Kenyatta puts Ori in hot water

LAST WEEK, we described the city's political system as a "hot tub." That did not mean we wanted to see any of you in an actual hot tub.

Too late.

City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson went ahead and mailed fliers to South and Southwest Philadelphia residents featuring his opponent, developer Ori Feibush, topless and possibly napping while in what appears to be a hot tub.

To ensure that we're not the only ones who found this ad strange, we checked with former Gov. Ed Rendell, who liked to open the city's pools while he was mayor with a big ol' hairy-chested cannonball into the water.

"So what's wrong with being topless?" Rendell asked.

Rendell said he hasn't seen the Feibush photo, but figured it couldn't be all that embarrassing.

"Ori seems like he's in good shape," he said. "Now, if someone had used a picture of me jumping into the pool, that could have been awkward."

The problem with the Feibush photo is that it dredged up all those nightmarish stories we've heard over the years about Fast Eddie wandering around the Sporting Club at the Bellevue in his birthday suit. Stuff we just don't talk about, OK? Like the 2012 Eagles and 1964 Phillies.

"Most of the guys wore towels around their waists. Ed was in the minority who didn't," a former Sporting Club member reminded us, horrifyingly. "He's a hairy guy, though, so it looked like he was wearing a sweater."

Then there was the time Rendell was holding court while on the toilet. The ongoing conversation continued unabated.

"They kept following him as he walked into a stall, sat down and kept telling stories. Like, three guys standing there listening," said another former member.

Anyway, back to the Johnson-Feibush contest. A fully clothed Rendell noted yesterday that the political scene has officially entered its "silly season," those final weeks when candidates will try anything to gain an edge.

Political analyst Larry Ceisler said he doubted the Feibush ad would make much of a difference, even in a close race.

"If Kenyatta wins, I don't think it will be because of a hot-tub photo," he said.

Ceisler said he could only recall one other race that involved a focus on a candidate's physical attributes: the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial battle between Jon Corzine and Chris Christie.

"A lot of those Corzine shots of Christie accentuate his weight," he said. "The message was he's personally sloppy, so he'll be sloppy in government."

Christie won, double chin and all.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce on Monday published its list of "recommended" Council candidates as well as the candidates' responses to its business-centric questionnaire.

Council President Darrell Clarke got the recommendation. And he didn't even bother to fill out the questionnaire!

Joe Grace, the chamber's director of public policy, said it was "not a big deal" because they've worked extensively with Clarke on education funding and other issues.

"Let's just say that was an easy choice for our board," Grace said.

Must be nice to be Darrell Clarke. Just sit back and watch the endorsements - and lots of campaign cash from developers - come rolling in. No wonder he didn't give up his Council seat to run for mayor.

The only other incumbent seeking re-election who didn't respond to the chamber's questionnaire was Curtis Jones Jr., the majority leader. He also got their recommendation. But Jones has his own theme song, so that's a no brainer, too.

Speaking of missing names, we noticed last week that former District Attorney Lynne Abraham was conspicuously absent from the list of mayoral candidates on the Democratic City Committee website. The committee didn't endorse a candidate for mayor, so all six Democrats should have been listed. But there were only five.

We asked City Committee Web guy Lou Farinella what's up.

"It's on there," Farinella said of Abraham's name. When we assured him it was not, Farinella grew concerned.

"Oh, God. Oh, boy. Ahhhh, boy," said Farinella, as he brought up the website while still on the phone. "I don't believe this. Where the hell did she go? She'll be there in five minutes. How did no one notice that?"

Clout noticed, Lou. And like Lou promised, Abraham's name appeared a few minutes later.

No harm, no foul.

"If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," - former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum on Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner. Santorum is weighing another presidential bid and will make his plans known on May 27 in his hometown of Butler, Pa.

- Staff writers William Bender

and Dave Gambacorta

contributed to this report.

Blog: ph.ly/DailyDelco