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Giordano versus Johnny Doc in Chick-fil-A cluster-cluck

A brief history of what we've taken to calling the Chick-fil-A cluster-cluck in Philly: City Councilman Jim Kenney told the fast-food company's president, Dan Cathy, to "take a hike" two weeks ago after Cathy spoke out against gay marriage.

Dom Giordano pokes fun at the suggestion that he wears monogrammed shirts - D.G. for "Demi-God" - in this picture he sent to Philly Clout. Union leader John Dougherty wrote in a letter to the editor on Thursday that Giordano wears "custom-tailored" shirts.
Dom Giordano pokes fun at the suggestion that he wears monogrammed shirts - D.G. for "Demi-God" - in this picture he sent to Philly Clout. Union leader John Dougherty wrote in a letter to the editor on Thursday that Giordano wears "custom-tailored" shirts.Read more

A brief history of what we've taken to calling the Chick-fil-A cluster-cluck in Philly:

City Councilman Jim Kenney told the fast-food company's president, Dan Cathy, to "take a hike" two weeks ago after Cathy spoke out against gay marriage.

But unlike the Chicago and Boston politicians who threatened to stymie Chick-fil-A's business in their cities, Kenney said he would condemn the company in a City Council resolution but not mess with any of the existing fast-food outlets in Philadelphia.

Chick-fil-A is now negotiating with the city to renew an expired lease for a restaurant at Philadelphia International Airport.

Many people have been screaming that freedom of speech is being curtailed without noticing — or maybe caring — that many people, apparently, have felt completely free to share every possible thought they have on this topic.

Enter Dom Giordano, talk-show host for the Big Talker WPHT-AM, who penned a Daily News column Tuesday calling Kenney a "government bully" engaged in "pathetic pandering."

Giordano knows pandering. Need proof? Listen to one of his interviews with Gov. Corbett.

Enter John Dougherty, head of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who has feuded fiercely with Kenney over the years but seems to have made peace at last.

Dougherty posted a series of slams about Giordano on Facebook and then submitted them to be published Thursday as a letter to the editor in the People Paper.

Here's one: "Only hope Dom comes home one night to find his son holding hands on the sofa with a male companion while watching 'Brokeback Mountain.' "

Here's another: "Wonder if the embroidered 'D.G.' initials on Dom's custom-tailored shirts actually stand for 'Demi-God'?"

Giordano, who says he does not wear monogrammed shirts, naturally took offense at the knock on his haberdashery.

He emailed us a series of pictures of him wearing a red smoking jacket adorned with a giant "D.G." monogram, along with a top hat and light-blue ascot. He is clutching a cigarette holder and a copy of the Daily News.

We've never met the 1 percent but this must be what they look like, right?

So what have we accomplished here?

Kenney, eyeing a run for mayor in 2015, has established his bona fides with the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender crowd, which can be a powerful political force.

Giordano has reasserted himself as a culture warrior willing to engage in any fight, as long as it helps ratings and draws attention.

And Dougherty proves that he and Kenney have buried the hatchet.

Speaking of 2015 ...

District Attorney Seth Williams tells us he thinks the numbers would add up to victory if he were to run for mayor in 2015. But he calls it "highly unlikely" that he will enter that race.

Williams, who will seek a second four-year term next year, said "my whole goal in life was to become the D.A."

He knows his political support could be useful to another candidate for mayor in 2015. He cites a "long-term relationship" with state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, calls Councilman Jim Kenney a "good public servant" and considers City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown "very electable."

Williams also worries about a few "bad people" that he would not name.

"There are some people who think they're just entitled, which is just repulsive to me," Williams said, adding he would have to reconsider his options if such a candidate looked like a front-runner.

No more resign-to-run?

One of the city's most-hated campaign rules — among elected officials anyway — is the provision in the city charter that says a candidate must resign from his or her current post at the city to run for a different elected position.

City Councilman David Oh says he's considering drafting legislation to ask voters to toss that rule.

That's good news for a slew of potential 2015 mayoral candidates who now hold city elected office. They include City Controller Alan Butkovitz and Council members Bill Green, W. Wilson Goode Jr., Kenney and Brown.

Oh stressed that no legislation has been drafted yet. But he thinks the current rules often prevent Philly candidates for running for state offices.

"For a city of our size, we don't have [enough] representation of statewide office-holders coming from Philadelphia," Oh said.

If legislation passed with Council and the mayor, it would go to the voters for approval. In 2007, voters struck down a ballot question asking if they wanted to eradicate resign-to-run rules.

Committee of Seventy policy director Ellen Kaplan said the good-government group supported the 2007 effort and would consider Oh's idea if he drafts legislation.

Kaplan said getting rid of the rule "would encourage more competitive elections."

— Staff writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.