vol. iii no. 102 (467) keeping you posted with the ... · vol. iii no. 102 (467) keeping you posted...

Vol. III No. 102 (467) Keeping You Posted With The Politics Of Philadelphia June 21, 2012

BLACK REPUBLICAN Ward Leader Lewis Harris, Jr. engages political mavens in an intense discus-

sion of African Americans and Republican in Phila. He related with passion

how “a fat white man I had never seen” (possibly Republican City Committee

Counsel Mike Meehan) invaded Harris’ own building and broke up a meeting

of Black Republicans Harris had organized without Meehan’s authorization.

Story inside.

PhiladelphiaDaily Record

A BLACK G.O.P.?

2 | PHILADELPHIADAILYRECORD.COM •

THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

T h e P h i l a d e l p h i aP u b l i c R e c o r d

C a l e n d a rJun. 21- Entry-level Job

Fair at Zion Baptist Ch., 3600

N. Broad St., 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Over 209 confirmed employers.

Breakfast, lunch included. For

info Jill Gromen (267) 408-

9027.

Jun. 22- 1st annual Chick

or Fish Fry hosted by Congress-

man Bob Brady, State Rep.

Mark Cohen, Shirley Gregory

and 49th Ward at Lou & Choo’s,

2101 W. Hunting Pk. Ave., 5-9

p.m. $10. For info Sonja

Thomas (215) 200-6144, Ducky

Birts (215) 510-1057, Teresa

Tanner (267) 270-8088, Tommy

Blackwell (215) 992-4425.

Make checks payable to Shirley

Gregory/49th Ward, 5803 N. 12th

St., Phila., PA 19141.

Jun. 22- Cocktail recep-

tion for Joe Rooney, Republican

13th Dist. congressional candi-

date, hosted by Donna Parisi at

A Child’s Place, 524 Sugartown

Rd., Devon, Pa. Tickets $150-

$1,000. For info Maria Diezel

(610) 430-0419.

Jun. 23- William Dunbar

campaign headquarters opening,

2302 E. Allegheny, noon to 5

p.m. Special guest lists includes

Congressman Bob Brady, Sen.

Christina Tartaglione, DA Seth

Williams and Mayor Nutter,

Jun. 24- Celebration Of

The Drum at Hatfield House,

33rd & Girard Ave., 12-7 p.m.

No cost. Bring your family, in-

struments, blankets or chairs.

Jun. 27- 14th annual

Youth Anti Violence Health

Awareness Initiative at Myers

Rec Ctr., 58th & Kingsessing

Ave., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Free event.

Jun. 28- Tom

Matkowski’s GOP 65th Ward

hosts fundraiser at Flukes Bar &

Grill, 7401 State Rd., 6 p.m.

Tickets $40. For info (215) 298-

2251.

Jul. 7- Councilman Curtis

Jones’ Block Captain Boot

Camp at Belmont Picnic Grove,

Belmont Ave. & Belmont Man-

sion Dr., 12-6 p.m. Workshops,

picnic, games.

Jul. 21- Fundraiser for

State Rep. John Taylor in N.

Wildwood at Coconut Cove,

400 W. Spruce Ave., N. Wild-

wood, N.J., 2-6 p.m. Cash Bar.

For info (215) 545-2244.

Jul. 21- Olney HS Class

of 1979 Bowling Party at Lib-

erty Lanes, 6505 Market St.,

Upper Darby, Pa., 7 p.m.-11

p.m. Cost $20. BYOB (beer or

wine only).

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Toomey Disheartened

By Sugar-Reform DefeatUS Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-

N.H.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) expressed their

disappointment in the Senate’s failure to pass a bi-

partisan amendment to the farm bill (S 3240) that

would reform the US sugar program and reduce

the cost of sugar. The amendment failed 46-53.

The amendment would:

• Repeal the Feedstock Flexibility program, which

will cost $193 million in the next 10 years. The

program was added to the 2008 farm bill and

requires the federal government to buy surplus

sugar, which is then sold to ethanol companies

at a loss.

• Repeal unnecessary trade restrictions, freeing up

the Agriculture Secretary to increase sugar im-

ports when domestic supplies do not meet de-

mand.

• Give the USDA more flexibility in administering

the import quota system, allowing qualifying

countries to trade their quotas among each

other, ensuring that American companies re-

ceive an adequate supply of sugar.

• Reform domestic supply restrictions, giving the

USDA more flexibility to modify or suspend

marketing allotments. The 2008 bill set an arti-

ficial guarantee of 85% of consumption. This

amendment would give the USDA more flexi-

bility to determine how much sugar producers

can sell.

