Politics: Anne of a Thousand Dreams

ANNE DICKER ATTENDED a “house party” a friend in Old City had agreed to throw one recent Friday night, so that Dicker could introduce herself as a candidate in the Democratic primary this April for the First District seat of the Pennsylvania Senate — the seat Vince Fumo has held for 30 years.

About 20 people showed up, most of them fellow members of the local branch of the national Center for Progressive Leadership — professionals, artists, businesspeople, graduate students, thoughtful and well-informed, most in their 30s, all exceedingly politically conscious, unabashedly liberal, and, like Dicker, transplants who seemed genuinely worried for their adopted hometown’s future. Kerri Kennedy, who with her fiancé hosted the party at their loft, is a post-conflict redevelopment specialist who moved here two years ago after stints in New York, D.C., New Orleans, and several countries around the world. The couple had immediately attempted to become involved politically in the city, but “There just aren’t any participatory channels, like they want to keep you out,” Kennedy, 33, recalled. “It’s like Palestine or something.”  

Dicker, 35, friendly and soft-spoken, wearing a Hillary Clintonesque purple business suit, had already outlined her platform: “I’m running because we need somebody on our side in Harrisburg, and I think Vince Fumo has pretty clearly shown that Vince Fumo is on Vince Fumo’s side.” She noted her experience as one of the city’s most outspoken advocates, first for Howard Dean’s failed presidential election, then for the progressive cause in general and, most recently, for the unwitting neighborhoods where casinos are slated to be built — the cause that got her the most attention. Dicker ticked off what she sees as the three central issues of her campaign — the murder crisis, funding for city schools, and open records — and quoted statistics that made each seem dire while offering few specific plans to fix them.

This became obvious when a middle-aged woman confronted Dicker on the crime epidemic, saying she’d hoped to hear something more than reducing guns on the street. Dicker said she supports Mayor Nutter’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, though she has concerns about it, “especially considering who the President is.” The woman pressed: What if one-gun-a-month legislation didn’t happen, or work?

“Then you’d need something else,” Dicker replied hollowly.

“We need something else right now — we’re looking for something else right now,” the woman retorted. “Are there any other ideas besides stop-and-frisk?”

Dicker struggled. “There are longer-term ideas — we could ban all weapons, but that’s not going to happen realistically with the NRA — it’s a real fight. The NRA is so powerful. But people are so fed up that we’re gonna try, and we’re gonna win.”

It felt unfulfilling, almost naive. Dicker’s husband, Simon, an English astrophysicist who designs radio telescopes at Penn, tried holding her hand from the other side of the room by offering, “And, Anne, after-school programs, though … ”

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