Mayoral race heats up; Rendell suggests tax hike

Philadelphia politics are always watched closely during election years, and this one promises to be no exception.

This fall, the city will witness the rematch election between Democratic mayoral incumbent John Street and Republican Sam Katz.

The two last ran against each other in the 1999 mayoral election. At that time, Street won by a margin of just 1 percent.

In addition to Katz and Street, John Staggs will be running as an independent candidate from the Socialist Workers Party.

As an incumbent, Street must face criticism of his work thus far.

One of the larger controversies during Street's administration has been the takeover of some of Philadelphia's ailing public schools by private institutions, such as the for-profit firm Edison Schools, Inc.

Street had opposed privatization, but in the end, then-Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker's desires won out, and Edison was hired to run 20 of Philadelphia's worst-performing public schools.

Street has also had problems dealing with Philadelphia's City Council, and insiders have said relations between the mayor and Council President Anna Verna have deteriorated.

At the same time, the mayor has had some success with his Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, a plan to clean up Philadelphia's run-down areas. Under the plan, 14,000 abandoned row houses and Victorian mansions will be knocked down. The anti-blight plan was one of the major components of Street's 1999 platform.

In March of this year, the plan was implemented, when buildings began to be demolished to make way for vacant land for new development. The entire project will take five years to complete, and cost $295 million.

Come this November, Philadelphia may decide to elect another candidate -- however, it's apt to be a heated race, as even mayoral campaigning has been controversial so far.

Until last week, an additional candidate had also thrown his hat into the ring -- Constitution Party candidate John McDermott. However, amidst much controversy, a judge ruled that McDermott had too many flawed nominating petitions to stay in the running. At the hearing, witnesses testified that there was problematic notarization, among other issues.

The hearing was brought about by Katz, who challenged 1,271 of McDermott's 3,610 petition signatures. Previously, Katz's camp had alleged that McDermott was only running because of a plot by Street to divide the conservative vote in Philadelphia.

Compared to Katz, Street has the added edge of holding the incumbent position, and he also has more city politics experience. He served as City Council president before becoming mayor. However, Katz is a well-known Philadelphia businessman -- he is the chief executive officer of Greater Philadelphia First, a group of the city's most influential business leaders.

On the state government level, former Philadelphia mayor and Penn alumnus Ed Rendell won the race for Pennsylvania governor in November.

Currently, Rendell is facing controversy arising from his proposal to increase Pennsylvania's personal income tax to 3.75 percent. This would mean a 34 percent increase from the 2.8 percent the tax constitutes currently. A good number of Republican legislators have criticized the potential increase.

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