Copyright (c) 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
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October 2, 2006
Family tradition a
key to city office
recognition and
knowing the ropes can ease the way in.
At first blush, City Council candidates Carol Campbell and Daniel Savage appear to be embodiments of the Democratic Party's big-tent ethos.
He's from a mostly white, ethnic corner of the Lower Northeast. She's from a largely African American section of West Philadelphia. He's a quiet 34-year-old in his first term as 23d Ward leader. She's an outspoken woman in her 60s who has run the Fourth Ward for nearly two decades. |
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But as it happens, the pair share one important trait: Both are children of political officials.
In Philadelphia politics, that is enough to give them a considerable leg up.
If Savage, the son of a ward leader who became a judge, and Campbell, the daughter of a ward leader-turned-councilman, win their special elections Nov. 7, they will bring to six the number of Council members who are heirs of city pols.
They would join two sons of mayors, another daughter of a councilman, and the widow of a U.S. representative. Together, they would constitute more than a third of the 17-member Council. A seventh member, Juan Ramos, is the brother of Philadelphia managing director Pedro Ramos, although the councilman's election preceded his brother's appointment.
The family tradition in city politics goes beyond Council. Three of the city's seven state senators are political heirs. So are six of 28 state representatives in the city and a smattering of Common Pleas Court judges and members of city boards and commissions.
Has the birthplace of the Constitution been secretly and suddenly taken over by royalists?
Not quite. Family politics has a long history in America, noted Stephen Hess, a professor at George Washington University who has written a book on America's political dynasties. After all, the second president's son followed him to the White House. The current president's father preceded him.
"It's an old question," Hess said. "What's Daddy's business? If your father owns a bakery, for a lot of people it means they'll want to be a baker, too."
In recent years, Hess said, the tradition has been spurred by the political money game. While self-made candidates have to spend millions making themselves known, political heirs such as Pennsylvania's Robert Casey Jr. and New Jersey's Thomas Kean Jr., both U.S. Senate candidates and sons of popular governors, are already recognizable.
"They've got a brand name," Hess said.
But Philadelphia politics has other features that strengthen the power of a family name.
Philadelphia-based political consultant Larry Ceisler said that in relatively obscure races such as a Council special election, having voters recognize your name was great, but having the name mean something to the political obsessives who do the work before Election Day was even more useful.
"If you're a child of a politician, then you have grown up in the system," Ceisler said. "And a lot of committeemen and ward leaders stick around through generations. You have a built-in advantage with them."
That advantage was certainly in place for Campbell and Savage late last month, when they were nominated in closed meetings of Democratic ward leaders, many of whom worked with the nominees' fathers.
Another Philadelphia factor is that candidates who grew up in the byzantine universe of city politics might not be as mystified by its tribes and traditions, said Howard Cain, another political consultant based in the city.
"If you come in from the suburbs, you've not got a clue about things like ward leaders and committeemen," Cain said. "And, probably, you've never viewed an elected official as supplying you with something you need. You wonder, 'Why do I need to go see my state senator about . . . a driver's license or a registration card?' In Philadelphia, that's sort of an automatic. It's a different culture. It's ancient. And it's hard for new people to understand."
Of course, dynastic rule around here has a few striking differences from the sort that was practiced at Versailles. Philadelphia's princelings, for one thing, eventually face an electorate.
And, as odd as it may seem, dynastic politics has also become a lot more egalitarian.
Among current dynasts, there are Republicans, including Frank Rizzo, son and namesake of the former mayor, and Democrats, such as W. Wilson Goode Jr., whose father defeated Rizzo in 1983 and 1987. There are African American officials, such as State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, son of former State Sen. Hardy Williams, and white ones, such as Council President Anna Verna, daughter of late Councilman William Cibotti.
And there have been blue-collar champions, such as U.S. Rep. Lucien Blackwell, whose widow sits on Council and whose son is a state representative, and patricians, such as the late W. Thacher Longstreth, whose son is the appointed chief of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the heirs' performances in office vary. Some, such as Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who was an aide to her husband, continue the family tradition, rallying around the same causes and often employing the same style.
For the younger Goode, the family name has seemed to free him from some of the drudgery of electoral politics, like spending chunks of time fund-raising or playing to the cameras.
Not endorsed by the party, Goode swept into office largely because he was the namesake of Philadelphia's first African American mayor. Confident of his reelection, he pursued an iconoclastic agenda often focused on fair lending and access to capital - issues that win fewer headlines than, say, crime.
"I took some risk in narrowing my focus to that area, and it has been successful politically and governmentally," he said.
But to argue about whether dynasties are good or bad is to miss the point, said Marc Stier, who has lobbied for more open government as leader of the liberal Neighborhood Networks group. Stier called the local dynasties another symbol of how hard it is for newcomers to break into what is supposed to be a democratic system.
"One of the things you have to think about here is, 'How do I have to go up against this tremendous burden that I don't have a legacy, don't have a father or mother who knew all these people?' " Stier said. "Your candidacy already looks difficult. Which means it's harder to raise money. Which means it's even more difficult. It's another hurdle."
Contact staff writer Michael Currie Schaffer at 215-854-4565 or mcschaffer@phillynews.com. |
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Copyright (c) 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer |