192nd Dist.: Old And Young Go Toe To Toe
BY JOE SHAHEELI/
The 192nd House Dist., which embraces Overbrook, Wynnefield and Carroll Park, is poised for a primary dustup on the Democratic side this spring. Will Mega, a 37-year-old community organizer, has launched a drive to unseat veteran legislator State Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, four decades older than Mega, who has served that District for 21 years.
The race will be a test between age and youth, between media savvy and networking.
Mega, who recently worked for Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. and State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson, has a gift for coalition-building, including some unlikely faces. At his campaign announcement Saturday, he packed Club Damani in Overbrook with 250 enthusiastic people.He is founder of the Men of Wynnefield, which runs mentoring and sports programs. He is a member of Bible Way Baptist Church, a congregation with a peerless political heritage (the late State Sen. Hardy Williams belonged to it). Mega’s son Kasai attends Harambee Charter School; he himself is a graduate of Overbrook HS. Mega made clear he aimed to use these institutions as springboards to mount a serious insurgent electoral effort in West Philadelphia.
Mega identified himself with African American professional men. He was introduced by two professors in addition to A. Bruce Crawley, former head of the Philadelphia African American Chamber of Commerce. He has strong connections with school-age families and hammered away at conditions in Overbrook HS, where, he charged, students don’t even have drinking water.
In a political innovation that tapped an old church tradition, ushers passed collection plates around the room as emcee Mannwell Glenn “preached” to the crowd. They came back brimming with bills.
No stranger to Internet marketing and social media, Mega vowed to put them in play during his race. Mega had a brush with broadcast fame eight years ago when he was briefly a contestant in the reality-TV series “Big Brother”.
However, Bishop is no slouch, either, when it comes to media.
The long-term incumbent hosted a self-titled gospel radio show, “The Louise Bishop Show,” on WDAS-AM for 49 years. Bishop has three related careers – radio, the ministry and politics. Her radio program was consistently one of the highest-rated programs at the station and was an institution in the Philadelphia media market.
She has used this forum to inform and unite people around social, civic and religious issues; to advocate for services for the poor, including job search; and to bring the message of political leaders to the people. In 1978, she was called to the ministry and was ordained an evangelist by the Pennsylvania Baptist Association.
On Sundays, 6 a.m. to 12 noon, Bishop can be heard on WURD Radio 900, and weekdays from 5-6 a.m. As well as using her mastery of the radio microphone to engage audiences, and her work in Harrisburg, Bishop also serves as a minister. Her Sunday-morning show is popular among would-be political candidates who use her forum to promote their candidacy.
One Sunday morning in 1987, a blind man whose wife had deserted him and their five young children (three still in diapers), called into Louise’s gospel program begging for help. She opened the microphone and asked the people of Philadelphia to respond. Within five minutes the City’s managing director, as well as scores of people, answered the call. The power of that response led to the beginning of her third career as a legislator in Harrisburg.
In her legislative duties, Bishop is Majority Chair of the Children & Youth Committee. She also serves on a number of committees, including Aging & Older Adult Services; Health & Human Services; and Democratic Policy. She is the most-senior African American woman serving in the General Assembly, a former officer of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus and of the Philadelphia Delegation.
She will also have the backing of the Democratic City Committee and the ward leaders who make up her district.
Mega may not have the support he once enjoyed from IBEW Local 98 Business Mgr. John J. Dougherty, Jr., even though the union leader and political kingmaker had enlisted Mega’s support to get out the vote in last year’s General Election.
