Butcher, candidate to vie for mayor spot

John Street is a career politician. Sam Katz is an established businessman. John Staggs -- in contrast -- is a meatpacker.

And all three will be running for the office of Philadelphia mayor on Nov. 4.

While Staggs' background may not seem conventional, the Socialist Workers Party candidate considers the diversity he brings to the ticket his most valuable asset.

"I am running for mayor so that the working-class people of Philadelphia have a choice between the parties of the wealthy, the Democrats and the Republicans," Staggs says.

Staggs' dissatisfaction with the dominant political spectrum began when he started to question U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

"In figuring out why the war occurred and what it would take to end it, I became a socialist and joined the Socialist Workers Party," he says.

As he became more involved in the party, he gained strength and motivation from political activists Malcolm X and Che Guevara, two revolutionaries whom Staggs admires for their dedication to their ideals.

But perhaps Staggs' viewpoints were being shaped even earlier. Growing up on a farm in central Illinois, he graduated with a degree in agriculture from the University of Illinois.

"Since then, I have been involved in black rights struggles, civil rights, union fights and struggles against U.S. military interventions abroad," Staggs says.

A member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 56 since 1967, Staggs has held union jobs for most of his life. Within the last 10 years, he has belonged to both the Steelworker's Union and the United Auto Workers Union in Philadelphia.

And currently, the Germantown resident works at the Showcase Foods Company in Philadelphia where he trims meat.

"I cut chops and steaks and trim them and make hamburger," Staggs says. "Basically, all the things that are done in the meat department of a grocery store."

Despite his grisly day job, Staggs is no stranger to the Philadelphia political arena, having run for a City Council at-large seat in 1995 -- an election in which he finished dead last.

In part, he blames his failure to attract enough voters on the insufficient publicity given to alternative viewpoints.

In a country where third parties are the ignored stepchildren of a historically two-party system, the biggest obstacle the campaign has faced is a lack of public recognition, according to campaign volunteer and Staggs' personal friend John Studer.

"I think that the campaign has faced an obstacle because the powers that be in Philadelphia have chosen [that] there are only two" mayoral candidates, Studer says.

Staggs faults mainstream public communications companies for the lack of third-party coverage.

"I really do think the media lives up to its name as being big business media when it doesn't even cover alternative candidates, especially for the working class."

In addition, Staggs blames public complacence for the meager popularity of third parties.

"The United States is the wealthiest society in the world," he says. "It is that because it is the most powerful. So, there has not really been a crisis that has caused working people to seriously look, or forces them to look, for change."

And this change is just what Staggs hopes to bring about.

In fact, he joined the Socialist Workers Party "because I think it will take putting the Democrat and Republican parties totally out of office and having workers and farmers run the government. I think it will take a revolution to make that change."

Call Staggs an idealist, but there is no questioning his commitment to his beliefs -- and to his party's future.

Indeed, he says a personal victory for him would represent an even larger victory for his party -- which is also sponsoring City Council contender Hilda Cuzco, and whose volunteers number only a few dozen.

"The main thing he would bring [as mayor] is the Socialist Workers party program," Studer says. "It is the idea and the program that are important, not the individual."

And Staggs is the first to say that, if elected mayor, his primary goal in office would be to crusade the Socialist Workers platform, which opposes U.S. military intervention abroad, among other issues.

"The most pressing issue to take up is the U.S. military occupying Iraq and Afghanistan," Staggs says.

On a local level, Staggs says he will revamp the labor market and create more jobs.

"I would use the office of mayor to encourage the youth and working people of Philadelphia to begin a mass... rebuilding infrastructure of the city to take place at union scale wages because that is jobs for all. I believe there is the money available to do those things."

Staggs adds that he would fight to adopt a shorter work week with no cut in pay.

Housing is another pressing issue for Staggs, who believes the creation of more livable and low-cost -- not just "affordable" -- residences is the first step to rebuilding Philadelphia.

"I don't think affordable is a very good term," he says. "For many homeless with no income, affordable housing does not help them."

In American politics, however, having firm convictions and perseverance only gets a politician so far.

In a poll conducted in October by Temple University, CBS-3 and KYW-AM that asked whether potential voters intended to support Street, Katz or an ambiguous "undecided," only 11 percent chose the latter response. Studer thinks that of this minority, most will vote for Staggs.

Despite these low numbers, though, Staggs has been making his way along the campaign trail.

For the current election, Staggs' campaign strategy has been to set up campaigning tables in various working-class neighborhoods in Philadelphia. He has also spoken at a handful of high schools in the Philadelphia area.

According to him, his campaign rallies draw crowds of 25 to 50 people.

Staggs also attended the Rock the Vote-sponsored forum held on Penn's campus a few weeks ago. The event featured speeches by Street and Katz, but Staggs was denied the opportunity to speak, he says.

Still, Staggs has tried to garner support on the University's campus by passing out flyers -- perhaps not the most elaborate tactic for a mayoral candidate, but a time-consuming one.

Between campaigning and holding a full-time job, Staggs has little time left over for diversions, namely flying airplanes, a passion he developed in childhood.

At the moment, Staggs is tinkering with the construction of an experimental plane, but admits, "I haven't had time to do that recently."

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