POLS ON THE STREET: Feds Seek To Indict Sen. Larry Farnese

MAYOR Jim Kenney places wreath at Franklin Plaza as police and firefighters turned out for annual remembrance of those who lost their lives on duty.

Attorney Gregory Harvey, known for his ability to thread his clients through political mazes, broke the news 1st Dist. State Sen. Larry Farnese was to be indicted by the US Dept. of Justice. We wish him well, but it reminds us that an elected seat starting with “First” is a jinx seat at best. The 1st Dist. congressional, State Senate and District Council seats have seen some of their holders over the years go to Federal prison.

Sen. Farnese has been considered a rising star in the Democratic firmament. He didn’t have to be told, but when the 8th Ward leadership was open, he accepted the vote of those committee people. That ward and its sister 5th are considered the silk-stocking district of Philadelphia, taking into scope most of Center City. Together they insured a solid return for their Democratic senatorial candidates.

Farnese was first sworn into office as senator of Pennsylvania’s 1st Dist. in 2009. He won the primary race last month with 74% of the vote. There is no Republican running against him in the fall.

Donna Suggests Donate Or Join In Head-Shaving

Hair today, gone tomorrow … Donna Aument, seen here with her husband, is cancer survivor. She is issuing challenge to all leaders to shave their heads or donate to this charity drive to aid fight against cancer.

33rd Democratic Ward Leader Donna Aument writes: “As many of you know, I am a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with a rare cancer 13 years ago. At that time, I was in stage 4 and given six months to live.

“With the support of my family and friends, I treated cancer as a minor inconvenience and decided that I was going to live. What I went through at times was horrible and to this day I still have to deal with many side effects and different ailments that have arisen from having survived. I am an adult and have problems with this. I could not imagine going through this as a child. I saw a billboard for a program called Buzz for Kids and decided to join.

“What I am asking is for help from my community. On Sunday, May 15, I will be shaving my head at Lincoln Financial Field to help raise money for kids with cancer and I am asking for donations. You can donate in two ways;
1. Send a check made out to One Mission. You can send a check to my address at 720 E. Willard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134. My phone is (215) 427-1645.
2. You can donate online at www.onemissionbuzzoff.org/33rdward and my page URL is onemissionbuzzoff.org/donnaaument.
“One Mission is tax deductible and their ID # is 26-3741880.

“I hope that the people in the community will help me make a difference for a child.”

Republican candidate for the 5th State Senatorial seat Ross Feinberg has already shaved off his head in his effort to gain funds for the charity.

Bet On Trump To Win Pa.?

Speaking of Feinberg, he has officially endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States.

Could he be an early signal as to which way the Keystone State will go?

Feinberg, who has used a Trump-like slogan since the start of his campaign, saying he will “Make the Great Northeast Great Again,” endorsed the billionaire real-estate mogul. “I like how Trump will say what he feels and thinks. He speaks his mind in a frank fashion, knowing that some may not agree with him.” Ross continues, “I have been conveying the same attitude with my upfront approach during my senatorial campaign.”

Feinberg also won himself a good deal of attention in the city and in the media last year when he ran for the Register of Wills office with the same outspoken attitude. He held weekly press conferences inside City Hall in front of the Wills office, stating he would abolish the very office he was vying for. This idea was supported by several watchdog agencies.

“I know my endorsement of Trump may not be universally accepted,” Feinberg acknowledged. That’s all right with me. Either way I will continue to speak what I feel. As your next State Senator, the great people in the 5th Dist. will know I will say what I mean and do the things I say for all of us.”

FEATURED speakers at observance of Jewish American Heritage Month included, from left, Ivy Barsky, director of National Museum of American Jewish History; Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro; former Mayor Michael Nutter; Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Penna. Democratic Party Chair Marcel Groen; and US Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. Photo by Bonnie Squires

Politicos had Hillary Clinton earlier an easy winner in November. But lending some support to Feinberg’s belief is the latest Quinnipiac University Poll. That poll shows Pennsylvania is now in the swing-state category. Clinton leads Trump 43-42%. Should it be Sanders, he has a 43-41% lead over Trump.

The poll commented, “In a race marked by wide gender, age and racial gaps, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are running neck and neck in the key presidential Swing States of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont runs stronger against the likely Republican nominee. Clinton and Trump both have negative favorability ratings among voters in each state, compared to Sanders’ split score, the independent poll finds. The Swing State Poll focuses on Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania because since 1960 no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of these three states.”

Labor Played Key Role In Sabatina, Jr., Victory

The 5th State Senatorial Dist. reportedly cost tons of dollars to both sides of the challenge made by State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-Northeast) to incumbent Democrat Sen. John Sabatina, Jr. (D-Northeast).

