Also this issue:

If You Level It, Will They Come?
Not necessarily, say developers who want to rehab buildings near Temple University.
-Daniel Brook

Paper Trail
Take away the name and the philanthropy and the Annenberg family history reads just like any other mob story.
-Brendan McGarvey

Snarls Barclay
-Deborah Bolling

Hissy-toric Fit
-Daniel Brook

Noam Way
Noam Chomsky ignored by the media? Maybe there's a reason.
-Deborah Bolling

ISTAR Rising
-Mary F. Patel

The Bell Curve
City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

October 10-16, 2002

city beat

Hack Attack

by Daryl Gale

This is always our favorite part of political campaigns: four or five weeks from Election Day, the gloves come off and it’s every man for himself. Backs are stabbed, throats are cut, no quarter is given and none asked. God, we love this stuff. This week’s air war is about the dueling cabbie commercials put out by the campaigns of gubernatorial candidates Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher, with a dose of venom from the Green Party thrown in for good measure.

It all started when the Fisher camp began airing spots featuring a "Philly cabdriver" telling us how the city went to hell in a handbasket under Rendell, and if he's elected governor, the state is as good as doomed. Rendell's people cried foul, and pointed out that the cabbie wasn't even a real hack, but a paid actor. The Rendell camp then aired counter spots featuring actual Philly cabdrivers, and claimed the cabbies are Rendell fans. Then the Green Party got into the act, wishing a pox on both Rendell and Fisher's houses, and said real cabdrivers support Green Party candidate Mike Morrill in great numbers. It all came to a head last Friday, when the Daily News' Gar Joseph wrote a piece alleging that the cabdrivers in Rendell's spot were called to Delaware and Washington by their dispatchers and paid $50 apiece to smile for the cameras while holding Rendell for Governor signs. Joseph talked to one of the cabbies, who isn't even a citizen and therefore ineligible to vote anyway. The Greens screamed again, this time at Joseph, who they say used them as a source for his story without crediting the Green Party or even mentioning them in the piece. To top the whole thing off, Fisher's people then circulated a letter from the agent of the original actor "cabbie," alleging that in Rendell's counter spots, they used the actor's image without permission or compensation, and called for an immediate "cease and desist" on the spots until their guy is duly compensated. Got all that? It took Guvwatch a while to sort it out, too.

Pittsburgh-based agent Debra Docherty, contacted Monday, confirmed the letter, and said that Rendell's people have so far been uncooperative.

"I sent Mr. Rendell's campaign my letter by fax and mail on Sept. 25, then I made follow-up calls and I haven't gotten a response," Docherty said. "They're using my client's image without permission and that is unsatisfactory. They owe him money."

Not necessarily, according to Rendell campaign spokesman Dan Fee.

"It's a fair use argument," Fee said. "You're allowed to use images and text from an ad in your rebuttal. The Inquirer and Daily News used the images. Are they going after them too? This is just politically motivated piffle and our lawyers will respond."

Meanwhile, the Green Party is lambasting everyone involved.

"We think it's ridiculous that the two major party candidates are fighting over the support of cabdrivers when they both had to pay cabbies to appear in their ads," said Eric Prindle, spokesperson for Mike Morrill. "Still, it was the Green Party and Ernst Ford (Green Party candidate for state representative) who put Gar Joseph directly on the trail and made it clear that we intended to make a campaign issue out of this."

It gets better. Ernst Ford and the Greens are so pissed at being dissed by the Daily News, they may demonstrate, according to a recent press release. Ford says he wants credit for uncovering the $50 Rendell payoff to the cabdrivers.

Guvwatch just wants credit for untangling this mess.