The City of Philadelphia has not elected a Republican mayor since Harry Truman was in the White House, which makes Sam Katz's quest for the office a decidedly up-hill battle. But although Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one in the city, many people -- especially Katz himself -- believe that this year could be the one when a Republican finally takes the helm of the City of Brotherly Love. With his varied background in the world of business, the 49-year-old Johns Hopkins University graduate believes he brings to the table a breadth of experience and stances on the city's problems that will enable him to overcome Philadelphia's long tradition of Democratic mayors. He is the only person running for the Republican nomination and will face off against one of five Democratic candidates in the November 5 general election. "I think this year is going to be my year," Katz said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian earlier this month. "What I'm going to be talking about are the right issues. I feel confident that if I don't win this election, it won't be because I'm a Republican." Ed Schwartz, president of the Institute for the Study of Civic Values, called Katz a "a very strong candidate," though his party affiliation will likely hinder his campaign. "He certainly has the best chance of any Republican [in almost 30 years]," Schwartz said. "I think he has a much better chance than a lot of others but I think he will have to carry the burden of his party in this city." As an investment banker and financial advisor with his own planning company, Katz brings a sense of business savvy to his campaign. And as mayor, he says this background would help continue the economic growth sparked by outgoing Mayor Edward Rendell. In Katz's eyes, the key to much of Philadelphia's future economic success will be a significant reduction in the wage tax -- something that Rendell was not able to accomplish -- which many analysts say has driven the city's population down in recent years. "With all the success and admiration for what Ed's done, he hasn't brought the wage tax down 10 percent in his [two terms]," Katz said. Katz emphasized that losing residents has severely damaged the city by decreasing the city's tax base and its influence on the state and federal governments. Reducing the tax, Katz added, will encourage people to come back. "There is nothing that has done more to drive people out of the city than the wage tax," Katz explained. "I think a much deeper and much faster tax cut is needed for the city." Like Rendell, Katz said that the city must be careful in how it spends its limited resources to ensure that Philadelphia is never again in the financial crisis that burdened it earlier this decade. "We have to find more ways to spend less money and deliver either the same quality of service or question whether some of the services are even essential to the city," Katz said. While Katz offered praise for the Rendell administration, he said the city's outgoing mayor "failed to make significant progress" in areas like crime. "I might think that he didn't go far enough," Katz said. "But I can't criticize what he accomplished. All I can do is try to build on it and take advantage of the positive spirit he created." With Philadelphia voters also identifying crime as a major concern, Katz expressed his discontent for the city's inadequate prison facilities, which have only enough space for those convicted of severe crimes. Katz added that he supports Rendell's recent gun control efforts but that he is "not convinced there is a legitimate case" for the city to sue the gun industry, a proposal that Rendell has been contemplating for over a year. However, with fellow candidate Dwight Evans announcing on Tuesday that his first priority as mayor would be to sue gun manufacturers, Katz Campaign Director Bob Barnett said that his candidate would consider a suit if elected. Unlike some of his competitors, Katz said he doesn't believe that the state of Philadelphia's troubled public school system is a major campaign issue, saying that "no more than 20 percent of families living in Philadelphia have school-aged children." "While [education] is a hot issue, it doesn't truly affect nearly the number of people that you might at first think," he noted. Katz -- a Philadelphia public school graduate and former school board member -- said that while he thinks the next mayor should be "directly involved in public schools," public education is "not the sole vehicle for improving education opportunity," adding that he supports charter schools. Though Katz's professional career traces mostly through the private sector, he ran for mayor of Philadelphia in 1991 and governor of Pennsylvania in 1994. He said he has learned a lot from his previous campaign experience. "I probably made a lot of mistakes in my first two campaigns," Katz said. "I'm seasoned. I've been tested. I have the decided advantage over [the other candidates] in that I've experienced losing and I think most of what I've learned in life I learned from my failures and my losses."
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