May 19, 2006
Section: LOCAL NEWS PHILADELPHIA & THE REGION
Edition: CITY-D
Page: B01
Correction:CLEARING THE RECORD, PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2006, FOLLOWS: An article in Friday's Inquirer incorrectly reported that State Rep. Thomas Blackwell was pushed out as a Democratic committeeman in the Sixth Ward in the primary election. + Blackwell lost his race for committeeman, but he was not the incumbent.

Insurgent Democrats win 64 seats on ward committees
Thomas Fitzgerald INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Dozens of self-styled progressive Democrats made a concerted effort to crash the city machine's party this year, and they had some success Tuesday, winning at least 64 seats on ward committees.

Along the way, the insurgents apparently defeated two established ward leaders who were running for committee slots. Under party rules, however, one doesn't have to be a committee member to lead a ward.

But the apparent defeats of Fifth Ward leader Sam Rappaport in Center City and 63d Ward leader Chris Drumm in Northeast Philadelphia stand as attention-grabbing symbols of the groups' efforts to gain a foothold in the party.

State Rep. Thomas Blackwell, a committeeman in West Philadelphia's Sixth Ward, also lost a bid to be reelected to his ward post.

"It's a path for change, and we need fresh blood in this party," said Marc Stier, 50, a founder of Neighborhood Networks, one of the progressive groups that had members running for ward committee. "In some places, we were running unopposed because no one wanted to do the jobs."

Democratic ward committee members - there are two for each of the city's 1,681 polling divisions - are the foot soldiers of one of the last urban political machines in the United States. They turn out the vote on election days, and some act as advocates at City Hall for their neighborhoods.

At least 42 Neighborhood Networks members were elected, Stier said. Also elected were 22 members of Philly for Change, an activist group that grew from Howard Dean's 2004 campaign.

Stier said Neighborhood Networks did not intend to knock off incumbents, but to encourage progressives.

Andrea Missias, who runs the blog A Smoke-Filled Room (http://asmokefilledroom.blogspot.com), and her husband, math professor Rob Manning, beat Rappaport, the longtime leader in the Fifth Ward. Missias had 80 votes, trailed by her husband with 65 votes. Rappaport drew 63.

A pair of absentee ballots and a provisional ballot have yet to be counted, so the couple is not yet home free.

"At the end of the night, Sam shook our hands and congratulated us - he was very civil," Missias said. She said that she and Manning had sent a letter to the Democrats in their division and knocked on doors.

"We told people we would be focused on principle instead of the party power games," Missias said.

Rappaport said he believed he would be reelected as ward leader even if he were to lose the committee seat.

Another Neighborhood Networks member, Natalie Minkovsky, defeated 63d Ward leader Drumm. She will join Drumm's wife, Maureen, on the committee.

Drumm had not been a committeeman before but was running to fill a vacancy. He said he welcomed Minkovsky.

"I did not see any Democratic Party activity in my neighborhood, and the Republicans are hyperactive here," said Minkovsky, 40, a postdoctoral fellow in cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania. "I just decided to do it myself."

Committee members will elect leaders of each of the 66 wards on June 5, and those chieftains make up the Democratic City Committee.

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