Bubkes For Democracy

Photo By: Michael T. Regan

by Howard Altman

John Street is royally pumped as he joins a happy melee outside a mental health center on North Fifth.

For him, the vibes are good as he cruises through the Seventh Councilmanic District, where few signs of the opposition are in evidence.

But there are waves of Rick Mariano volunteers all around, platoons of electricians and lots of local folk too, working polls, greeting voters -- giving Street great confidence that his political organization, built around the election acumen of electricians union head Johnny Dougherty, can take on any comers.

With just two district council members being challenged, Street claims that the lack of opposition is a referendum -- on him.

"I have been in this area with the councilman; the people love the stadiums and tax reductions and the big things that we do in this city," Street says triumphantly. "The things that drive them to criticize public officials, to support an opponent against them, are things that affect everyday lives -- vacant lots, drug dealers on corner, vacant buildings in terrible state of decay, abandoned cars. …"

It is a familiar speech, the same words he will utter again and again if you ask him for the time.

Accept his worldview or not, there is one thing that cannot be argued.

An otherwise drab Election Day turned golden for the mayor, the results showing that, with his own re-election very much in the balance, he has plenty of citywide, electrician-stimulated muscle.

Vince Fumo, who for all his public make-nice-ing remains the mayor’s biggest thorn, was smacked down a few pegs. His well-funded Mariano safari came up empty and Kathleen Fitzpatrick, who was given hundreds of thousands of dollars by Fumo, couldn’t come up with much more than 40 percent of the district’s voters, according to the AP.

Perennial Street pothole Angel Ortiz, who had this thing about driving around the city without a license, was paved over by Street’s choice, Juan Ramos.

And Jimmy Kenney, a particularly ardent Street opponent, had a pretty rough day too. Four years ago, he was the top at-large vote getter in the wild and woolly 1999 primary that brought out one in five Philadelphians, strangely considered in this nation a pretty good turnout.

On Tuesday, with only one in 20 in Philadelphia bothering to take part in a system that people died in Iraq to create, Fumocrat Kenney became the fourth most popular at-large Democrat, garnering more votes than only newcomer Ramos, according to the AP.

All this is good news for Street.

In an election year where everything has to go right for the mayor, who is facing a challenge from Republican Sam Katz that could knock him out of Room 215 in City Hall, this was a big day that went well.

The day has not gone so well, on the other hand, for democracy.

Very few people not associated with the Philly proxy fights came out to vote Tuesday.

It sure wasn’t the weather. The sun was out, the day was the most beautiful of the year, but the vast majority of Philadelphians could not trouble themselves to take part in an election.

This is pathetic.

How can we democratize the world when we give bubkes to democracy in the city where it was created?

Feh.

Killing and being killed in the name of this dishonors the dead in a way nothing else can as long as we treat voting like colonoscopy.

You can say all you want about how it sucks watching John and Vince and Johnny go at it. You can whine incessantly about how there are too many judges to judge.

Throughout the summer, up until Nov. 4, Street will really go at it with Katz.

You’ll hear lots from both sides.

And get a chance to give them a piece of your mind.

But if you didn’t vote on Tuesday, and that’s just about everybody, don’t expect anybody to feel sorry for you when you complain about the way Philly is run or how much that costs.

And those flags you’re waving to cheer on the troops?

There was a lot of guff given to protesters. But what does it say to the people on the front lines that you were too busy or disinterested to vote?