Tag: Thesis

Bob Barnett: former Sam Katz campaign director

During today’s interview with Ellen Kaplan, former issues director of Sam Katz’s 1999 Republican bid for mayor of Philadelphia and current staffer at the Committee of Seventy, she mentioned the success of Katz’s 1999 campaign director Robert S. Barnett.

I had heard the name, even having mentioned Barnett once before here, back in September when noting his take on the effect of President Bill Clinton on the 1999 mayoral battle between Katz and John Street.

Bob Barnett was one element of a bipartisan, but Democratic-leaning crew leading Katz’s 1999 campaign, which included veteran consultant Neil Oxman, policy director Linda Morrison, and issues director Ellen Kaplan, all Democrats, and Republican consultant Christopher Mottola, as reported by CityPaper.

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Interview: Ellen Kaplan, Committee of Seventy policy director

Ellen Mattleman Kaplan was a worthy interview for a number of reasons.

Ellen Kaplan

Since April 2005 she has been the vice president and policy director of the Committee of Seventy, the country’s premiere urban political oversight group since 1904. In 1999, she was the issues director for Republican Sam Katz’s mayoral campaign, despite being a Democrat herself. (I am interviewing Sam Katz this afternoon).

For most of the 1990s she was the associate director for Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a Pennsylvania nonpartisan, nonprofit group working to improve the commonwealth’s judicial system. After her work with Katz, she worked as the managing director of public policy and communications and then acting CEO of Greater Philadelphia First, a business and civic leadership group.

Oh, and she is a lifelong Philly girl.

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The Committee of Seventy: a century-old political watchdog

Tomorrow I am interviewing Ellen Kaplan, vice president and policy director for the Committee of Seventy, and it occurred to me that it is worth posting just on the organization.

Seventy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit political group, has been a self-proclaimed political watchdog for Philadelphia since 1904. For every election, the group trains and organizes hundreds of volunteers to inspect voting machines and patrol polling places, acting as mediators in thousands of disputes.

I should know. I worked as a policy intern there for nearly a year and have worked with each of their election campaigns since the November 2004 general election. Perhaps the excitement of Pennsylvania’s swing-state status in a battle between eventual Presidential victor George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry got me hooked.

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Interview: Michael Meehan, Republican City Committee general counsel

This afternoon I got the chance to slide into a seat in the office of Michael Meehan. He’s still unpacking.

The general counsel of Philadelphia’s Republican City Committee left the Philadelphia offices of Reed Smith for Wolf Block back in January 2006, as reported by the Legal Intelligencer.

This was perhaps the interview to which I most looked forward.

So many of many of the other people to whom I’ve spoken have pointed to Meehan for answers as to why the city’s Republican Party continues to shrivel and die. He has big shoes to fill.

His grandfather, Austin Meehan, first took control of the city’s powerful Republican machine in the first half of the 20th-century. Meehan first brought about the city’s Republican Northeast focus, beating out other Republican machinists, guys like the Vere Brothers in South Philadelphia and the Hawthorne brothers in Roxborough, as I discussed after my interview with former Committee of Seventy CEO Fred Voigt.

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Interview: John Street, former Philadelphia mayor

John Street

Early this morning I interviewed former Philadelphia Mayor John Street, now an adjunct professor of political science at Temple University. I was speaking to him for my honors thesis, which is focusing on the viability of the Republican Party in urban America, particularly Philadelphia.

Not surprisingly, Street said a number of interesting things regarding his two high profile elections against Republican businessman Sam Katz.

In many respects Sam Katz was more liberal than I am… I have no proof of this, but I think if Sam had won in 1999, by 2003 he would have run as a Democrat.”

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Interview with former Philadelphia Mayor John Street

Early this morning I interviewed former Philadelphia Mayor John Street, now an adjunct professor of political science at Temple University. I was speaking to him for my honors thesis, which is focusing on the viability of the Republican Party in urban America, particularly Philadelphia.

I’ll post some of my notes later, but for now, check out this video of Street discussing some of the challenges his successor, Michael Nutter, will face.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_zblT4Kgkw]

Interview: Joe Egan, Republican mayoral candidate

Apparently I had an interview with former Republican mayoral candidate Joseph M. Egan, Jr., but I didn’t remember.

Joe Egan

I got a voice mail from Egan, who seemed agitated, and understandably so. I called him back and sent him an e-mail, but no answer, yet. For that, I apologize. I was interested in speaking to him.

In 1991, Egan lost handily to now Governor Ed Rendell, nearly 282,000 to 130,000.

To be honest, missing the interview was just the start of my confusion. See, I simply couldn’t get straight Joe Egan from John Egan, who lost W. Wilson Goode in the 1983 election, losing 396,000 to 264,000.

Now, Joe Egan has lots to differentiate himself, he uses his middle initial and tacks on the “junior” moniker. What’s more, unlike the other Egan, Joe came to be the 1991 Republican candidate by the most unusual circumstances.

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What patronage means

State Rep. JOHN PERZEL is an integral figure to understanding Philadelphia’s Republican Party.

He is a power player in the city’s politics, even if he does his work in Harrisburg. Perzel still works with the Republican City Committee and its general counsel and de facto leader, Michael Meehan.

One doesn’t need Meehan’s permission to run, of course. But this state’s elections, like those in much of the country, expect it. The blessing of the Republican committee comes with the promise of making the ballot and much less competition than in the Democratic Party. In the small pond of the Republican Party, Meehan holds influence to divvy available jobs, which keeps some Philadelphians registered with the party. Thus, in deciding that the party will support a particular candidate, ward leaders and committeemen rarely deviate from Meehan’s choices.

This is machine politics in historic viability.

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Matt Taubenberger the replacement for George Kenney

It didn’t work out for his father, Republican Mayoral candidate Al Taubenberger.

But, Matt Taubenberger, the failed candidate’s only son, will run unopposed in April’s Republican primary for the chance to do something his father has never done: win public office. Republican Matt Taubenberger is hoping to succeeed Rep. George Kenney in his 170 State Legislative House district, encompassing parts of Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

Taubenberger, who has previously worked for Kenney’s legislative staff, was chosen by GOP general counsel Michael Meehan at Café Michelangelo, in the Somerton neighborhood of the Northeast, at 11901 Bustleton Ave. south of Byeberry Road, as reported by the Northeast Times.

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