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Peace prevails at debate
Philadelphia's two able, qualified and dull mayoral candidates met in their second televised showdown yesterday morning.
Even Channel 6's always-frenetic Marc Howard couldn't get sparks to fly under the format that had the candidates answering questions from ordinary citizens.
Still, there were highlights in the debate sponsored by the Philadelphia Compact, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the League of Women Voters and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and here they are.
The message
Republican Sam Katz: (We're paraphrasing.) Our problems are too great to trust to timid status-quo thinking. It's time to elect a mayor willing to try new things and think outside the box, a mayor like me.
Democrat John Street: Mayor Rendell and I saved the city from bankruptcy. I know how to do the job. Don't take a chance on inexperienced leadership.
Dress code
Katz: Wore a darker blue shirt and different tie than in last debate. Fashion consultant Dana Rosen in Friday's Daily News suggested he wear a darker shirt and different tie. Coincidence?
Street: Same baggy-shoulders suit jacket that Rosen complained about from last debate.
Best shot
Katz: "My opponent has said that he will go to Harrisburg. . .that if we don't get what he calls full funding, that he will close the schools. I think that playing brinksmanship with the school kids of Philadelphia is not only bad politics, but it's bad policy."
Street: "My Republican colleague insists that somehow the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is going to be able forever avoid its responsibilities to 20,000 young people in this city.. . .Just because they are poor, just because they live in neighborhoods of this city, doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to the same opportunity to get as decent an education as other people are getting in this region."
Numbers game
Street: Said Katz's plan to cut the wage tax to 4 percent would cost the city $250 million in lost revenue.
Katz: Noted what Street failed to say: Street had been telling everyone inaccurately that Katz's plan would cost $500 million, not $250 million.
Racism
Katz: Made the strongest statement to date on an issue that's been little discussed. "Racism in our city and our society is a cancer and we have to fight it at every turn . . . one thing I think we can do is to publish statistics about the diversity of our employment base both in the School District and in each city agency and department . . . we can provide information that sends a clear signal of how we are improving and establish benchmarks to demonstrate that we are creating extraordinary opportunities for people who historically have not had them."
Timoney-ized
Both candidates have been reluctant to say who they'd want to help them govern. Under pressure from Katz at the last televised debate, Street finally agreed that he'd retain Police Commissioner John Timoney. Yesterday Katz added another name: Kevin Vaughan, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, who Katz said "is the kind of leader we need to retain in city government."
Incompletion
Street: Noted that three of his children graduated from Philadelphia public schools and a fourth attends one. But he missed an opportunity when he failed to say that Katz has sent all of his children to private schools.
Closing statements
Street: "Ed Rendell and John Street literally saved this city from the brink of disaster. During that time we reduced taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars, we created tens of thousands of jobs, we added more uniformed police officers to the street, we added 156 after-school programs. . .We can't take a chance on inexperienced leadership and risky programs that threaten the fiscal stability of our city. I have the experience, I can do this job, I need your vote."
Katz: "We can look back over the last 10 years and say, 'Everything's fine, let's not change anything,' as my opponent has suggested. My opponent has suggested that thinking outside of the box, which has so successfully helped other cities become 21st century competitive places is radical, risky and reckless. Well, it's not. Philadelphia is a city with a great future and if it has a leader who's willing to try new things. . .Philadelphia can have a great future and we can stop talking about its potential and start to realize it now." 
Send e-mail to clout@phillynews.com
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