Brady forced to play defense

A day after what could be the worst news cycle for a candidate so far in the mayoral campaign, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady was in Washington yesterday, leaving in his wake two potentially damaging issues.

First, it came out in court Tuesday that the carpenters union contributes to Brady's pension as if he works at least 140 hours a month for it. He admitted he does not.

Second, Brady's stumbling performance on the witness stand - full of I-don't-knows - caused bloggers, a newspaper columnist, and one of the candidate's chief rivals, businessman Tom Knox, to raise a harsh question: Is Bob Brady smart enough to be mayor?

The twin issues arose amid Knox's legal challenge to Brady's right to be on the primary ballot May 15, on the ground that the congressman omitted his city pension and his ties to the carpenters union from a financial disclosure form required of candidates.

Luzerne County Court Judge Patrick J. Toole Jr. is expected to rule any day. The litigation has come to dominate the mayoral race, and the prospect of appeals means that the mess could continue awhile.

Carpenters union documents introduced in Tuesday's hearing say monthly payments into Brady's pension account are based on 140 hours of work a month, the equivalent of 35 hours a week. The number led Knox to accuse the union of giving Brady the equivalent of a "no-show job."

Nonsense, Tom Jennings, the lawyer for the carpenters union and its pension fund, said yesterday.

"No one expects Brady's going to work 35 hours - it's an accounting device that the pension fund uses to receive funds," Jennings said. "To say it's a no-show job is ludicrous."

He said that the trust documents governing the pension since 1951 allow payments to be calculated only on an hourly basis.

Brady has the equivalent of a "service contract" under which the union contributes to his pension but does not pay him a salary or fee, Jennings said. He added that the trust documents governing the pension allow payments to be calculated only on an hourly basis, so his contract money is divided that way.

Brady's arrangement with the union has been disclosed in annual federal ethics forms since he was elected to Congress, his campaign noted.

"There is nothing wrong with it, nothing suspect," said campaign spokeswoman Kate Philips. "The House Ethics Committee has had no problem with it."

Philips said that Brady had helped educate and mentor apprentices and recruited more minorities to the union as part of his unpaid job. Brady also helped straighten out union jurisdictional disputes at the Convention Center four years ago.

The Carpenters Union Pension Fund is one of the investors in Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of The Inquirer.

As to the cracks about Brady's intellect, Philips said they were absurd and mean-spirited. "He's been underestimated by better and smarter men than Tom Knox and has still gone on to become an excellent congressman," she said.

Brady has demonstrated savvy and intelligence in his rise from rank-and-file carpenter to political boss - he has been chairman of the city Democratic Party since 1986 - and member of Congress. And being grilled on the witness stand could make anyone stammer.

But if the perception that Brady is not bright were to take hold, it could damage his campaign. That perception was discussed openly yesterday.

"Does Bob Brady have the intellectual heft to run the city?" Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jill Porter wrote yesterday. "If you saw him on the witness stand yesterday, you'd have to conclude, however sadly: Not by a long shot."

Still, Philadelphia has a blue-collar sensibility and the lowest percentage of college-educated adults among large cities. Voters have shown a willingness to elect leaders whom the intelligentsia derided - think former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo.

And, of course, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush's advisers spun his mangled syntax and simplified approach to issues into a warm image during the 2000 presidential campaign. In that formulation, "Dubya" became the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with, while Democrat Al Gore was stiff and nerdy. Everybody knows how that turned out.

"Bob Brady had a bad news cycle, but that's about it," said media consultant Kevin Feeley, who is not working in the race and considers the congressman bright. "It's an eternity to Election Day, and most of the television advertising is still to come."

On NBC10's news broadcast Tuesday night, Brady was shown scurrying down the hallway outside the courtroom, trailing a pack of reporters and camera crews. Following that: businessman Phil Chartock walking the same way outside federal court after his sentencing for bribing former Councilman Rick Mariano. Then came another image, of Brady escorting a troubled Mariano out of City Hall after the latter's 2005 suicide scare.

It was a trifecta of bad images for Brady, but strategists involved in the campaign said it was unclear whether negative associations from Tuesday's drama would follow Brady.

To Joe Trippi, Knox's media consultant, Brady's admission on the witness stand that he did not work the hours listed in his pension document was a "poster-child moment for what's wrong with Philly politics." But he added, "I don't know how you capture that moment in a 30-second ad."

Brady's pension fund now totals between $100,001 and $250,000, according to a financial disclosure form he filed with the House last year. A carpenter since 1964, Brady made an arrangement in 1999, when he first took office, to have the union contribute to his pension in exchange for part-time work, according to a series of the disclosures. The union has put in at least $58,969 since 1999, the documents show.

Democratic consultant Maurice Floyd, who is not working in the mayoral race, said that the campaign is frozen in place until the Brady court case is resolved. It is hard for any other issue to break through, he said.

"It throws a campaign off its rhythm," Floyd said. "It's like a series of paper cuts."

For continuing coverage of the mayor's race, including profiles of the candidates and our reporters' blog, go to http://go.philly.com/mayor

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