POLS ON THE STREET: Feds Harass Judges – Looking For Someone Else

BY JOE SHAHEELI/ Pity the poor members of the Philadelphia judiciary. No matter how hard they work, how valuable their decisions and how many of them lead to legal reforms, they seem to be unwitting targets of investigations.

Scuttlebutt the FBI has subpoenaed financial election records of five of our outstanding jurists is they may not be targets after all. What we’ve heard is the Feds keep trying to track where the money has been coming from, not only to the judges, but to candidates for other state, city and federal offices.

The Feds have been looking for “bag men”, those who ostensibly are trustworthy enough to reach out to judges to insure favorable decisions and to legislators to promote or oppose legislation according to their purposes.

But, we believe, “bag men” or “bag women” no longer fit into the modus operandi of favor-asking.

It’s unfortunate the main media leapt to the bait offered by the Feds and cast suspicion on the judges whose records were subpoenaed.

City Council Members and other city officials have also been tainted in this scenario for simply attending dinners with a suspected “bag man”. To their chagrin, the Feds are learning their suspect doesn’t fit into that category. Yet in the end, the Feds have all the money they need and the manpower to use to keep on looking, hoping they’ll stumble on a real fire.

TOO MANY FRIENDS TO ENDORSE!
Gov. Ed Rendell will not be endorsing in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. That makes sense, for two reasons. Almost everyone running for that office has been a stanch ally of his at one time or another in his long career as a Pennsylvania politician.

The second is, as the field continues to grow, even he admits he can’t be sure of the outcome, though come the general election, he’ll be right beside the winner of the Democratic free-for-all.

One thing for sure among the many Democratic candidates announced for Governor is Tom Wolf is spending some of his big bucks early, on advertising on the web and elsewhere. If he had an odd name and needed to grow voter attention for that name, we could understand his reasoning. But Wolf is simple enough, yet not interesting enough to gain early voter allegiance.

FEDS SHUT DOWN FUMO’S PARTY
A bit of advice to the main media and local television talking heads! Don’t set up cameras outside of former State Sen. Vincent Fumo’s home on Greene Street. His scheduled party for Sep. 22 for former staff and allies was aborted once his probation office got wind of the happening. He can’t host any party according to the Feds until his halfway-house time is finished. The Fed reasoning is newly released prisoners still doing halfway-house time may want to celebrate as well, and connect with old pals they shouldn’t.

That shouldn’t faze Fumo, who is a member of MENSA, the high-IQ group. He used his prison time to read through 335 books. Whether some were novels, we weren’t told. But his inner circle says he’s thoroughly knowledgeable about “everything.”

Fumo, 70, spent the last four years in a federal prison camp in Ashland, Ky.

His halfway-house home commitment ends Feb. 2.

And about the rumor 39A Ward Leader and closest of Fumo friends Roseanne Pauciello would step down to return him to the ward’s leadership, odds are against its ever happening. If she were to do so, and we say she “ain’t about to”, opposition would understandably come from one or more of her most-loyal committee people.

G.O.P. CANDIDATES SPREAD THEIR EFFORTS AROUND
Danny Alvarez, the GOP challenger to incumbent District Attorney Seth Williams, believes he is making headway in the Greater Northeast spending “another productive week for my campaign.” He says, “My team and I knocked on doors in Rhawnhurst, Bustleton, Lawndale, Castor Gardens and Bridesburg.”

He also announced he has several fundraisers going: Sep. 25 at General Grant’s from 6 to 9 p.m. – tickets are $40 each – includes dinner, beer and wine; Oct. 1, Dennis Hunter hosts Alvarez and Terry Tracy at the United Republican Club, 5:30-8:30 pm, tickets going for $25. This will be followed by an open house hosted by Ward Leaders Matt Wolfe and Denise Furey at their home on Oct. 10, 6-8 p.m.; tickets are $50 each.

Lastly, Joe & Dr. Maria McColgan have also opened their home to Alvarez on Oct. 19. Tickets are $50 each, $80 per couple.

We wonder why the two candidates, Alvarez and Tracy, haven’t been campaigning together at high-exposure events. Their strategy could be, more doors get knocked if they campaign in different areas. But they need to know they are running out of time to awaken the voting public’s perception of their campaign efforts.

KNOX IN MAYORAL PRIMARY FOR SURE
Democrat Tom Knox is making all the right moves to enhance his chances to win the Democrat mayoral primary in 2015. He’s announced he has hired the firm of Brabender Cox, veterans of 200 of the toughest campaigns in the country, to provide strategic campaign-communications services. Established in 1982, Brabender Cox, led by Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer John Brabender, has been involved in campaigns for President, Governor, US Congress, Attorney General and more.

Brabender Cox is more closely associated with Republican candidates for political office. “My own political leanings are moderate,” said Brabender.

A tip to this quality operator is to study all of the television and motion picture copy of Knox campaigning. They’ll know their biggest hurdle is to make Knox understand he projects poorly. He needs a crash course in public speaking and political shmoozing.

MORGANELLI EXPECTED TO ENTER LT. GUV RACE
Northampton Co. District Attorney John Morganelli, the Democratic nominee for Attorney General in 2008, is now a potential candidate for Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor in 2014. He’s moving around the state campaigning against Gov. Tom Corbett’s plan to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania. He hopes that will get him needed labor support.

CORBETT’S REELECTION STRATEGY: A PREVIEW
Gov. Tom Corbett is beginning to define his campaign claims, hoping they’ll get him a majority again for his reelection strategy. In a fundraiser letter to Republican voters, he believes there are enough working families in this Commonwealth to buy into his record and vote him into a second term. He cites “reducing size of state government, creating economic opportunity leading to over 100,000 new private-sector jobs, boosting education and job-skills training opportunities, opposing all tax increases and reforming culture of Harrisburg’s special interests.”

Problem he faces is to identify those who agree these are worthwhile achievements and then to get them out to vote. He needs to be turned into a heartwarming, concerned candidate by his television commercials.

COMM. SINGER LOOKS OVER HORIZON TO 2015
City Commissioner Stephanie Singer has made an impression in the general community as she reaches out to the voting community in this city, especially seniors who are never sure if they are eligible to vote or not. She’s now revving up her reelection campaign machinery, announcing Daniel Berger has agreed to chair her campaign committee.

She credits input of Gregory Harvey, Noam Kugelmass, Joseph Doherty, Jorge Santana, Ellen Chapman, Don Garecht, Dennis Lee and Abbe Fletman in helping City Commissioners create their hallmark website www.PhiladelphiaVotes.com. It has answers to many questions frequently asked by voters.