CITY HALL SAM: Williams Cleaning Up In Mayor’s Race

STATE SEN. ANTHONY WILLIAMS leads the mayoral fundraising race in the early reports. All the pundits snickered the amount of money raised by the candidates was a pittance compared to previous elections. But it looks like Williams will once again be funded by his close allies in the education-reform movement, including JOEL GREENBERG. He raised $5.6 million for Williams’ 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Expectations are he will at least match that number for this election.

Williams is clearly the frontrunner but also offers a coherent and unified vision for the city of Philadelphia. Recently, former GOV. ED RENDELL was seen lunching with Williams and they appeared very friendly together. Rendell has been increasing his participation in local politics of late. Rendell’s poll numbers are still through the roof throughout the city and an alliance between Rendell and Williams would be formidable.

TONY WILLIAMS pitched in to clean up Cecil Street in S.W. Phila. alongside neighbors Virginia Chambliss and professionals from Eco Clean Solutions. Williams has vowed to restore regular street cleaning as Mayor.

Probably Williams’ most-formidable opposition for the Mayoral nomination comes from former CITY COUNCILMAN JIM KENNEY. Kenney will be the candidate for most of the unions and is backed by Local 98’s JOHN DOUGHERTY./strong> Williams will have union support, but MIKE NUTTER won the nomination by a landslide with very little union support. LYNNE ABRAHAM continues to be the wild card. She has a significant following and can take votes away from Kenney.

LT. GOV. MIKE STACK was able to break a tie on the paycheck-protection bill that groups have been salivating at the mouth to get enacted. The legislation takes away unions’ ability to deduct dues from workers’ paychecks. In the Pennsylvania Senate, Stack broke the 24-to-24 tie to defeat this legislation. Teamsters national PRESIDENT JIMMY HOFFA is coming to Pennsylvania to thank Stack personally at the Teamsters convention in Hershey in April. Teamsters Local 830 PRESIDENT DANIEL GRACE swears the scholarship dinner will be the best ever. The Teamsters have been raising money for kids of members to attend college. Thanks to Grace’s leadership, Local 830 has helped hundreds of young people afford higher education.

Actor TONY DANZA returned to Northeast HS for the school’s talent show. Danza has been raising funds for theater and other extracurricular programs. He has championed public-education funding. He was joined at the show by former STATE SEN. BOB ROVNER and developer CARL DRANOFF.

   Send article as PDF