• Eliminate higher price-support levels, reducing

taxpayers’ liability. The 2008 bill increased

loan rates, driving up prices for sugar-consum-

ing industries.

“Today’s vote was a defeat for American con-

sumers and American jobs and a victory for the

deep-pocketed special interests,” Toomey said.

“The US sugar program is essentially a transfer of

wealth from consumers, including the poorest

Americans, to a handful of wealthy sugar produc-

ers. In this era of sky-rocketing deficits and stag-

nant economic growth, I am disappointed that my

colleagues rejected a common-sense amendment

that would save the US government $72 million

and protect American manufacturing jobs. The

American people deserve better.”



Daily WafflesFrom Joe Sbaraglia (The Waffleman)

FRANK’S SODA BOT-TLING PLANT - was lo-cated at 6th & MooreStreets. It was a visualtreat. You had to stop andlook thru the windowswhenever you went by theplant. It was hypnoticwatching soda being bot-

tled. You were reallywatching a mechanicalwonder at work. Did youever wonder what BlackCherry Wishniak sodacontained? Who cares? Itwas and still is, great.

FROZEN BANANAS -First the banana waspeeled. A round stick wasinserted into one end ofthe banana and the bananawas then frozen. Thefrozen banana was dippedinto melted chocolate, en-casing it in a thick choco-late shell. The stick wasused to hold the banana,of course. Once coated,the bananas were put in alittle wax-paper bag andkept in the freezer untilneeded. Frozen bananastasted great on a warmsummer day. In fact theywere great any time. Theysold for ten cents atNick’s candy store.

FUR REEL? - No kid-ding? For example: Yougot a new bike -fur-reel?

GAHB-A-GHOUL - Capi-cola. Italian ham used forsangwiches. Made in twovarieties, sweet – withblack pepper, or hot –with a really hot, pow-dered, red pepper.

To buy a copy of this bookE-Mail [email protected]

3 BIGSALES

WEEKLY



Schwartz Plugs ObamacareAfter shunning the term “Obamacare”, which

started out as an epithet hurled by Republicans

against the Affordable Care Act, a decision has

been reached by leading Democratic campaigners

– in Pennsylvania at least – to wear it as a badge of

honor.

On Tuesday, the Dept. of Health & Human Serv-

ices published new data that show 91,000 young

adults in Pennsylvania who would otherwise be

uninsured remained covered on their family’s plan,

thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Nationwide, ap-

proximately 3.1 million young people have bene-

fitted from the law, passed in March, 2010, which

allows young adults under 26 to stay on their par-

ents’ health-insurance plan. Democrats across

Pennsylvania are touting the necessity of President

Obama’s health-care reform.

“Millions of American families have been able to

breathe a sense of relief with the ability of young

people to stay covered under age 26 on their par-

ents’ health insurance plan,” said Congresswoman

Allyson Schwartz (D-Phila.). “Health reform,

through this vital provision, has made a difference

in the lives of middle-class families all across

Pennsylvania.”

Before Obamacare, adult children would usually

be kicked off the family plan when they turned 18

or graduated from school, but young adults often

have entry level jobs that don’t provide health in-

surance. As a result, young people were the age

group most likely to be uninsured. Under the

health-care law, that’s changing. Obamacare re-

quires insurance companies to allow young people

to stay on their family health insurance until they

turn 26, which has provided a critical bridge for

millions of young people across the country.



Fattah Hails

Staley, Green

For Title IX

AnniversaryCongressman Chaka Fattah (D-Phila.) issues this

statement for the 40th anniversary of the enactment

of Title IX on Jun. 23, 1972:

“This Saturday, Jun. 23, is the 40th anniversary of a

revolution. And I want to mark the occasion by

saluting two talented women athletes – Dawn Sta-

ley and Traci Green – from my home town of

Philadelphia whose lives were profoundly im-

pacted by that revolution.

“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

doesn’t actually mention women’s athletics. The

law simply and totally barred discrimination on the

basis of sex in any education program or activity.

The impact of Title IX has been so profound and

widespread that we can hardly remember the men-

first and men’s-only America that preceded it. But

most visibly, Title IX turned women’s athletics

from a poorly-resourced afterthought to virtual

parity with men’s collegiate and scholastic athlet-

ics.

