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Clinton helps street win philly mayor re election Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/7183474.htmhttp://www.philly.com/mld/philly/7183474.htm
Posted on Tue, Nov. 04, 2003
Street easily wins re-election
By Leonard N. Fleming, Angela Couloumbis and Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writers
Mayor Street overwhelmed Republican challenger Sam Katz today, easily winning reelection despite a contentious rematch and the discovery of an FBI bug in the mayor's office.
Galvanized by the federal investigation, Philadelphia Democrats rallied around their Democratic mayor, giving him the biggest victory of his quarter-century career in politics.
Late returns, with 95 percent of returns counted, showed Street winning by a roughly 3-2 margin. John R. Staggs, the Socialist Workers Party candidate, received less than 1 percent of the vote.
"I have a surprise announcement to make - I am having a great day," Street said giving his trademark greeting to supporters tonight as he was surrounded by his wife, Naomi Post, Gov. Rendell, and the city's Democratic leadership.
Street, 60, said that his double-digit victory was a significant "affirmation of the things we have been trying to do in neighborhoods for the last four years.
"We really did make a commitment to turn our attention to neighborhoods without turning our back on Center City and we have done that," Street told supporters at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel.
Street, who squeaked by Katz in their first encounter in 1999, had a strong showing from the city's black wards and did surprisingly well among white Democrats.
There was a sense of disbelief about the size of the Street victory among the Katz crowd at the Warwick Hotel, but they maintained a boisterous spirit as they awaited his concession speech.
"This is the only job I've ever wanted," said Katz, who made three unsuccessful runs for mayor. "I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity on so many occasions to interview for the job. ... This is a very tough business."
Katz praised Street as a "tough opponent" and offered his congratulations, holding his hand up for silence as his supporters booed. He called for healing.
"This is a very strange business and the ball bounces in very strange ways," Katz said, referring to the late-breaking federal probe. "That's the way the ball bounces."
In the end, it was the probe and the Oct. 7 discovery of The Bug that drastically altered the race. It energized Street's base of black supporters skeptical of the federal government intentions, and drowned out Katz and his ubiquitous "we can do better" message that Street would ruin the city.
Street addressed the probe obliquely in his acceptance speech.
"I believe that during the last 25 years I have served this city with integrity, with intensity, with a full commitment to the people, that I have largely been trying to do the things that I believe are in the best interest of the citizens of Philadelphia," Street said.
Katz said he urged the leadership of the city to "step back and to recognize that the political leaders of this city don't exist for their own purposes ... they are the people's servants."
The race was a wild contest in which the issues - the mayor's quality-of-life initiatives and Katz's bold tax proposals - often gave way to scandal and controversy ranging from accusations of union heckling and intimidation to race baiting, an alleged firebombing, an embezzlement lawsuit and the FBI probe in City Hall.
This rematch, which cost more than $21.7 million, was far more contentious than when the candidates met four years ago. Katz, who did not have labor support four years ago, benefitted from unions such as the carpenters who had grudges with Street.
The continuing federal probe bolstered Street in unimaginable ways, as voters in a 4 to 1 Democratic city bought the Democratic Party's assertion that the federal probe was a GOP dirty trick.
Street's supporters contended that it was evidence of a possibly racially inspired GOP plot to oust a Democratic mayor. Katz saw it as a logical result of a culture of corruption he contended existed in City Hall.
The results gave a resounding victory to Street, the former City Council president who over the years had alienated some voters and politicians with his aloof and prickly personality but managed to never lose an election.
Dubbed the "neighborhood mayor" because of his popular but expensive crime prevention and neighborhood blight removal initiatives, Street ran on his 20 years in government and slammed Katz, a businessman, for putting the city at risk with his tax proposals.
After discovery of the bug, the mayor built a huge lead. As Election Day grew near, Street - often awkward with public interaction - seemed to become more comfortable by the day on the stump as he hoisted babies, kissed children and asked Philadelphians for their vote.
U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, who celebrated at the Street hotel, said voters rewarded Street for "closing 300 open air drug markets, for getting 170,000 cars of the streets, for balancing the budget and cutting $200 million in taxes."
There were some missteps. Street caught flak for embracing a convicted drug dealer with current charges. Two city employees mixed politics with work by arguing with members of Katz's North Philadelphia campaign office in the heart of Street's hometurf.
Now, Street will have to contend with an ongoing federal probe into city contracts as he moves toward a second term that will begin in January.
For Katz, it appears his long, unsuccessful career in city politics may have come to an end. He has run and lost in four elections, including one GOP gubernatorial primary. Katz said that he would not run again if he didn't taste victory.
Since childhood, being mayor was the job Katz always wanted - but could never realize. His best showing was a whisker of a loss by 9,447 votes to Street in 1999.
When the bug was discovered, the mayor catapulted to a huge lead. Trying to remain confident, Katz had to watch Street surged past him.
From the very beginning, it was Street's strategy to inundate fence-straddling Democrats with a barrage of doomsday messages that a Katz victory would mean a President Bush-controlled city and a loss of patronage jobs. Katz could not convince swing voters to stay with him.
And the mayor spared no political expense by bringing back popular Democratic stars like Bill Clinton plus Al Gore and Gov. Rendell to make the case that keeping Street in office bolstered the Democrats chances to win Pennsylvania in the upcoming 2004 presidential election.
The day began with a long lines, tensions and challenges at the polls as both campaigns fought to the final moment in a war for the highest turnout to achieve victory. Philadelphians, who found a lengthy ballot in voting booths, remained in lines waiting to cast ballots after the 8 p.m. closing of polls.
The mayor, accompanied by his wife Naomi Post, cast his vote at 7:30 a.m. at St. Malachy School in North Philadelphia. Street, appearing relaxed and upbeat, told the throng of reporters that he was "having a great day," his favorite greeting to crowds.
Although nervous about Election Day, he said, "I feel good about this election. I always believed that in the end, in the absolute end, our message would get through and people would understand that we have a great record, and that they would vote on that record."
Katz and his wife Connie also voted early in his Mt. Airy neighborhood.
He said he took an hour-long walk and then slept well Monday night, a contrast from four years ago. "I was thinking, 'why do I not feel uptight,'" Katz said. "I woke up this morning and felt the same way."
For the mayor, the race came down to a fortune cookie that read: "Your principles mean more to you than any money or any success."
After the speech, Street told reporters the city is not as racially divided as people think. "Frankly speaking I think the election here today belies some of the speculation that this city is as racially divided as some people say," Street said. "I got more votes out in areas of the city that people traditionally don't expect."
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Contact staff writer Leonard N. Fleming at 215-854-4330 or lfleming@phillynews.com.
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