Wilson Goode Jr. talks about his election defeat, what's next

AT-LARGE Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. has been a steady and strong voice for economic equity for women and minorities across the city.

But Goode lost his fight to keep on fighting - perched from a Council seat he's held for nearly 16 years - when voters chose newcomers over him in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

"The City Council at-large race is a tricky race that's based on ballot position, name recognition and sample ballots," Goode said yesterday.

So what happened?

On ballot position: terrible. Goode drew No. 21 - dead last on the list of names competing in his race.

Name recognition: high. Goode, the son of the city's first black mayor, had made a name for himself during four terms on Council.

Sample ballots: um. That might have been the tricky part.

You see, there's a longstanding city tradition in which candidates pay ward leaders "street money," officially called an "assessment," to turn out votes on their behalf. The ward leaders also use the money to create and distribute sample ballots, listing the candidate's name, at the polls. But it's not unheard of in Philly for a ward leader to occasionally "cut" a candidate's name from a sample ballot and sell his or her slot to another candidate.

In Tuesday's primary, lawyer Derek Green, a protege of soon-to-retire Councilwoman Marian Tasco, emerged as the top vote-getter, breaking away from a crowded field of at-large candidates. Green, however, had the good fortune to draw the No. 1 ballot position.

And there may or may not have been some double-dealing, too.

In the wake of Goode's defeat, rumors within political circles surfaced that Goode's name got cut from some sample ballots in favor of Green's name as part of a deal in which Tasco agreed to endorse Jim Kenney for mayor.

When asked about this bit of political grist, Goode would only say: "This election was as tricky as ones in the past but also, it was tricky in new ways. I did lose some political support because of some deals that were done. That's the nature of the game and I understood that."

Yesterday, moments after a crowd of political insiders at the Palm restaurant gave Kenney a standing ovation for his staggering primary election victory, he reflected on one of his former Council colleagues who didn't fare as well on election night: Goode.

"It's hard. I almost lost the last time. My last Council election, I came within [1,700] votes [of losing]," Kenney said.

Should Kenney emerge victorious in the fall general election - yeah, it's virtually a lock, but you never know - Kenney said he'd consider reaching out to Goode and Councilman Ed Neilson, who was also booted Tuesday, to see if they'd want to serve in his administration.

"I think they're good people. They've done a good job. Sometimes you get caught up in the switches when it comes to elections," Kenney said.

Local 98 political boss John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, attended the political gathering at the Palm yesterday.

When asked if Local 98 agreed to back Green's successful council bid in exchange for Northwest Philly political leaders, including Tasco, supporting Kenney, Dougherty said he's "always had a good relationship" with Green, and reached out to him several months ago to let him know a lot of community residents wanted to see Green run for office.

For his part, Goode, 49, said he plans to continue on "his mission" to close the gap between the haves and have-nots. He is a founding board member of Local Progress, a network of more than 450 local elected officials from 40 states, which works to build a strong economy, equal justice, livable cities and effective government, according to its website.

"I've never been in it for the politics," Goode said. "I've always been in it for what I could do for people by creating new jobs, better wages and benefits, and more opportunities for businesses owned by women and people of color."

Since joining Council in January 2000, Goode has introduced 155 bills, 140 of which are now law, he said.

Yes, politics are messy at times, or "grimy," as Goode put it yesterday, but the political process that brought about his election loss has also enabled him to help people, he said.

"I am not upset with the political process because I've benefited from it," Goode said. "I've been on a mission in terms of economic justice and I've had to engage in some very grimy political processes [to get things done] and I'm glad that that point of my life is over. . . . But I'm glad that I engaged in the process in ways that allowed me to do the work that I did. The process is what it is. For me, now I will move forward from that process but stay engaged in the work."