Gale Warning

The Third Wheel Squeaks

by Daryl Gale

Unless you were out of town this past week, you’ve undoubtedly gotten a bellyful of the saga of John P. McDermott, potential mayoral spoiler.

But just in case, here's a quick rundown: McDermott, a Northeast Philly conservative running under the banner of the Constitution Party, officially threw his hat into the mayoral ring by submitting 3,731 signatures on nominating petitions to the City Commissioner's office just before Friday's 5 p.m. deadline. By topping the 2,699-signature figure needed to qualify, McDermott immediately sent the folks over at Team Katz into a tizzy as campaign spokespeople screamed foul to anybody who'd listen.

"We have received numerous phone calls from people saying that the Street campaign and its cronies are both the architects and engineers of John P. McDermott's petition filing," wrote Katz campaign press secretary Maureen Garrity in a hastily fired off news release. "If this is true, it is a desperate and fearful act to prop up a failed John Street regime."

Of course, Street's folks categorically, if cryptically, deny the conspiracy theory. While it's true that a Street campaign volunteer was instrumental in assisting McDermott gather signatures, newly hired Street spokesperson Dan Fee said no paid staffer had anything to do with it or shared any information with the campaign about McDermott.

"We're big ŒD' and little Œd' Democrats," Fee told me Tuesday, "which means we're in support of anyone who wants to run for office -- it's the American way. That said, we have neither the time nor the inclination to be running two campaigns. What Mr. McDermott does is his business."

When pitching this column to my editor Monday, his simple question to me was much the same as always: What can we say that hasn't already been said in the dailies or on TV? My answer was equally simple: With so many people talking around McDermott's reasons for filing, no one had taken the time to talk extensively with McDermott himself.

If the name sounds familiar, it should. Over the years, McDermott has set himself up as the Los Angeles Clippers of Philadelphia politics. He's always in the fight, but always dead last.

When McDermott ran for mayor in 1999, he got around 5,000 votes -- more than half Street's margin of victory. He's also run for City Commissioner, state representative, state treasurer and, most recently, in last November's 13th Congressional District race, where he came in a distant third behind Melissa Brown and winner Joe Hoeffel.

I spoke at length with McDermott Tuesday afternoon. He said he takes great issue with the notion that he's just a shill propped up by the Street campaign to take white, conservative votes from Katz.

"The people in Katz's campaign who look at me as a spoiler insult the thousands of real conservatives in Philadelphia looking for a voice," he said. "It's a self-serving idea. Who are they to decide who has a real chance to win and who doesn't? With so few registered Republicans in the city, I think a real conservative should be carrying the conservative banner. Katz is pro-abortion and pro-homosexual. He tries to be all things to all people and ends up being nothing to anyone. He's a phony."

If McDermott owes a debt of thanks to Street, or his operatives, for his ability to gather the necessary signatures in time, he has a funny way of showing his gratitude.

"Street's a liberal!" McDermott cackles when asked about the incumbent. "I give him credit for some things, but deep down he's a liberal and is tied hand and foot to liberal views. He hasn't been a great mayor, but at least he hasn't been a phony. He just supports the liberal agenda. I don't think either one of these guys represents the majority of Philadelphians. They're both dead wrong, just for different reasons."

Example?

"Crime. Street's been bragging about how Operation Safe Streets has lowered crime and at the same time Katz is running around talking about the latest numbers which indicate a sharp increase in the murder rate. The solution isn't Safe Streets or more officers or who is in the mayor's office. Our crime rate is a result of society's systematic breakdown of principles and values, and only a return to decency and principled behavior will stop it," he said. "When you see 60 percent of Philadelphia children born out of wedlock, when you see children out in the streets all hours of the night without supervision, when you see hard work and education become almost curse words, that's the cause of crime and despair. You can't legislate your way out of moral problems; you need moral solutions. That's where both of the candidates are afraid to speak up. I will say the things that they're afraid to say."

McDermott was sure to mention more than once that he's been mulling a run for mayor since losing last fall's congressional race, and that no matter who may or may not have helped him gather petition signatures, he's his own man.

"I have to run my own race, and believe me, I'm in it to win," he said before hanging up.

I know it sounds crazy, but I believe him.

Or, at least, I'm sure he believes it.

Daryl Gale’s weekly radio show, Dialogues, with co-hosts Rotan Lee and Bill Miller, is burning up the airwaves Fridays 7-10 a.m. on WURD (900 AM) in Philadelphia.