Election 2003 News

Alright, Arnold Schwarzenkrimmelwiener is the new governor of California. Fine, now let's see if he can actually govern. I'd like to thank the more than twelve thousand people who voted for Gary Coleman. We gave it our best shot, which, of course, wasn't much.

Anyway, on to new business. It appears that the FBI, which stands for Fools Bungling Investigations, has been bugging the office of Philadelphia Mayor John Street. Street, a Democrat and Philadelphia's second black mayor, is locked in a bitter battle for a re-election against Republican Sam Katz. So what was that listening device doing in City Hall? FBI Agents have declined to explain the reasons for the listening device in City Hall, but speculation has been centered on investigations into the city's business dealings with private companies, which have been going on for months. The discovery of a listening device just prior to a mayoral election, though, has been seen as another Republican dirty trick on an incumbent Democrat. Although the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia has insisted that Mayor Street is not the target of any investigation, the timing of this developing story is certainly suspicious, especially when it also involves concurrent investigations of a privately run public charter school and a financial services company that are affiliated with a prominent Philadelphia Muslim family. (A black mayor. . .Muslims. . .ooh, something's amiss!) Read all about it here.

Is John Street being undermined by a Republican administration (the U.S. Attorney, Patrick Meehan, serves at the pleasure of the White House) eager to help Sam Katz in next month's Philly mayoral race? Maybe not. But it seems rather odd that investigations into the way the city does business (wow, backroom deals in Philly - next, you'll be telling me that the sun rises in the east!) are taking this sudden turn right before an election pitting a black Democratic mayor of a city with a large black population against a tough Republican opponent with a good deal of support from white voters. And did anyone also notice that Street's predecessor, Ed Rendell, is now the governor of Pennsylvania and that, since Tuesday, Pennsylvania is the most populous state with a Democratic governor?

I wouldn't put it past the Republicans to use Mayor Street to embarrass Governor Rendell as well as embarrass Street in a tough re-election campaign. If this is the case, it is an insult to Mayor Street and an insult to the city of Philadelphia.