Payton's Place

The 179th District has long been a political hot spot. It's only getting hotter.

by Doron Taussig

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Feb 6, 2008

politics

Michael T. Regan INSIDE LOOKING OUT: City Democrats rarely spurn incumbents come endorsement time. But they did just that to Tony Payton. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Under most circumstances, the candidate interviews held last week in the basement of the Seaport Inn, on Rising Sun Avenue, would have been a formality, a coronation for the incumbent. But these were not most circumstances.

The incumbent went first. Standing in front of the half-dozen ward leaders who would decide whether to grant him the Democratic Party's endorsement, Tony Payton Jr. launched into a practiced spiel. In his first two-year term as a state representative, he said, he'd brought $5 million home to his 179th District, in the lower Northeast. He'd authored the REACH scholarship initiative, which, if passed, would send any high school student with a 90 percent attendance record and a GPA above 3.0 to any state university for free. And he ran an employment program out of his office, inviting prospective employers to fax job openings to him and letting job seekers come in to explore their options.

A few questions were asked, mostly by longtime ward leader and City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione. She wanted to know about the employment program — who'd gotten jobs, what wards they were from.

After Payton was dismissed, the challenger was brought in. Guy Lewis, a nurse at Temple University Hospital, said that he was a lifelong district resident, a Gulf war veteran and an Eagle Scout. He fielded a few broad questions, received a few smiles and was thanked for his time.

The Democratic City Committee has, on occasion, denied an endorsement to an incumbent — in 1995, it passed on then-Councilman Daniel McElhatton in favor of a guy named Richard Mariano — but it usually backs the candidate in office. In fact, in the 179th in 2004, the ward leaders supported Payton's predecessor, William Rieger, even after it was revealed that he hadn't lived in the district for 20 years, and hadn't been showing up to cast votes in Harrisburg.

Payton would not benefit from such magnanimity. When the ward leaders emerged, Lewis was again greeted with smiles. They informed the challenger that three out of the six had voted for him, and those three controlled the majority of divisions in the district. Lewis had won the endorsement.

Tony Payton Jr. followed an unorthodox path to office. Just 25 when he decided to run, he brashly took on the powers-that-be in his district — basically Tartaglione — who had settled on another candidate, Emilio Vasquez, to replace the retiring Rieger.

As a young, outsider Democrat, Payton became a favorite of Philly's growing young progressive community. More importantly for his campaign, when Payton and Vasquez challenged one another's nominating petitions (a norm in Philly politics which progressives often complain about), Vasquez, who had previously been an outsider himself, was kicked off the ballot for failing to disclose his Parking Authority salary. He and the party were reduced to running a write-in campaign, and still nearly won. Numerous people "stamped" Vasquez's name in the wrong place on the ballot; had they stamped correctly, Vasquez likely would have triumphed. After a long, drawn-out court battle, a judge declared Payton the winner. He took office in January 2007.

 

The party's recent decision not to endorse Payton, then, raised some obvious questions. Was the Lewis endorsement payback for Payton running against the party? Did the party even consider backing its incumbent?

"It's clear that this is the petty personal politics of Philadelphia," Payton says.

Now 27, the state rep. says that legislating has been harder than he expected — it's a slow grind. But he's proud of his first term, when he became known as one of the promising young liberals in Harrisburg. And he's made some powerful friends: Two days after the Lewis endorsement, Gov. Ed Rendell attended a Payton fundraiser, and said that losing Payton would be a blow to the Democratic Party.

Daniel Savage doesn't see things that way. Savage is the leader of the 23rd Ward and was, for approximately a year, the 7th District city councilman (he replaced Mariano after the councilman went to jail, and was defeated in the May 2007 primary by Maria Quiñones Sanchez). Along with Tartaglione and William Dolbow, he voted against endorsing Payton. Asked why, he says, "Tony Payton is interested in himself. He's not interested in the people." He cites Lewis' age, master's degree and history of community activism as advantages. (Tartaglione and Dolbow could not be reached for comment.)

Asked what he thinks of the accomplishments Payton cites, Savage says, "I think he's all talk." He describes the REACH scholarship initiative as unlikely to pass and says the employment program hasn't yielded results. Of the $5 million, he asks, "Where'd he put it?"

Payton says the money went to the Frankford Special Services District and local groups that run job-training programs (Asociacion de Musicos Latino Americanos, Nueva Esperanza and Metropolitan Career Center).

The back-and-forth gets nastier. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Savage and Payton had a sitdown at Savage's home so Payton could make his pitch for the endorsement. According to Payton, Savage brought up an appearance Payton made with Quiñones Sanchez during the 2007 primary. Payton wasn't supporting the challenger, just an initiative she touted. Still, Payton says, Savage was angered.

"Did you think that was smart politics?" he recalls Savage asking.

Savage says the idea that he voted based on a grudge is "a naïve and false interpretation."

Guy Lewis doesn't seem eager to get involved in arguments about payback or petty politics.

"I would like to think I got the endorsement because I'm a solid citizen, longtime in the district," Lewis says.

 

He's running, he explains, because "for so long, our community has been neglected — overlooked politically." When he approached Payton to ask for his support in establishing a health education center in the district, he says, Payton shrugged him off.

Without taking anything away from Lewis, though, it's probably fair to say that the race in the 179th will come down to Payton vs. the party. And in an environment where "change" and "reform" have become watchwords, it won't just be about one incumbent. It will serve as yet another test of the Democratic City Committee's strength.

(doron@citypaper.net)

 

All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Post Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.

Name	please enter your name
Email (will not be published)	please enter a valid email
URL	please enter a valid url
Comment	please enter a comment
Enter the security code on the right in the textbox below.
Security Code	please enter the code
	Join the City Paper Mailing List

The Bell Curve
Rat Trapped?
Muhammad Yunus
Crowded Senate