Philadelphia Coalition of Neighbors and Businesses as she laid plans for her race, Brown had extensive contacts with fellow activists.

She has worked for the People’s Unemployment Project, Philadelphia Weed and Seed, and the Center for Community Change. She is a committeewoman in the 44th Ward and a town-watch veteran. Welfare reform, health care, unemployment and street crime are issues she has a track record on. Brown has testified before Senate committees and protested in front of the White House.

“I didn’t come out of the political ranks but out of the community,” she says.

Brown launched her campaign on a $10,000 shoestring; still, the backing she received was crucial. WPCNB’s President Lee Colbert was in her camp. Ross Stewart of Evolved Strategies, an environmentalist who helps progressive candidates, supported her. Lauren Townsend and Lou Freimiller, who had managed María Quińones Sánchez’s successful Council race last year, took her on at a discount. She received the endorsement of the National Organization of Women.

But the legal challenge to Blackwell’s petitions cost twice what her campaign did. For that, Brown took a leap of faith. “I hocked the keys to my house and my car,” she said. The law firm Cozen O’Connor handled her case. It paid off.

“I understand the Party always supports the incumbent,” Brown acknowledges. But after her success in court, West Philadelphia leaders let her know they would be at peace with her in Harrisburg. “I am very grateful for the support of all the ward leaders in the 190th,” she says. State Sens. Vincent Hughes and Anthony Williams have assured her of their cooperation.

Brown’s life journey has shown her the underside of fortune. Once a resident in a shelter for abused women, she developed a passion for advocacy. “I have turned negativity into a message for hope and change,” she says.

“Money and power are not always what prevail. When ordinary people unite, we can do extraordinary things.”