State Sen. Vince Fumo is typically not one for grandiose campaign kickoffs, so his extravaganza just before Christmas created wide speculation about who would challenge the incumbent for his seat in Harrisburg.
The front-runner appears to be attorney and former state boxing commissioner George Bochetto.
The onetime Republican candidate for mayor said on Monday that he is "very, very seriously considering" running against Fumo in November.
Bochetto expects to make a decision within two weeks, and until then he declined to answer specific questions about how he could help the district, except to say, "I have lived in the district for almost 30 years. During those 30 years, Sen. Fumo has always been the senator and there’s a lot to be desired about what’s been done for the district."
Bochetto, a Center City resident, also passed up the chance to weigh in on the controversy surrounding contributions made to the nonprofit Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods and new reports about an FBI investigation into a deal that never materialized between Fumo and Verizon Communications.
"It’s certainly an issue" is all Bochetto would offer, for now.
The FBI is not commenting on the investigation that, according to the Inquirer, involved an agreement from the state senator not to pursue the breakup of the telecommunications company’s business in the state.
Fumo’s office is not saying much, either.
"Sen. Fumo can’t comment on a newspaper article that contained only unnamed sources making statements that he knows nothing about," spokesperson Gary Tuma said. "It’s not surprising these charges come in an election year."
Pay to play, part two
Councilman-at-Large James Kenney introduced a new version of the bill he believes will put an end to the pay-to-play practices that have resulted in an FBI investigation into possible corruption tied to City Hall.
The revised legislation is stricter than the original piece Mayor John Street vetoed last month.
The current bill would limit campaign contributions from individuals and companies seeking no-bid city contracts worth $10,000 or more to $500. The first bill proposed capping such gifts at $1,000.
It’s not that Kenney doesn’t get it. He is aware Street opposes such legislation — and in fact accused the mayor of ignoring a law that was created last month as a result of legislation from Councilman Wilson Goode that limits campaign contributions to $1,000 from individuals and $5,000 from political action committees — but Kenney said the issue still needs to be discussed.
"Any mayor’s ability to give away no-bid contracts while collecting unchecked sums of money needs to be dealt with," he said.
The councilman is counting on public pressure to push the bill forward.
Kenney also has a secondary motivation for reintroducing the bill: Make the city aware of how much influence the mayor has over City Council now that rules governing the body have changed.
Earlier this month, Street’s allies passed legislation that weakened Council President Anna Verna’s role while elevating the positions of Majority Leader Jannie Blackwell and Minority Leader Brian O’Neill. Blackwell now can challenge any of Verna’s decisions with O’Neill settling any stalemates.
The first time Kenney introduced pay-to-play legislation, Verna assigned it to the Law and Government Committee. The chairperson of that committee is currently Councilman David Cohen, a Street enemy.
Kenney doubts it will end up there again. He speculated Blackwell would exercise her newfound influence and assign the bill to the Finance Committee, which she chairs and where she "will sit on it forever."
"If it doesn’t have a chance of getting scheduled for a hearing, it points to the fact that we were correct in our criticism [of Council’s new rules]," Kenney said — "that this is a puppet Council that is going to try to stifle democracy and debate by not scheduling hearings."
Ward leader challenges Josephs
Terry Gillen officially announced her bid to challenge state Rep. Babette Josephs in the upcoming Democratic primary for the 182nd District. The news came Monday night at a fundraising event at Zanzibar Blue.
Gillen is the leader of the 30th Ward, covering the blocks from Washington Avenue and Lombard Street between Broad Street and the Schuylkill River.
While she noted no specific problems with Josephs, who has held the seat for 18 years, Gillen believes she can bring her own energy and experience to the House.
"The city has lost a lot of its momentum," Gillen said. "The district needs someone with some new ideas and some new energy. I don’t see things improving unless we have a change in leadership. I can jump-start a lot of things that are not being done right now."
Gillen, 48 and single from the 2200 block of Naudain Street, lists 15 years of experience working on economic-development projects among her qualifications for the job.
In the late 1980s she worked in Harrisburg for Gov. Bob Casey’s administration. Then for seven years after that, Gillen served as deputy commerce director under Mayor Ed Rendell.
She left government for a while to form her own business as an economic consultant and work for a nonprofit before returning last year to take a position as Gov. Rendell’s director of policy for the Department of Community and Economic Development. Gillen worked on the governor’s $2-billion economic-stimulus package currently before the state legislature.
Gillen ran for a council-at-large seat in 1999 but lost in the primary.
She said one of her goals, if elected, is to make it easier for people to start their own business in the city.