“Dawn Staley was two years old in 1972. Her en-

tire career as a premier female basketball player,

Olympian, coach, teacher and role model has oc-

curred in the Title IX world. Dawn grew up in a

poor neighborhood of Philadelphia and attended

Dobbins Tech where she was named national high

school player of the year. After starring at the Uni-

versity of Virginia and in professional leagues,

Dawn returned to Philadelphia to become the most

successful women’s coach in Temple University

history. And between two winning seasons of 21-

10 and 28-4, Dawn carried the United States flag

at opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics.

“Traci Green, also a Philadelphia native, has been

outstanding as a player, coach and teacher of com-

petitive tennis. Since taking over as the Harvard

University women’s-tennis coach in 2007, she has

completely flipped a losing program into an Ivy

League powerhouse. In 2009 she became the first

African American coach in Harvard’s history to

win a title. Traci, like Dawn, has a Temple connec-

tion, serving as the Owls’ assistant and head tennis

coach and as an adjunct faculty member in Tem-

ple’s College of Education.

“Dawn Staley and Traci Green are achievers of the

highest order. But perhaps it is even more signifi-

cant that while they are exceptional, they are not

the exception. Title IX has smashed barriers, re-

ordered our thinking about women’s roles in our

society, and made such achievement possible for

millions of women at every level of education and

athletics.

“Challenges remain. Students who are mothers are

often excluded from the protections of Title IX.

Parity in resources and employment has not been

fully achieved. And there are those still not recon-

ciled to women’s equality in education who resort

to the courts and legislatures to try and turn back

the clock. But they are on the wrong side of his-

tory. Forty years forward. We’re not going back.”



Pro-Lifers Welcome New

Abortion-Clinic RegsThis week, a new law, Act 122, takes effect tomore properly and effectively regulate surgicalabortion facilities.

That law, passed in December, requires that surgi‐cal‐abortion facilities finally must meet guidelinesand regulations under Pennsylvania’s Health CareFacilities Act; regulations that all other outpatientsurgical facilities have been required to follow formany years. Additionally, the abortion centersface inspections – something that did not happenfor more than 15 years – since the earliest days ofthe Ridge Administration.

This lack of oversight led to the decades of horrificpractices at the Women’s Medical Society abor‐tion center in West Philadelphia; where undergruesome conditions late‐term abortions wereperformed by Dr. Kermit Gosnell; teenagers ad‐

ministered anesthesia; and many women sufferedbodily harm, disease and even death as a at thehands of Dr. Gosnell and his staff. Murder chargesagainst the abortionist and other staffers ensuedfollowing a grand‐jury investigation.

“Now, at least the women that enter abortionclinics in Pennsylvania will have a greater degreeof health and safety protections, even if the babythey’re carrying does not,” said Michael Geer ofthe Pennsylvania Family Institute.

“The political cover provided to the abortion in‐dustry from the highest levels of government hada high cost in human life, and in diminished re‐spect for governmental officials whose firstcharge is to protect the safety of its citizens,”added Geer.



City Nets 4 History GrantsThe Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commis-

sion has awarded four Keystone Historic Preserva-

tion grants to help historical and heritage

organizations in Philadelphia.

Awarded were Eastern State Penitentiary Historic

Site, Inc. ($25,000), Friends of Old Pine Street

($24,625), Friends of the Japanese House and Gar-

den ($25,000) and Historic St. George’s United

Methodist Church ($25,000)

Keystone Historic Preservation Grants provide

funding to support projects that identify, preserve,

promote and protect historic and archaeological re-

sources in Pennsylvania for both the benefit of the

public and the revitalization of communities.

Funding also supports municipal-planning initia-

tives that focus on historic resources or used to

meet building or community specific planning

goals. The program also supports construction ac-

tivities at resources listed in or eligible for listing

in the National Register of Historic Places.

These grants receive funding from the Keystone

Recreation, Park & Conservation Fund, which is

supported annually from a portion of the state re-

alty-tax revenue.

The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commis-

sion is the official history agency of the Common-

wealth of Pennsylvania.



Butkovitz

Alarmed By

Police Camera

ProgramCity Controller Alan Butkovitz released an audit of

Philadelphia’s Video Surveillance program that

found the City spent $13.9 million for surveillance

cameras but only 102 of the 216 installed cameras

were functioning properly. This has resulted in a

cost to the City of $136,000 per operating camera.

“The cost is exceedingly alarming, and outright

excessive – especially when $13.9 million is

equivalent to the cost of putting 200 new police re-

cruits on our streets,” said Butkovitz.

“It’s extremely troubling to find only 102 of the

216 installed cameras were working properly,”

said Butkovitz. “At any given time when crime is

occurring around our City, only 47% of the cam-

eras are able to capture criminal activity at camera

locations.”

