Sometime late Tuesday night or early yesterday morning, an unknown person threw a brick and what is being described by some as an unlit firebomb through two separate windows in Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz's campaign office in North Philadelphia, according to Katz spokesman Nathan Raab.
There were no witnesses and no one was hurt in the incident.
Katz's office is located on the 1700 block of 22nd Street, near Cecil B. Moore Avenue in North Philadelphia. City Police were called to the scene at 9:17 a.m. yesterday to investigate, according to a police spokeswoman.
While details surrounding the incident were unclear as of last night, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday that on Tuesday night, at approximately 11 p.m., the building's property manager, after receiving complaints about a gas odor, found an iced tea bottle in Katz's office. He disposed of the bottle. The following morning, he was alerted to broken windows in the office, and, suspecting a connection between the bottle and the broken windows, called the police. According to the Inquirer, a rag soaked in gasoline was also found nearby.
According to a statement by Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston released by the mayor's Office of Communications last night, the police and fire departments are in the process of conducting an investigation into the incident.
"Based on our preliminary investigation, the fire department did not find all of the items characteristic of a molotov cocktail," Hairston wrote, explaining that "the three elements of a molotov cocktail normally include a breakable glass container, the wick and the fuel."
The statement also notes that "it is impossible to conclude at this time that a firebomb was involved in this incident" and that "there is no evidence of fire, nor is there any evidence to indicate that the alleged device was ever lit."
According to police, there are no suspects at this point, although KYW radio reported on its Web site that the incident occurred after witnesses saw an argument between the building's owner and another man, later identified as Joey Temple, a friend of Mayor John Street's son Sharif.
Street spokesman Mark Nevins said that it was far too early to make accusations of blame, saying, "For the Katz campaign and its associates to make allegations that the Mayor's family was involved in this goes beyond the pale. It is inaccurate and unseemly for them to make this scurrilous accusation."
"This is an unfortunate incident that distracts people from talking about the issues," he added.
Street and Katz are headed for a faceoff in this November's mayoral election, and though this is the first time the campaign has seen any physical violence, the two campaigns have been busy all summer trading barbs and trying to get their respective messages out.
The summer months saw, among other things, campaign advertisements hit the television and airwaves, a last-minute candidate added to the ballot, a challenge to his legitimacy, and ultimately, his removal from the ballot by a Philadelphia court.
John McDermott, widely considered to be a radical conservative, submitted the necessary signatures to be on the November mayoral ballot as the Constitution Party candidate just minutes before the deadline.
Katz immediately cried foul, saying that the McDermott campaign had close ties to the campaign of incumbent Democrat Street, and that having McDermott on the ballot was a ploy to shift conservative votes away from Katz.
"We were all very disappointed to learn that people linked to the Street campaign were involved in the McDermott campaign," Raab said. "We believe [the last-minute addition to the ballot] was a shock to the electoral process in Philadelphia, and we were very pleased with the judge's ruling."
McDermott maintains that he was running at the behest of his supporters, in order to bring a change to the Philadelphia government -- not to drain votes from one candidate or the other.
"I think there is adequate evidence that neither one of these fellows is qualified to be mayor of the city of Philadelphia," McDermott said. "I am a constitutionally-based person, and I think that the people of Philadelphia have a chance. You can call me 'chance' or you can call me John McDermott."
Street's campaign denied any involvement in the McDermott campaign.
"It had nothing to do with our campaign," Nevins said. "We had no role in McDermott getting on the ballot, despite what Sam Katz would like to believe.
"The fact is that Mayor Street's record of accomplishment for Philadelphians is the same no matter who is on the ballot," he continued.
The Katz campaign quickly appealed the signatures to the Court of Common Pleas, and the appeal went forward.
According to Philadelphia election law, a candidate must have signatures from 2 percent of the city's registered voters to be on the ballot.
McDermott submitted over 3,500 signatures, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. However, in the court challenge, a judge threw out enough signatures to put McDermott beneath the required minimum, 2,699.
Included in the petition were names such as Amanda Hugn'Kiss and Rusty Bedspring, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Many of the additional disqualified names could not be verified in any city voter database.
McDermott maintains that he had more than the required signatures, but will not file an appeal, citing the cost and risk involved in the effort.
"It places you in a position of double jeopardy," he said, "where if you are unsuccessful in your appeal, you could become liable for the legal fees of the defense."
"Although I feel that there were enough signatures submitted by registered voters in the city of Philadelphia to be on the ballot, I can't place myself in that double jeopardy situation," he added.
McDermott instead plans to mount a write-in campaign that he will publicly announce sometime in the near future.
We want to "have a mayor, our mayor, instead of a mayor that serves a party first," he said.
The Katz campaign has called on the District Attorney's office to investigate the petitions.
"As the District Attorney [Lynne Abraham] said in an impromptu press conference, she's not going to spend taxpayer dollars to track down who exactly is 'Adam Bomb' or 'Rusty Bedspring,' but she will begin a preliminary look at the issue," said Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for the DA's office.
As for the Street and Katz campaigns, both are working on getting their messages out.
"For the next two months we want to spend as much time as possible talking to Philadelphians from every neighborhood about Mayor Street's record of accomplishment on their behalf," Nevins said.
"We want to continue to reach out to every voter, to leave no stone unturned before election day," Raab said of the Katz campaign.
No matter what, the months leading up to the November election, a rematch of the 1999 election that Street won by fewer than 10,000 votes, promise to be exciting. With the candidates statistically tied in most polls, the campaigns will be pulling out all the stops.
