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October 31-November 6, 2002 slant The Tale of Two Men and a City
Or, why I won't vote for Ed Rendell. The men, Allen Iverson and Ed Rendell, are all-stars who hold court in different Philadelphia arenas before adoring fans. “The Answer” is a hip-hop-loving, corn-row-wearing Sixer. “Fast Eddie,” the man who would be governor, is a charismatic, cheesesteak-eating dealmaker. Ed carried the city from the brink of bankruptcy; Allen carried the 76ers to the brink of an NBA championship. Oh yeah, one more thing I should note: Allen is African-American; Ed is white. Over the summer, Allen lost his temper one night as he searched frantically for his wife. Two men who lived in an apartment for which Allen paid the rent later told police Iverson had threatened them. Charges were filed but after Allen hired a very expensive attorney, they were either dropped or thrown out. But, oh, what a price Allen would pay: legal fees, invasion of privacy, public ridicule in front of his family and kids and the prospect of losing his livelihood. When the new season rolled around, Allen, reportedly, was a changed man. He came to practice. He answered questions -- questions posed by some of the same reporters who verbally assaulted him -- and vowed to silence critics with his actions, not words. Back in the day, when Eddie was America's Mayor, his temper and passion for Philadelphia were spicy hot. Once, after a particularly stressful day, the Mayor encountered Amy Rosenberg, a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer who was brazen enough to ask a question his Honor didn't like. What was she thinking? Buzz Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who chronicled Rendell's first mayoral term in his book, A Prayer for the City, described the scene. "Suddenly and impulsively, he threw out his arm and grabbed the reporter by her neck and shoulders as they continued to walk, almost as if he was putting her in a vise. The look on his face, inches from hers, was a lock-jawed grimace, and he spit out his words as he muttered at least one obscenity. He looked frightening." Yet, here comes the strange part of the story. Ed Rendell, our former D.A., never was charged, never hired an expensive attorney and never endured bad press. He apologized to Amy and later Amy's boss sent Rendell a letter thanking him for the apology but reminding him that the Inquirer still felt it was "inappropriate behavior" to manhandle reporters. Ouch, that must have hurt. "The paper was mercifully kind the next day in its reporting of what had taken place," Bissinger wrote. Forgive me, my fellow Philadelphians, for thinking that in America people deserve equal treatment and equal opportunity. Pennsylvania journalists do a disservice in dismissing Ed Rendell's tantrums as minor character flaws. Now, I am no district attorney, but it stands to reason if it is against the law to threaten someone, then it must be against the law to grab them and scare them half to death. This case, by the way, was not the worst of the manhandling incidents reported in Bissinger's book. He goes on to describe a time where Rendell grabbed Inquirer photographer Sharon Wohlmuth so hard he bruised her arm, and tore her jacket. "It was scary," she would later say. "He attacked me." Ignoring Ed Rendell's temper amounts to a blatant act of discrimination, and let me tell you I don't like it one bit. Poor, poor Ed. Ed deserves as much of a chance to grow and mature as Allen, and that is why I plan to do him a big favor by not voting for him on Election Day. What if Pennsylvania's reporters had confronted Mr. Rendell about his temper and asked him (keeping a safe distance, of course): "Sir, as governor, how can you persuade kids in the inner city to stop the violence if you strike out against the people you work with? How can you lobby for funds to stop domestic abuse when you yourself bully female journalists? Do you think you have the moral authority to persuade state police not to beat up minority youth in a fit of rage? If they had made such inquiries, then Ed Rendell might have taken to heart his responsibility to model nonviolent behavior, and he would have taken away my No. 1 reason for not voting for him. Life is so unfair, isn't it? Turns out, Allen has a distinct advantage after all, because he is black. Linda Wallace is a freelance writer. 
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