According to Butkovitz, the project has been

plagued with problems from the beginning, start-

ing with the assessment and risk phase. The audit

also found an unsatisfactory performance from the

selected vendor, which resulted in the City’s termi-

nating the contract and placing the burden on the

City’s limited resources to manage the surveillance

cameras.

In addition, there was an absence of warranty in-

formation and maintenance records for cameras

and other video surveillance equipment that was

supposed to be maintained by the Office of Inno-

vative Technology.

“Without proper documentation, the City could

have paid for services that it already contracted

for,” said Butkovitz. “We found numerous un-

opened boxes containing camera equipment at a

warehouse and could not determine if the equip-

ment was even compatible with the cameras cur-

rently installed.”

In January 2012, the City awarded $3.2 million in

contracts for maintenance/service, supplies and in-

stallation of the video-surveillance cameras. And

by the time those contracts were conformed the

cost increased to $3.6 million. This is in addition

to the initial $13.9 million already spent, and

money that was awarded without evidence that it

was really needed.

“To ensure that every city tax dollar is spent effec-

tively and efficiently, the City needs to weigh the

benefits against the cost for allocating an addi-

tional $3.6 million,” said Butkovitz. “It needs to

update maintenance records for all cameras and

determine if any of the current equipment can be

put to immediate use.”



Is Philadelphia Good For

‘Tech Bootstrapping’?PHILA. GAME LAB FOUNDER NATHAN

SOLOMON

by Nathan Solomon

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Philadelphia Game LabFounder Nathan Solomon posted the following tothe Philly Startup Leaders listserv, generating awide range of responses to his premise. Flying

Kite ezine reprinted it and shared it with the Daily

Record.)

This morning I had coffee with a venture-capital

friend who lives in Philadelphia and commutes to

NYC. He loves Philadelphia and is committed to

living here; he would do whatever he can to help

folks here. But, he said the same thing that every

venture capitalist and knowledgeable startup per-

son has said to me at one time or another about

Philadelphia.

“There is no deal flow here worth speaking of.”

We are close to NYC, and everyone knowledge-

able has contacts with funders and mentors there.

Hence, entities achieving funding are effectively

NYC entities.

What does that mean for this city, and those who

are working to form new initiatives here? I would

suggest that it demands an alternative starting

point for evaluating health and scale of startup

community. As effectively a “satellite campus” of

NYC in terms of funded entities, we should em-

phasize bootstrapped entities, and reject the model

of massive scalability (required by the conven-

tional tech VC model), as the primary requirement

of a tech startup. I’m not saying that if someone is

offered funding and takes it, that’s a bad thing (it’s

definitely a very good thing); however, this city

should brand itself as so good for bootstrapping

that it has unique value that cannot be found in

NYC or San Francisco or even Boston.

What can be done to support such a positioning?

First of all, it’s demonstrably true that Philadelphia

is a great city to live in, as a night or weekend out

will prove; with an incredibly dynamism at this

point that is also borne out by the ubiquity of con-

struction within the city. It’s also true that it’s

much, much more viable here to either quit your

day job and live cheaply or to have energy and

focus to do something in your spare time here.

This city is also in a unique situation where our

universities are so much larger a proportion of the

economy than are the firms that grow from the

city. Hence, we are uniquely weighted toward a

population of smart young people, with a dearth of

established businesses that are interesting enough

to be compelling destinations for these kids. So,

our position is that we have a lot of capable young

people who would stay here if there were opportu-

nities to do so.

I’ve been thinking about this lately, in part part be-

cause folks have been asking me to persuade more

small game companies to move to the region. I’m

not sure how this all needs to shake out, but these

are some initial thoughts. A great thing is that it’s

not very expensive to support bootstrapping, and

that any bootstrapped startup brought or built here

has a fantastic effect beyond itself, as the smartest,

most ambitious people remain part of the commu-

nity, helping other initiatives to grow as well.

CARL DASH AND AUDRA BUTTS helped organize “Black Phila. & the Republican Party: A Di-

alogue”, an ongoing discussion series that has captured unusual attention in City of Brotherly

Love this June.



Black Republicans: Do

They Have A Future?

by Tony West

An ad hoc group has started a lively debate among

Black Philadelphians about the relationship be-

tween African Americans and the Republican Party

in this city.

The informal group, which calls itself “The Con-

versation Club”, has been conducting an intense

online discussion which has drawn the attention of

savvy political observers and activists in an other-

wise-sleepy season as summer begins.

