Claws come out in mayoral campaign
Three Democratic mayoral candidates ripped each other over money and ethics.
IF YOU CAN do a decent Michael Buffer impersonation, now might be a good time to bust out a hearty, "Let's get ready to rumble!"
The reason: Three of the city's Democratic mayoral candidates threw some jabs at each other yesterday, making this mayor's race feel for the first time like a living, breathing competition.
Former City Councilman Jim Kenney's campaign got things started by lambasting state Sen. Anthony Williams, who suggested Monday that the School District of Philadelphia should consider accepting a $25 million donation from the Philadelphia School Partnership, an education advocacy group.
The PSP said the money could help to defray the costs of adding to the city's roster of charter schools, something Kenney said he opposed last week because the organization was tied to "unnamed millionaires."
A statement released yesterday by Kenney's spokeswoman Lauren Hitt read in part:
"Over the last week, it has become increasingly clear that state Senator Williams is a single-issue candidate driven by the contributions from anonymous billionaires more concerned with making a profit than a quality school. The Senator is supported by no fewer than four PACs [political action committees] with either implicit or explicit education privatization missions."
Hitt's statement went on to say that Williams came out in support of the PSP "gift" after receiving a $7,000 donation from a PAC associated with the organization.
Williams told the Daily News earlier this week that he thought the PSP's offer to the school district was a "conversation starter" - not a final offer - and worth mulling, given that the district is staring down an $80 million deficit.
Yesterday, Williams said political contributions don't define his policy views, noting that he's also received contributions from the teachers union.
"I would also suggest that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, so if there's going to be a contest around who contributes what to whom, everyone should be inspected, including Kenney," Williams said.
Former Common Pleas Judge Nelson Diaz also waded into the war of words, chiding both Kenney and Williams for "falling well short" of an integrity agenda the Committee of Seventy released Monday for all of the mayoral candidates.
"In this campaign, we've seen Senator Williams find new and creative ways to flout our campaign-finance laws," read part of an emailed statement from Diaz.
"Meanwhile, Councilman Kenney holds a second job working for a company doing big business with the city, the details of which he refuses to reveal - all while taking city and state pensions to fund his run for office that will potentially allow him to 'double-dip' if elected."