Democrats seek to regain party's soul (Philadelphia)
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | June 16th, 2005

Democrats seek to regain party's soul

Liberals in the city are starting Neighborhood Networks, an effort to change the party's direction and clean up politics.

By Thomas Fitzgerald

Inquirer Staff Writer

At conferences and in soul-searching magazine articles, national liberals are in a funk, asking why they keep losing elections.

Some Philadelphia liberals recently decided to quit wringing their hands and instead launched a political group, Neighborhood Networks, to change the direction of the city Democratic Party on the ground.

The idea, organizers say, is to build a system of division and ward leaders to push for liberal candidates and causes - and clean up city politics. Group founders drew 230 people to a June 4 inaugural meeting, many of them activists still flush from success in mobilizing anti-Bush voters last fall.

"It's going to be a shadow party," said organizer Marc Stier, a Temple University professor from West Mount Airy who lost last year in the Democratic primary for state representative.

Philadelphia is virtually a one-party city, so winning general elections is not the problem for Democrats. But Stier and other activists say that the local Democratic Party has lost its soul. They say they are outraged by a system in which candidates for judge are shaken down by ward leaders and "consultants" for contributions, and in which the perks of power seem more important than public policy.

"It feels like the Democratic Party here and nationally is morally corrupt," said Gloria Gilman, a Center City lawyer who worked on Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in 1968 and on George McGovern's four years later.

"It used to be that the Democratic Party stood for workers' rights and the common man, for poor people," she said. "Not anymore."

Neighborhood Networks plans to offer a competing vision, focused on such issues as mass transit, the minimum wage, and the end of pay-to-play politics, leaders say. They will inject intra-party competition, and in some areas members will run for committee and ward leader positions in the party.

At the first meeting, half of the city's 66 wards had at least one representative - with the highest concentration of members in traditionally liberal areas such as the Ninth Ward in Chestnut Hill, the Eighth and 30th Wards in Center City, and the 15th Ward in Fairmount. About 25 people came from various West Philadelphia wards.

Organizers hope that, by November 2006, they will have leaders in 400 to 600 of the city's 1,681 voting divisions. These "captains" will work neighbor to neighbor, expanding on the model provided by MoveOn, the Democratic group that organized anti-Bush voters in key precincts last year.

Already, the Neighborhood Networks membership has voted to campaign for a state legislative bill to raise the minimum wage. The group also is preparing to back proposed City Charter amendments to limit campaign contributions by city contractors, scheduled for a November referendum.

The group's first opportunity to endorse liberal candidates will come in next year's primaries for state legislative seats, and in the mayoral and City Council races of 2007.

Leaders of the Democratic City Committee are watching the new group with interest and some skepticism.

City Commissioner Edgar Howard, leader of the 10th Ward in Northwest Philadelphia, said that the group would be limited by the absence of patronage jobs and money to reward loyalists and punish dissenters.

"You have to be able to deliver goods and services to the constituents or else why should people stick with you?" Howard said. "Ultimately, it comes down to: Do they have staying power? It's a big, big city."

Others say liberals should be wary of hurting a city party that advances their goals by providing the big vote margins crucial to Democrats in statewide races.

"Why weaken something that works?" said Vernon Price, leader of the 22d Ward in Mount Airy and Germantown. "I believe they may have real issues they are passionate about, but they should... try to work with the party."

Democratic media adviser Larry Ceisler said Neighborhood Networks can generate enthusiasm that will help turnout in the 2006 U.S. Senate race and beyond.

"The only threat City Committee should feel is that these people are not motivated by money, but by ideals," Ceisler said.

Neighborhood Networks joins a long line of reform movements that have flowered in Philadelphia, however briefly. In the 1950s, for instance, Mayors Joseph Clark and Richardson Dilworth brought modern planning and management techniques to city government. In the late 1970s, liberals banded together to stop at the polls Mayor Frank L. Rizzo's effort to abolish term limits.

"The biggest problem reformers have had is they don't really build organizations that will continue to function beyond the moment," said Randall Miller, a historian of city politics at St. Joseph's University.

Neighborhood Networks hopes to build a mass movement for change that stays around.

"We want to give people who have been voiceless a voice," said Stan Shapiro, a retired lawyer for City Council.

Attending the first meeting were labor activists, people from neighborhood associations, bloggers, fans of former presidential candidate Howard Dean's, opponents of the Iraq war, even a few Green Party members.

"Hopefully, we'll remind each other not to get bogged down in differences," Gilman said. "It's not going to be an overnight sensation."

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Contact staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.

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