Clout: The judicial-candidate money pit

IT'S A financial leap of faith to run as a Democratic-endorsed judicial candidate in this city.

First, the City Committee collects $35,000 from each endorsed candidate for an "assessment" that gets spread around to ward leaders, who drive voter turnout by printing up sample ballots.

Many candidates also sink five- or six-figure amounts of their own money into campaigns.

The result? Some endorsed candidates who empty their bank accounts still don't make the cut.

Sharon Williams-Losier was endorsed and spent more than $98,000 of her own cash, only to narrowly miss in Tuesday's primary one of seven spots on the ballot for Common Pleas Court in November's general election.

Thomas Nocella, appointed in December to a Municipal Court seat, made an even bigger bet on himself. Nocella put up $173,000, including $120,000 just this month, but placed sixth in a primary race for four seats.

Betting the farm does sometimes pay off. In her run for Municipal Court, without Democratic endorsement, Dawn Segal invested $116,000 and won, helped in part by a good ballot position.

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady put his foot down this election season, warning ward leaders to back the party's endorsed candidates in the primary. Brady came out mostly a winner, with eight of 11 endorsed judicial candidates prevailing.

Now for two questions only time can answer. Brady pushed for ward leaders to pass a resolution seven weeks ago, declaring that judicial candidates who run without the party's endorsement will be shut out from endorsements in future elections.

If Segal wins in November, she gets a six-year term on Municipal Court. If she runs for a second term, will the Democrats decline to accept her money? And if she wins without the party, why would Segal or any other candidate pay an "assessment"?

And in Brady's 34th ward . . .

Speaking of the Democratic chairman, the party's endorsed judicial candidates faced a hit-or-miss day in the 34th Ward, where Brady is ward leader. In races for the the Court of Common Pleas and Municipal Court, four endorsed candidates didn't win the ward while four nonendorsed candidates scored wins.

Nutter endorsements: 0 for 2

And how did Mayor Nutter's clout hold up in his neighborhood? Nutter endorsed two candidates in the Democratic primary - former City Councilman Dan McElhatton for district attorney and incumbent Alan Butkovitz for city controller.

In the 52nd Ward, where Nutter is ward leader, he was 0 for 2.

Seth Williams scored 61.8 percent of the vote for District Attorney, compared with 12.5 percent for McElhatton. And John Braxton won 47.8 percent of the vote for controller, while Butkovitz got 34 percent.

Ouch! Hizzoner must be hoping his luck turns around before his re-election campaign.

Council pays to sell budget

Bill Miller of Ross Associates has a new City Council contract worth up to $25,000 for seven weeks of work. His duties? To devise a plan to push and publicize the city's new budget.

Council and Mayor Nutter announced a budget deal on Miller's first day on the job. Now they have to sell the plan to Harrisburg, which holds the power to approve several big-ticket items that make or break the budget.

Miller beat out Barbara Grant and Luz Cardenas, who ran Mayor Street's communications office, and Brown Partners, which worked for Wireless Philadelphia and U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah's run for mayor.

Technical difficulties?

Political junkies monitoring returns Tuesday night may have noticed a lag between the password-restricted Web site for political VIPs and paying media, and the public Web site. The public site was consistently about a half hour behind - or a lifetime in political heartbeats.

A city spokesman said the private site was directly run by the city, while an outside vendor was managing the public site. Last-minute efforts to update the candidates listed on the public site delayed the returns. After a planned upgrade is completed this summer, we're told the sites should be more closely in sync.

Quotable

"I tried to get a dog in a man suit, but I couldn't find one."

- City Controller Alan Butkovitz on primary opponent Brett Mandel's use of a man in a bulldog suit at campaign events. *

Have tips or suggestions? Call Chris Brennan at 215-854-5973 or Catherine Lucey at 215-854-4712. Or e-mail

phillyclout@phillynews.com.

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www.phillyclout.com.