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Casinos and Council: my testimony

  By Casinos

There is as old joke heard at political conventions: by the third day everything has been said but not everyone has said it. It is now almost five pm and these hearings began at ten am. So, I’m sure that by now everything has been said but not everyone has said it. So I will be brief. Casinos have been a bad deal for everyone in the city since the beginning. By now you have heard all the reasons that casinos are bad for us: • Gambling is a regressive form of taxation. • Gambling leads to crime and prostitution. • Compulsive gambling undermines families. And casinos are a particularly bad idea on our waterfront: • The casinos will bring all the burdens I just mentioned to strong residential neighborhoods • The casinos will undermine our port, which has the potential for tremendous growth and the addition of thousands of… Continue reading

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We deserve better: a reform agenda beyond the committee of seventy proposal

  By Campaign Finance Reform, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Bob Moses was an important leader in SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which played a major role in the latter half of the Civil Rights movement.  I had the great privilege of meeting him when I was in College. When he organized in deep Mississippi he said the first thing to do was to teach people that they deserve better then what they have. He understood that thinking you deserve more, gives people a reason to fight for what’s right. If I could do anything for Philadelphia, that would be it – make us believe we deserve better, and give us hope that we can attain it. Recent debates on Philadelphia  campaign finance laws are one more story of our broken politics – at several levels.  We deserve better than the bill proposed by Councilman Kenny, which proposed huge increases in the caps on campaign contributions.  We need to… Continue reading

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This year, politics in Philadelphia will be different

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Something really extraordinary happened in Philadelphia politics in the last two weeks. A usually respected Councilman introduced legislation that would have, for all practical purposes, eliminated contribution limits in the Mayoral election. The bills had sponsorship from a majority of Council members and almost every member of Council was ready to vote for it. And yet, after an outcry from progressive leaders, editorial page writers, and challengers to the incumbents from all over the city, the bill was withdrawn today. This is a major victory for the progressive movement in the city. And it is evidence of something I have been seeing out on the streets for the last three months. This year, politics in Philadelphia is going to be different. Continue reading

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Hope, fear and casinos

  By Casinos, Philadelphia

For long enough we’ve been told the casinos are coming.  We have heard this long enough that it should have taken hold.  It hasn’t, despite the politics of fear in our city that encourage us to acquiesce to our continually the broken politics. Now, however, anti-casino advocates have picked up an idea I suggested a few weeks ago, to put a legally-binding question on the ballot: do you believe slots casinos should be in Philly’s neighborhoods? Getting the 20,000 valid signatures we need to get this proposition on the May ballot can block the casinos and help us keep building a politics of hope. So what’s the deal? Continue reading

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The politics of fear and the costs of corruption

  By Philadelphia, Politics, Ward politics

How great are the costs of corruption in Philadelphia? I once got into a debate with a friend at Young Philly Politics about this. My friend argued that corruption really doesn’t cost us a great deal. My view, contained in this revised version of my response to him, is that there are all kinds of corruption in the city. Some of them just cost us money, although I suspect the amount is much larger than my friend realizes. Other kinds of corruption systematically undermine the way the city operates. The cost of that corruption is very serious. Continue reading

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Against repealing contribution limits

  By Campaign Finance Reform, My 2007 Campaign

I oppose any legislation that would have the effect of eliminating campaign contribution limits in the current Mayoral race. The goal of campaign finance reform is to preserve our democracy. Democracy is undermined when money becomes so important in politics that those who contribute to campaigns play a dramatically greater role in determining who holds office—and thus what our office holders do—than our citizens. So I am concerned about both limiting the influence of those who contribute to the campaigns of others and those who contribute to their own campaigns. In order to attain both goals, I proposed last week a compromise that would lift campaign contribution limits gradually if a candidate for Mayor increased his contributions to his own campaign. Rather than being a serious compromise, the new bill goes so far in lifting contribution limits as to make them meaningless. It is a fig leaf that doesn’t cover… Continue reading

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A Possible Compromise? / Let's Be Fair to Jim Kenney

  By Campaign Finance Reform, My 2007 Campaign, Philadelphia, Progressive Politics, Ward politics

I have more reason than most people to want Jim Kenney put in a bad light, as I’m running for a position he holds, Council at Large. And I strongly disagree with the legislation he proposed, to eliminate all spending limitations in the Mayoral election when one candidate spends a large amount from his own resources. But I think we ought to be fair to Councilman Kenney in two respects. Continue reading

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Towards a Beautiful Politics: The Next Great City Initiative

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics, Urbanism

Neighborhood Networks, the organization I helped found, was one of the early supporters of the Next Great City initiative. So I was there last week when its ten point program to provide “renewed energy and strength to our neighborhoods and city” was unveiled. I was also one of the folks who, from time to time, criticized the initiative for not being bold enough. Sure, we need to improve transit stops as the Next Great City suggests. But we need much more dramatic improvements in our transit system. Yes we need to adopt modern zoning. But, even more we need a bottom up process by which neighborhoods can adapt a reformed zoning code to their own circumstances. Of course we need public access to our waterfronts. But, to do that, we need to stop the casinos and develop a plan that finds space along the waterfront for everything that belongs there—parks,… Continue reading

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Don't break it again. Fix it!

  By Campaign Finance Reform, My 2007 Campaign, Philadelphia

Campaign finance reform is only one, limited way, of fixing our broken politics. But it is one we have to save. If, however, we look at all the goals of campaign finance reform, we will see that the folks concerned about Tom Knox’s ability to spend much more out of his own pocket than other candidates can raise and spend is a serious problem. But there are ways of fixing that problem now that would improve our campaign financing system rather than taking us back to the dark ages. Campaign finance reform has a number of goals. One goal of campaign finance reform is to limit pay to play—the practice of big campaign contributors getting benefits from the city in return for their contributions. That is the prime reason that Jim Kenny’s proposal to eliminate all limits on campaign contributions in the Mayoral race is a really terrible idea. (And… Continue reading