Familiar names toppled in at-large Council vote

IN THE Democratic at-large City Council race, the political status quo was shaken, although not to its core.

Voters ousted two incumbents - Wilson Goode Jr. and Ed Neilson - and embraced two others, longtime Council members Blondell Reynolds Brown and Bill Greenlee.

And fresh faces emerged as voters elevated rising stars within the city's Democratic party:

Real-estate guru Allan Domb. Education activist Helen Gym. And lawyer Derek Green, who worked behind the scenes in city government for years as special counsel to 9th District Councilwoman Marian Tasco.

Green, with 67,201 votes or 10.7 percent of registered Democrats, was yesterday's top vote-getter. Brown, who is on target to win a fifth term in November, was close behind with 61,361 votes, or about 9.8 percent of party voters.

Green, 44, who had made a failed bid for Council in 2007, said he believed that his win was fueled by a variety of factors, including a good ballot position, support from labor unions and the small-business community and his ability to build upon existing political relationships.

"I was able to pull together a coalition of people from all over the city of Philadelphia to help support me," said Green, speaking on the phone last night from the Platinum Grille in Chestnut Hill.

In the Republican at-large race, incumbents David Oh and Dennis O'Brien were the top two vote-getters, respectively. Oh and O'Brien came out ahead, despite running without endorsements from the Republican City Committee. Oh captured 8,747 votes, or 18 percent of registered Republicans, and O'Brien garnered 7,871 votes, or 16.2 percent.

The other Republican winners included Terry Tracy, Dan Tinney and Al Taubenberger.

Heading into November, the five winning Democrats and top five Republican finishers will vie to fill just seven at-large Council seats.

Two of the seven seats, however, are reserved for the minority party, which for the past 60-odd years has been the Republicans. That means, Democrats are expected to maintain five of the seven seats. In Philadelphia, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 7 to 1, according to Timothy Dowling, supervisor of elections for the City Commissioners.

Among the Democrats, Domb placed third, with 56,448, or 8.9 percent of the party vote.

Just a few months ago, many voters had never heard of Domb, particularly those not inside the city's real-estate world.

"I think I brought a fresh perspective," said Domb, 60, a successful developer and real-estate broker. "I'm not a politician and I'm not doing this for any other reason but to help all Philadelphians."

Domb raised nearly $1 million, pouring at least $560,000 of his own money into his campaign. He became a familiar face on local television. In one TV ad that clearly resonated with voters, Domb pledged to donate his $127,000 council salary to the city's cash-strapped public schools.

"My grandmother taught me that it's better to give than to receive," Domb said last night. "My goal is to help people. I have no agenda here."

The upsets in the at-large Council races came in the wake of copious campaign spending aimed at ousting incumbents and bringing in new blood.

Philadelphia 3.0 PAC, an independent expenditure group able to spend unlimited amounts of money on the candidates of its choice, backed two of the winning newcomers, Green and Republican Terry Tracy, 32, a former executive at Ralph Lauren. A group of prominent Philadelphia-area businesspeople, which reportedly includes Joseph and Robert Zuritsky, the father-son team that runs Parkway Corp., is behind Philly 3.0's money.

In the first two weeks of May alone, Philly 3.0 shelled out roughly $482,000 to help promote its endorsed slate of at-large Council candidates - all nonincumbents - through television and newspaper ads and direct mail. Of the nearly $500,000 spent by Philly 3.0 in early May, $144,059 went to Bronstein & Weaver, a Bryn Mawr-based Democratic political-media-and-strategy firm, and $337,650 went to the Campaign Group, founded by Democratic media strategist Neil Oxman, according to campaign-finance reports.

Councilman Greenlee, who was not backed by Philly 3.0, finished fourth among the five Democrats.

"It was a rough night," Greenlee said. "We were hanging in there for a while. I'm very, very happy. It was a tough race. There was a lot of people running. There was a lot of money being spent and I'm very happy that voters stuck with me on this one."