Last night, the Conversation Club packed the up-

stairs at Elena’s Soul Lounge in West Philadel-

phia’s hip Cedar Park neighborhood. A multiracial,

bipartisan crowd responded to a thoughtful, di-

verse panel as it explored different aspects of

being Black, being Republican and being politi-

cally engaged in this city.

A core question was if it was good for Blacks to

place all their eggs in one partisan basket, so to

speak. While the city’s whites, Asians and Hispan-

ics mostly register Democrat, there is a healthy

Republican minority among them and a sense of

political options. Black Philadelphians, on the

other hand, monolithically register as Democrats.

Are their votes being taken for granted? Do

African Americans lose key leverage as a result?

And do Democratic Party policies truly represent

the diversity of values within the Black commu-

nity?

Denise Clay, a columnist for the Philadelphia Pub-

lic Record, said both as a journalist and as a Black,



she refrains from committing to any party. “There

are no permanent alliances, only permanent inter-

ests,” she noted coolly. However, she stated, city

Republicans will find it hard to enlist local Blacks

to their banner given the current tone of Movement

Conservatives who currently dominate the party at

the national level – a tone that is overtly disparag-

ing of Black people and Black concerns, she said.

Clay was not alone in this view. A young Temple

Democrat in the audience, Kadida Kenner, said,

“Before I join a political party, I have to see people

who look like me in that party.”

But two of the panelists, professional political

campaign worker Randy Robinson and financial

entrepreneur Sgt. Robert Alan Mansfield, de-

scribed themselves as “natural conservatives” with

a lifelong belief in religious and family values and

work ethics they found the Republican Party

speaks to. “I never asked the Republican Party

what it could do for me; I’m only interested in

what I can do for it,” he insisted.

Mansfield and John Featherman are both running

for Congress as Republicans this fall. Like Feath-

erman, another panelist, North Philadelphia Ward

Leader Audra Butts is allied with the party faction

that is loyal to the Republican State Committee

and is trying to replace Mike Meehan’s inherited

family leadership in the Republican City Commit-

tee with a new Chair, Rick Hellberg.

Featherman, who was the only white on the panel,

charged the old RCC leadership had long dis-

missed any meaningful effort to recruit Blacks to

the Republican Party. All the Black Republicans

who attended the discussion agreed. “If we do not

reverse this trend, by 2018 the Republican Party

will disappear” in Philadelphia, Mansfield as-

serted.

North Philadelphia Realtor Judith Robinson took a

pragmatic, grass-roots approach to party affilia-

tion. “I have registered as a Republican and also as

a Democrat,” she noted. But she rejected the no-

tion people from another part of the city, in either

party, should show up at election season to “lead”

her neighbors and her.

The Realtor’s position as a pragmatist with practi-

cal, local issues echoed that of many in the audi-

ence. Some, like powerful Laborers District

Council Business Manager Ryan Boyer, said they

have been willing to register as Republicans in the

past. But Boyer said the wing of the Republican

Party which is pushing a right-to-work agenda

makes the party hard for him to swallow.

Other panelists countered by arguing labor unions

overall discriminate against African Americans, so

a nonunion labor market would benefit Blacks.

One criticized “union educators” – public schools

– for delivering poor education to Black children

and urged school vouchers, an idea backed by

many Republicans.

Yet still others noted public-sector unions have

long been a mainstay for the Black middle class

and feared the present GOP assault on government

jobs will harm their community.

The debate was thoughtful and at times impas-

sioned. The evening ended with vows to continue

the discussion on future dates.

Striking about the occasion: This was a bottom-up

debate which sprang spontaneously from the street

experiences of politically active Black Philadelphi-

ans. Republicans, Democrats, Greens or independ-

ents – all are ready to reexamine the traditional

allegiances of African Americans and ask hard

questions about what they are getting in return.



PANELISTS were, from left, Sgt. Robert Alan Mansfield, a Republican businessman who is chal-

lenging Congressman Chaka Fattah in November; Audra Butts, a Republican businesswoman and

N. Phila. ward leader; Randy Robinson, a Republican who does bipartisan professional campaign

consultancy; Denise Clay, a political columnist for Phila. Public Record; Judith Robinson, a N.

Philadelphia Realtor who has registered both as a Republican and a Democrat; and John Feather-

man, a real-estate investor who lives in Chinatown and is a frequent Republican candidate, now

going against Congressman Bob Brady in the general election.

vol. iii no. 102 (467) keeping you posted with the ... · vol. iii no. 102 (467) keeping you posted...

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