It seems there’s always a little surprise waiting for Councilman Jim Kenney when he shows up for City Council meetings. At the first session of the season it was a letter from Mayor Street telling Council he wasn’t going to pay for trash collection in condominiums -- exactly what is required of the mayor in a bill Council passed unanimously that was championed by Kenney. Then at the second session, Councilman Kenney was met in chambers with a flier suggesting he was a racist and anti-Semite.

Kenney had shown up to Council's second session hopping mad about the Mayor's response to the condo bill, and the flier must have raised his blood pressure further. From his seat in Council he lambasted the mayor's letter as an attempt to "effectively place complete governing authority over the City of Philadelphia in the hands of the mayor."

"It is the legislature that makes the laws," Kenney said, in a tone somewhere between anger and annoyance. Characterizing the legal showdown over the bill as "a fight to maintain the independence of this Council," Kenney moved to have City Council retain legal counsel to take up the matter in court.

After Council session, Kenney responded to the flier entitled "James F. Kenney on Race and Religion in Politics." The leaflet, which was unsigned, accused Kenney of "injecting the issues of race and religion" into political matters.

Kenney is quoted only once in the flier. The quote states, "The underlying issue of Ed Rendell's religion isn't a problem for me... but elsewhere in the state I think it could be."

When asked for a response, Kenney said, "I think my quote is pretty clear. I don't have a problem with Ed Rendell. I like Ed Rendell." Kenney also notes that he wasn't the first person to wonder how Rendell's Jewish heritage would play in backwoods Pennsylvania. "It was something that had been discussed by analysts and pundits throughout the course of the election," Kenney said.

The flier also quotes Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick, who wrote that Kenney "played the race card" at a South Philadelphia neighborhood meeting when he told the audience that the mayor is raising taxes on desirable neighborhoods to fund programs in the slums. Kenney says "Tom Ferrick is not accurate," noting that, at the meeting, he never used the words "black" or "white."

According to Kenney it's not a racial issue since neighborhoods with significant minority populations are getting hit with higher tax assessments. "Has Ferrick ever been to Mount Airy?" Kenney asks rhetorically, referring to the integrated section of Northwest Philadelphia where property values are rising.

Kenney says he believes the flier to be the work of electrical workers' Local 98, which is headed by political rival John Dougherty.

Still, despite his anger towards "Johnny Doc," Kenney managed to get in one last jab at Street.

His final claim of innocence was this: "I don't make [racially] divisive statements like the mayor [does]."

Change is Not Good

Blackwell staffers say the councilwoman has decided to hold her bill since Kenney is holding his. But if Kenney puts his bill back on the front burner, staffers say, Blackwell will move her bill as well.

The uneasy truce between Kenney and Blackwell comes just days after the Center City District (CCD) unveiled a new campaign urging downtown workers and residents to contribute to organized charities rather than panhandlers.

"I think it's a good idea," Kenney said of the CCD campaign, but he doesn't believe it will solve the problem entirely. "I think sometimes people give money because they're afraid not to," he said, especially when aggressive panhandlers target the elderly.

But without the time or the inclination to challenge the majority leader, all Kenney can do is give his two cents -- or not give them, as the case may be.