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Power: The Dwight Stuff?
By Gregory Gilderman
Rendell initially had the upper hand on the group, known as the Gang of Five — he claimed crime went down 17 percent between the first half of 1996 and the first half of 1997 — but that changed when a Daily News investigation showed that Neal’s police department had been drastically underreporting crime to the FBI. By this time, Evans and the Gang were holding town meetings with people like New York’s legendary former police commissioner William Bratton as featured speakers.
Rendell eventually hired Bratton as a consultant, and Neal resigned. Former Bratton deputy John Timoney was named the new commissioner. (In this campaign, Evans says he’ll rehire Timoney. Timoney has said he’s happy where he is, as Miami’s police chief.)
The narrative — Evans moves to the political center, joins a bipartisan alliance, and angers major players in the Democratic Party — repeated itself in the Great School Crisis of 1998, when superintendent David Hornbeck announced that without an additional $85 million in state aid, he would shut down the entire Philadelphia school system. The plan put forward by Republican Governor Tom Ridge — which was designed by Evans — was to authorize a state takeover if Hornbeck made good on his promise. For this, Evans drew the wrath of the teachers union, the AFL-CIO, and his then-nemesis, Jerry Mondesire. Mondesire, on the front page of the newspaper he publishes, the Sun, compared Evans to Clarence Thomas. The AFL-CIO spearheaded negative radio ads targeting Evans during his 1998 re-election campaign.
But alliances are rarely permanent in politics. Today, the city clamors for a mayor with law-and-order credentials; charter schools are, by and large, supported; and even Jerry Mondesire is now backing Evans.
“Dwight has pulled off a miracle in West Oak Lane,” Mondesire says. “No other elected official has produced such a dramatic turn in so impoverished a neighborhood. … This city could use 10 Dwight Evanses.” (This may be true, but it is also the case that for Mondesire, the city could use zero Chaka Fattahs. Mondesire has a long-standing feud with Fattah, and he may see Evans as the candidate most able to defeat him.)
Crime, schools, the economy: these have been Evans’s issues for at least a decade. The irony is that those same issues are now lifting other candidates in the polls. On an emotional level, is it frustrating to see other candidates take the lead on public safety? Evans draws a deep breath and leans forward.
“When you ask the question How do I feel?,” he says, “I guess I would say I’m finally glad they have arrived to what I had known a long time ago.”
IN THE CURRENT campaign, Evans is a step ahead of other candidates on another issue. In February he held a press conference endorsing Dan Anders, an openly gay candidate for Common Pleas judge, and became the first mayoral candidate to pledge support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. He says that as mayor he would encourage and support openly gay candidates to run for city office and judicial positions, ensure that his cabinet and senior staff “reflect the city’s diversity,” and establish an LGBT liaison and advisory board.
Rendell eventually hired Bratton as a consultant, and Neal resigned. Former Bratton deputy John Timoney was named the new commissioner. (In this campaign, Evans says he’ll rehire Timoney. Timoney has said he’s happy where he is, as Miami’s police chief.)
The narrative — Evans moves to the political center, joins a bipartisan alliance, and angers major players in the Democratic Party — repeated itself in the Great School Crisis of 1998, when superintendent David Hornbeck announced that without an additional $85 million in state aid, he would shut down the entire Philadelphia school system. The plan put forward by Republican Governor Tom Ridge — which was designed by Evans — was to authorize a state takeover if Hornbeck made good on his promise. For this, Evans drew the wrath of the teachers union, the AFL-CIO, and his then-nemesis, Jerry Mondesire. Mondesire, on the front page of the newspaper he publishes, the Sun, compared Evans to Clarence Thomas. The AFL-CIO spearheaded negative radio ads targeting Evans during his 1998 re-election campaign.
But alliances are rarely permanent in politics. Today, the city clamors for a mayor with law-and-order credentials; charter schools are, by and large, supported; and even Jerry Mondesire is now backing Evans.
“Dwight has pulled off a miracle in West Oak Lane,” Mondesire says. “No other elected official has produced such a dramatic turn in so impoverished a neighborhood. … This city could use 10 Dwight Evanses.” (This may be true, but it is also the case that for Mondesire, the city could use zero Chaka Fattahs. Mondesire has a long-standing feud with Fattah, and he may see Evans as the candidate most able to defeat him.)
Crime, schools, the economy: these have been Evans’s issues for at least a decade. The irony is that those same issues are now lifting other candidates in the polls. On an emotional level, is it frustrating to see other candidates take the lead on public safety? Evans draws a deep breath and leans forward.
“When you ask the question How do I feel?,” he says, “I guess I would say I’m finally glad they have arrived to what I had known a long time ago.”
IN THE CURRENT campaign, Evans is a step ahead of other candidates on another issue. In February he held a press conference endorsing Dan Anders, an openly gay candidate for Common Pleas judge, and became the first mayoral candidate to pledge support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. He says that as mayor he would encourage and support openly gay candidates to run for city office and judicial positions, ensure that his cabinet and senior staff “reflect the city’s diversity,” and establish an LGBT liaison and advisory board.
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