Sam Katz, now an independent, to release ideas on improving Philadelphia

Sam Katz, a three-time Republican candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, has spent the last few years producing documentary films about the history of his home town.

In that history, Katz has been mulling the experience of Rudolph Blankenburg, calling him one of the best mayors of Philadelphia in the 20th century.

Blankenburg, a Keystone-Democrat, stunned the Philadelphia political machine in 1911 by defeating Republican George H. Earle Jr. by a slim margin of just 4,495 votes.  Blankenburg pushed for reforms in his single term that Katz called "hugely impactful."

Katz on Thursday said he mailed in the paperwork to change his voter registration from Republican to independent. He has roamed across the political spectrum in recent years, switching from Republican to independent in 2006 and later to Democrat before returning to the Republicans.

Katz tweeted his registration change at 6:49 a.m. Thursday, saying: "Changed my party registration to "Independent", a change that better fits my independent thinking and who I am. More to follow."

So does Katz plan to follow in Blankenburg's footsteps and challenge the city's political machinery with a third-party run for mayor in the general election?

"I don't know the answer to that question," said Katz, who said he intends to spend the next weeks and months releasing ideas "that run against the grain" of current thinking about how to improve Philadelphia.

"I feel like this is the right place for me politically," Katz said. "I intend to make some ideas public and to do so as a person of independent thinking."

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