That did not sit well with those unions which involved themselves in what some of their members called “an unnecessary and futile effort in an unnecessary civil war, pitting Democrats against Democrats.” The money donated from labor sources has yet to be tallied up, but it will add up to be monumental.

A lot of the money went to the obvious election campaign necessities, such as telephone banks, campaign material sent out almost every week by both sides, and t-shirts and general expenses.

Then there was the obvious support by volunteers from several unions. Sending in their volunteers to lit-drop, knock at doors, etc.

STATE REP. James Roebuck Jr., extreme left, is seen advocating for higher-education standards and more State funding for Cheyney University, a Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education school, in hearing at Mellon Independence Center on Market Street. With him are State Reps. Vanessa Lowery Brown, Stephen Kinsey and Jordan Harris, from Phila., and other legislators who are throwing in their support as well. Photo by Eldon Graham

What was not obvious to the general public was what those union volunteers were actually doing while knocking on doors or making phone calls. They were gathering information, the kind normally not thought about. Each person they talked to was asked a list of questions, pointing to whom they planned to vote, what they thoughts about other issues, candidates, etc. These were marked by dots on the commuter tables they were carrying. Those were translated into positive, maybe, and negative votes for Sabatina’s campaign team, to translate and to use to get out the vote on election day.

JIM PIO, Republican candidate for State Representative in 172nd Legislative Dist., has received endorsement of City Councilman Brian O’Neill, who stated, “We need people like Jim representing N.E. Phila. in Harrisburg.”

Obvious in their efforts were a host of unions, led by the Carpenters and the Sheet Metal Workers, along with financial and personnel contributions from the IUPAT DC 21 Glaciers, Teamsters, Roofers and several others. Their unions’ volunteers worked from early January every weekend. Those door-knockers completed surveys which the Sabatina campaign team analyzed, street by street, ward by ward.

They knew the Boyles had high recognition, had high favorability, and were on top of the ground game as well. The conclusion became obvious by 9 p.m. election night, called by several of the ward leaders involved in the district as too close to call. In the end, Sabatina held onto his seat with an almost-700 majority. The campaign placed credit squarely on the shoulders of the leaders and their volunteers for making a difference.

Will This Finally Be Women’s Year?

Recent primary-election returns have leads to the nomination of only the third woman since 1964 to seek a US Senate Seat from Pennsylvania. No women currently serve in the State’s 20-member congressional delegation.

Candidate for US Senate Democrat Katie McGinty captured 43% of the vote in Pennsylvania’s primary Apr. 26 to earn a spot on the 2016 general-election ballot. She will face incumbent Republican Pat Toomey this fall.

McGinty joins Democrats Lynne Yeakel (1992) and Genevieve Blatt (1964) as the only three women to ever have a major party nomination for US Senate in Pennsylvania. Both Yeakel and Blatt lost narrowly to their male opponents, Sens. Arlen Specter and Hugh Scott, respectively.

Dr. Dana Brown, executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women & Politics, thinks 2016 could be different, “Women have been very successful running for the US Senate in recent election cycles, and many election observers consider the Senate seat in Pennsylvania a swing seat this year.”

Pennsylvania currently ranks 40th in the nation in representation of women in the state legislature (18.2%).

The general-election ballot will also feature five women as their party’s nominee for one of the Commonwealth’s 18 seats in the US House of Representatives. In the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 63 women (35D, 28R) emerged from the primaries to vie for a seats in the State House, while two women, Democrat Judy Schwank and Republican Kim Ward, will retain their seats in the State Senate, having faced no primary or general-election opposition.

“Women remain significantly underrepresented in Pennsylvania politics,” Brown said, “which means women’s perspectives and experiences are not always a part of the decision making process. We know from research that when women run and win they are more likely to work across the aisle and bring new and different issues to the table. As a whole, our public policy is stronger when we have a more-diverse government.”

PCWP at Chatham University is a nonpartisan center devoted to fostering women’s public leadership through education, empowerment, and action. For more information, visit www.pcwp.org.

The PCWP offers the Ready to Run Campaign Training program for women, which is a one-day bipartisan program to help demystify the political process. Since its establishment in 2011, the Center has trained hundreds of women across the Commonwealth to run for political office and participate on a campaign as staff. This year, eight Ready to Run alumnae were victorious in their primary races for US Congress and the General Assembly.

Shades of Abscam May Fall On More

An FBI sting has brought down another mover and shaker.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the charges filed last week against John Estey, a former top aide to Gov. Ed Rendell and a power player in State and Philadelphia politics, were the results of a complex federal law-enforcement operation spanning several years that already snared former State Treasurer Rob McCord.

