Gar Joseph | Is Milton's 'madness' Fattah's method?

OLD POLITICAL wisdom:

Milton Street

is crazy.

New political wisdom: Milton Street is crazy like a fox.

While observing what radio gabbers and Web wags dubbed the "Milton Man March" yesterday at City Hall, it struck us that Milton's mayoral run isn't as nuts as it sounds.

Yes, he lives in Jersey.

Yes, he's under federal indictment.

Yes, he can't possibly win even if he survives a challenge to his nominating petitions, which he can't.

But Milton's two-week publicity blitz - TV appearances, radio interviews, endless newspaper ink - has crowded out news about the other candidates.

The guy is a free-media magnet that the average candidate can only dream about.

That's good for front-runner U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah. The less attention paid to his opponents, the less likely the lead changes.

Plus, Milton has been sharply critical of Dwight Evans and Michael Nutter, the candidates most likely to steal Fattah's voters. It's worth noting that Milton's kid brother, Mayor John Street, has been tilting toward Fattah in this race (although Bob Brady could still steal his heart.)

So for however long Milton's run lasts, however goofy it may seem, there's a method to the madness.

Rudman: Brady-Doc dealmaker?

Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone, but septuagenarian philanthropist Kal Rudman is having lunch with labor leader John Dougherty at the Palm on Wednesday.

Rudman's plan is to convince Dougherty to endorse U.S. Rep. Bob Brady for mayor.

"If I get this done, it will shake the s--- out of the other candidates," Rudman told us.

Doc, who raised a ton of money exploring his own run for mayor and whose electricians' Local 98 can put Election Day boots on the ground, would be a big catch for Brady.

Rudman is on the board of the Variety Club children's charity, of which Dougherty is president.

"He's got to settle on a candidate," said Rudman, and "[Brady] is the logical place for him to go."

Dougherty, however, sounds like he'll test Rudman's salesmanship.

"Local 98 and I are not there yet [on a Brady endorsement]," Dougherty told us.

Green: Third generation

Bill Green, 42, (he prefers that to the rather stuffy but accurate William J. Green IV) is definitely running for City Council at large.

He's the son of the former mayor and grandson of the former congressman and Democratic Party boss (whose name is on the federal courthouse building).

He's a graduate of Auburn University and Penn Law School and now a lawyer at Pepper Hamilton.

Green's maiden electoral voyage will include at least one member of his dad's old team: campaign adman Neil Oxman. Dan Fee and Trish Enright, who worked on Gov. Rendell's campaign, will be consultants. Also on board are two guys formerly on U.S. Sen. Bob Casey's campaign staff - Abe Dyk and Seth Levy.

As for any role that his father, the former mayor, might play, Green the younger joked that his father will act as "consigliere."

Please, Young Bill, for old time's sake, get him to give you one of his lectures to the press for use the first time you get a stupid question.

As forecast in Feb. 9 Clout, this officially brings to four the number of mayoral offspring running for City Council at large. The others are incumbents Wilson Goode and Frank Rizzo and challenger Sharif Street. Still missing: Jesse Rendell.

Blondell's Republican defector

Holly Maher has quit her job as legislative assistant to Republican Councilman Jack Kelly to join the re-election campaign of Democratic Councilwoman Blon-dell Reynolds Brown.

Blame it on Bush.

"I changed my registration from Republican to Democrat the day after President Bush vetoed the embryonic-stem-cell legislation," Maher told us.

Maher, 29, said she'd been admiring Reynolds Brown from afar for years and jumped at the chance to help her re-election campaign.

But Kelly, she said, "is still the hippest Republican around."

Saidel: Misplaced exuberance?

Speaking of Blondell Reynolds Brown, at her packed re-election announcement Wednesday, the always-excited former city controller Jonathan Saidel called upon the crowd to "do everything we can to make her the number one vote-getter" among Council at-large candidates.

Reynolds Brown supports Chaka Fattah for mayor. Wouldn't a big vote for Reynolds Brown be good for Fattah? And bad for Brady, whose campaign Saidel chairs? Shouldn't Saidel want a Brady supporter like at-large Councilman Jim Kenney to get the highest vote total?

Heim leads court reform

Dechert's litigation chairman, Robert C. Heim, has become chairman of the board of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

Heim is one of the founders of PMC, which for nearly 20 years has been pushing for judicial reform, including merit selection of judges.

With the chairmen of both political parties in the city and Gov. Rendell supporting the measure, Heim might see the beginning of success on the merit issue.

One of the good guides

If you take your vote seriously, or have an interest in politics, get your hands on the Committee of Seventy's 2007 Citizen's Guide.

It lists every elected official in the city and suburbs, and tells you how to reach them. It tells you which offices are up for election. It provides maps of City Council and ward boundaries.

Best of all, it includes a registration form that you can fill out and drop in the mail.

How to get it? You can download it at www.seventy.org, sign up for a printed copy by joining Seventy's mailing list through the Web site or by calling 215-557- 3600, ext. 103.

Quotable

"No, there's not a body in it. I started to put one in it so that when we opened it, it sat up, but I figured that might be a little too dramatic. You know, people might want to take me for a psychiatric evaluation."

- Milton Street, discussing the coffin he used on stage at his campaign rally to dramatize the problem of violence in the city. *

Staff writers Gar Joseph, Mark McDonald and Chris Brennan contributed to this report.