Pestering Perzel

A Former Police Union Prez Poses a Challenge to the Former House Speaker.

by Tom Namako

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Published: Sep 17, 2008

Richard Costello (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Richard Costello says he didn't know he moved into state Rep. John Perzel's district in 2005. He says that he went to a polling booth on the morning of the 2006 general election, pulled back the curtain, and saw the former speaker of the House's name right there on the ballot, opposing Democrat Tim Kearney. He didn't vote for either, he says. "I wasn't happy with the choices."

He's become a bit more proactive since then. Costello, former president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (also a former registered Republican, a former registered Independent and now a registered Democrat) is waging a heated campaign against Perzel for his seat in Northeast Philadelphia.

This is not an easy task. Perzel has been in office for almost 30 years, and was speaker of the state House from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, he has made allies across Pennsylvania, winning favor by orchestrating the state takeover of Philadelphia's School District and Parking Authority. What's more, after a close call in the 2000 election, Perzel had the boundaries of his 172nd District redrawn: It's now, by Philly standards, a Republican stronghold, with about 42 percent of the 114,261 registered voters in the seven wards that make up the district in the GOP. On a map, the Northeast territory went from a solid mass to what Costello calls "a drunken, upside-down U shape." Still, if anyone can win there, it's a retired cop with the FOP endorsement.

Costello's message, thus far, has centered on familiar criticisms of Perzel. Costello ticked them off quickly in an interview: Perzel is a compensated board member of Florida-based Geo Group, a prison contracting firm; Perzel spent $5,000 each month of taxpayer money in 2006 to buff up his image after suffering a backlash from being the lead architect of the double-digit lawmaker pay raise in 2005. It's a record that Costello is trying to dismiss with one familiar phrase. "There's a need," he says, "for change." (Perzel didn't return three phone calls requesting an interview.)

Costello says he's unimpressed by Perzel's plan to add 10,000 more law enforcement officers to municipalities across Pennsylvania — Philadelphia would supposedly get more than 1,000 — an ambitious idea Perzel has touted since September 2006. (The bill has been held up in the Appropriations Committee by state Rep. Dwight Evans, who says the state has already sent a significant number of officers to the city.)

"The point," Costello says, "is that when you've been in power for the past few decades, you shouldn't still be running on promises. You need to be running on action."

Costello's idea of "action" is perhaps more literal than most Philadelphia politicians'.

In a discussion at his campaign headquarters on Roosevelt Boulevard, where a small coffeemaker seems to never get a break, Costello tells the story of taking two bullets to the head as a rookie patrol officer, only six months on the job. He was in the 22nd District one night near Napa and Cumberland streets, when a man came up, pointed a gun at his cruiser and fired. One bullet grazed Costello's head. Another is still lodged in his skull. Two years later, though, he was back on full duty, eventually working his way up to captain.

In conversation, Costello relies on the witty storytelling usually associated with retired police officers. But he does sneak in talking points. He'll be sure to tell you, for example, that as FOP president he revamped the police union's health benefits in 1982 — phasing out a dingy clinic and improving the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.

Public safety and health care are the two issues he says he wants to focus on in Harrisburg. But when he starts talking specifics, the conversation stalls. He wants tougher gun laws, and he wants all Pennsylvanians' medical insurance covered. When asked how a rookie legislator might make these things happen, he says he'll be able to move his colleagues by discussing his personal experiences (being shot, revamping the FOP's coverage). Never mind that some legislators literally laughed at Rendell's tearful plea for tougher firearm restrictions in 2007, and that a universal health insurance plan has been debated for some time.

"These are huge issues, I know," he says. "But what else am I supposed to do? Stand around at those events and get my picture taken? That's what's wrong already."

Before he tries to shake up Harrisburg, though, Costello has to conquer a formidable opponent. "[Perzel] is such a fixture there that he still has to be considered a favorite," Chris Borick, a pollster and political science professor at Allentown's Muhlenberg College told politickerpa.com.

Randy Schulz, Costello's campaign manager, says this just means his candidate has to go door to door. "We have to go to every home and tell them what we're doing. This is going to be a street fight."

(tom.namako@citypaper.net)

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