PHILA. LEGACY met to hash out plans to make Democratic National Convention a memorable one. Photo by Wendell Douglas

That reminds us of ABSCAM, short for Arab scam, when FBI agents dressed as Saudi sheikhs came in with flowing robes, promising to give Philadelphia and New Jersey politicians the inside scoop on their planned investment of hundreds of millions of dollars on the Ports of Philadelphia and New Jersey. The sheikhs said they would not deal with anyone, unless they could bestow. Back then, impressed with the legend the authentic sheikhs were handing out Rolex watches as a tip, it was easy to believe. Only problem the FBI sheikhs feared was bumping into anyone who spoke Arabic. They knew who did – and skirted around them. As a result, there was a fallout of Councilman, Congressman, N.J. State Senator and other officials.

As a result of that investigation, the federal government got away with being accused of entrapment, which could vindicate those who were caught. But that was never pressed into account as a defense. The same held true for the State Representative scam which recently netted several legislators.

Estey has pled guilty – and he is now cooperating with the investigators.

We do anticipate more names will be made public as the Feds slowly unfurl their latest program against politicians. Then some of the judges learned their phones were tapped. Who’s next?

City Needs To Brace For Anti-DNC Protests

Progressives, socialists, peace activists, labor unionists, feminists and environmentalists will once again gather under a protest umbrella which they hope will highlight their messages when the Democratic National Convention comes to town.

Their news release to us states: “The Presidential elections that take place every four years bring about only cosmetic changes: different faces running the government while the same billionaire masters still call all the shots. Whether it’s Clinton or Trump, Democrat or Republican, police will still terrorize us and low wages will keep us in or near poverty. That is, unless we fight back!”

They charge they have had enough, stating, “No more fake ‘democracy’ in our city! Not while racist cops run wild. Not while our public schools go criminally underfunded. Not while our people suffer some of the highest poverty levels in the country.

“We demand self-government, not capitalist pigs. Free Mumia and all political prisoners! Reparations now! Women’s and LGBTQ liberation now! Abolish capitalism and oppression now!”

Sounds similar to a Bernie Sanders campaign television spot.

A partial list of endorsers includes International Action Center, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the MOVE organization, Mundo Obrero/Workers World Party, Penn SDS, West Philly Food Not Bombs, and Philly Coalition for REAL Justice

Online Voting For Military Overseas

A State Senate panel has approved online voting bill for overseas military voters. The Senators said you can use the internet to shop, bank, and even find a partner with whom you’ll spend the rest of your life – but you still can’t vote. While Pennsylvania allows online voter registration, there’s still no movement in the General Assembly to offer online voting as an alternative to getting out to your polling place on election day.

So the Senate Appropriations Committee last week unanimously approved SB 1052 to allow overseas military absentee voters to cast their ballot over the internet. Currently, those ballots are sent online to overseas military absentee voters, who then have to print the ballot, fill it out, and then mail it back to cast their vote.

Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause/PA, said the Pentagon, the Dept. of Homeland Security and the Federal Voting Assistance Program don’t support online voting due to security risks. “Unlike Online Voter Registration, shopping, banking, and other online government transactions that have systems constructed in a manner that permit errors to be identified and repaired in a timely manner, errors in online voting cannot be fixed after the fact, and would be difficult to detect,” Kauffman said in a letter to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It is not reasonable to expect the Pennsylvania Dept. of State will be able to resolve security problems inherent with online voting that the Dept. of Defense and the National Institute of Standards & Technology could not solve,” he states.

CITY COUNCIL members and friends joined in honoring basketball star Aaron Mckie at Mayor’s Reception Room in City Hall. In award ceremony are Councilman Derek Green, Sponsor Councilman David Oh, Aaron McKie, Fran Dunphy, Larry Dougherty and Councilman Mark Squilla. Photo by Wendell Douglas

Feibush Vs. Johnson May End District Prerogatives

Since there are 10 District Council Members and seven at Large, over the years District Council prerogatives have been identified. The first is the fact any bills affecting the district need to be approved by the District Council Member or introduced by that individual as a prime sponsor. The other is the District Council Member’s opinions, when expressed before various City agencies, is considered “approval or kiss of death” to any project.

We explain this so readers understand the civil trial against 2nd Dist. Councilman Kenyatta Johnson may eventually shake this time-honored tradition (which is not actually a law). Developer Ori Feibush won a $34,000 settlement in a civil suit by proving to a jury’s satisfaction that Johnson’s refusal to allow him to buy properties was due to political retribution. Therfore his case may have the ramifications we discussed above.

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