7th Council Race: Invasion of the anonymous flier!

It took a while, but the first entrant in the nasty anonymous flier contest is in, and it's classic Philly election day shenanigans.

Someone who loves Maria Quinones Sanchez and/or despises Danny Savage in the Seventh District Council race trying to flare NIMBY fears. The Savage camp immediately blamed a ward leader for the mischief.

"DANNY SAVAGE TRIED TO PUT A METHADONE CLINIC HOUSING

200 IN-PATIENT AND 400 OUT PATIENT IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

EVEN THOUGH WE DID NOT WANT ONE,"

reads the flier. It references a zoning fight between Sanchez and Savage over a drug-rehab facility when Savage was leaving office in late-2007. Savage won the 7th District Council seat vacated by Rick Mariano in November 2007, and Sanchez took office in January 2007 after beating Savage in the Democratic primary in May 2008. The treatment facility never opened.

"PLEASE DO NOT PUSH HIS BOTTON [sic] IF YOU DO HE JUST MIGHT TRY TO DO IT. AGAIN," concludes the flier, which breaks campaign finance law by not indicating who paid for it. Savage is arguing in court this afternoon that the literature is "defamatory" and should be barred.

Savage's former chief of staff and campaign worker, Elizabeth McCollum-Nazario, blamed 33rdward leader Donna Aument, a Sanchez supporter, for the fliers.

McCollum-Nazario "personally witnessed the illegal and defamatory campaign fliers being distributed within and posted at various polling locations within the 33rd ward, specifically at the Fourth Division (Juniata Youth Club at Howland & Cayuga Streets) and the Fifth/Sixth Divisions (Piccoli Recreation Center at Castor Ave & Cayuga St)," reads Savage's petition to Election Court on Tuesday, trying to  have the fliers confiscated.

"I did not put it up, I did not write it, I have nothing to do with it," said Aument, whose daughter, Marnie Aument-Loughrey, is a candidate for Traffic Court judge. In a phone interview, the always chatty Aument claimed that Savage workers were standing outside polling places trying to convince people that Savage is Puerto Rican. "He's a crybaby, but other than that, he's not a Puerto Rican," said Aument.

Of the flier, which Aument has seen, she said: "Is it a lie?" I think it's pretty truthful."

Savage was in Election Court this afternoon. No word yet on the outcome.

Click herefor Philly.com's politics page.