CITY LIMITS: Joe Egan profile

Does mayoral candidate Joseph Egan care about you? If you've been rebuffed lately by the Egan campaign, it's nothing personal -- or even political -- his aides will tell you. You're just a college student. Whether it's arriving late to campaign stops on campus or scheduling little time for campus media, Egan has not made many favorable impressions among student voters. But bad vibes on campuses across the Delaware Valley may be the least of Egan's problems. He is a year behind his Democratic opponent, Edward Rendell, in raising money. He has been criticized for avoiding issues. And many people do not know who he is. Egan also faces criticisms that another recent Republican pick, former District Attorney Ron Castille, faced just months ago -- that he doesn't really want to be mayor. Yet Egan's role in bringing the convention center to Philadelphia is an undisputably important accomplishment on his resume. Political leaders statewide praise his vision and his ability to accomplish what he sets out to achieve. But his themes of economic development and his "common sense" approach to government are getting little attention. Egan, called the city's top cheerleader, maintains he can win. But few people can guess how. · He's no Frank Rizzo. Or Ron Castille. Or even Sam Katz. Egan, handpicked by Republican Party boss William Meehan after Rizzo's death, has already faced many obstacles during his still-crystallizing mayoral campaign. On top of starting out with little money and almost no name recognition, he has been forced to fight off charges that he has little interest in being mayor and Republican rumblings that Katz or Castille would have been a better pick. Egan -- and many of his friends -- maintain it is possible to win the mayor's race without an excess of money or ideas. But little suggests this rowhouse-boy-turned-businessman is making any headway to erode the giant lead Rendell took when Rizzo died. A Hispanic political organization released results of a poll a few weeks ago which placed Egan third in the mayoral race, behind Rendell and independent candidate Dennis Wesley. But Egan, whose tough-talking "Maalox moment" radio ads have made him a favorite at least with Maalox stockholders, said he has confidence that he will finish the victor because people will understand what he says. Egan maintains the city must return to the basics of government -- doing only what it can afford to do and what it has the potential to do well, such as policing streets, fighting fires and repairing and cleaning streets. This streamlining, which he terms a "common-sense approach" to government, also requires the various sections of the community to come together to help plot a new course for government. "Cities have tried to be all things to all people," Egan said. "It's not possible." Egan adds he is best qualified to be the next mayor because he understands "all the elements" of the mayor's job. But he often claims ignorance on specifics and says people should be afraid of candidates with a more particular approach. "[Rendell] has position papers which should scare all of you," he said in a press conference for college media a few weeks ago. "No mayor can solve it alone. It scares me to death." In particular, Egan said he has little understanding of how to improve public education in the city, adding his lack of knowledge is "embarassing" to him. "School districts are a difficult, complex process," Egan said. "It's a menu of things coming together." But Egan does have more specific ideas on such issues as changing the 1951 Home Rule Charter and not bidding out city services. "Charter change is the single most important thing to govern the city," Egan said. The Charter, he said, has all the "best intentions of the '50s" built into it. But the charter incorporates a lot of red tape when the city has to buy goods, he adds, and City Council must be realigned so it "reflects a sense of the community." Additionally, the charter must provide for "flexibility" for management and to deal with the unions. But bidding out city services would be harmful, Egan said. Civil service offers opportunity for people -- particularly minorities -- that they cannot find in the private sector. Besides, he adds, Philadelphia is a unique town in respect to its relationship with the unions. "Philadelphia is Philadelphia," Egan said. "It's a blue-collar town." · Egan says his chief qualification for mayor is his ability to bring economic projects to the city. And this ability would give him an important advantage, many city and state Republican politicians say, in dealing with Harrisburg and revitalizing the city's economy. The state legislature, while split between Republicans and Democratics politically, is almost always united in its distrust of Philadelphia. Egan, several leaders said over the past week, is the city's proudest cheerleader and its most direct and honest one. "He's a street-fighter, which is good," state House Minority Leader Matthew Ryan (R-Delaware County) said. "I don't think he's afraid to mix it up." As president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and head of the Department of Commerce, he was one of only a few who told the truth in lobbying for a hotel tax and other state investments to build another convention center in Philadelphia, political leaders say. Ryan maintains that city administrators lied to the state legislature often during the negotiations, most notable about the city's financial picture. "[Egan] was every bit the salesman, very credible," the minority leader said yesterday. "We found him to be very honest." "Joe Egan never lied to us. [That] was tremendously important in our dealings with him. He was someone we could depend on," he added. And Senate Majority Leader Joseph Loeper, anther GOPer, said last week Egan's personality and his conviction were his greatest attributes. "I think that Mr. Egan's role as head of PIDC was instrumental in convincing many of us on the state level of the need for the [convention center]," Loeper said. "He was a major influence in those negotiations . . . Joe Egan has a personality that just reflects enthusiasm for the city and the region." City Council member and fellow Republican Thacher Longstreth said that while Egan did not single-handedly bring the convention center to Philadelphia, he deserves credit for being the "leadership of that team." All three leaders say Egan's experience with bringing the convention center to Philadelphia bodes well for a city government which needs to expand economically and balance its own books. "Joe Egan's business background is ideally suited to help restore fiscal integrity to city government," Loeper said. And while many leaders praise Egan's grasp of the specifics of any task at hand, Longstreth said he is not disappointed that Egan has refused to come forward with many set positions. "Rather than coming up with Mickey Mouse programs that you know you can't implement . . . Joe's talked about his character and leadership and capabilities," the at-large city council member said. "If you haven't been mayor, you don't know about positions to be specific with much validity," added Longstreth, a former candidate for mayor. And Ryan said the state government would possibly be more conducive to Egan running City Hall. "I think we'd be prepared to deal with a Joe Egan administration, yes -- at least we as Republicans would," Ryan said. "We've always seen him in the role of businessman as opposed to politician, although I'm sure he's a politician, too." · The Joseph Egan for Mayor campaign scheduled an hour for the student vote. His press secretaries set up a "college press conference" for journalists from schools across the Delaware Valley. Over 25 reporters attended the conference. "This is your conference," Egan for Mayor press secretary Joe Sanchez said, saying although "real reporters" may attend the meeting, the students "shouldn't feel intimidated." Because of the crowd, Egan was unable to answer questions from all the reporters. Indeed, he skirted questions about basic problems the city faces -- its budget woes, its crisis in confidence -- and gave superficial answers on other topics such as improving education and decreasing crime. One "real reporter" at the conference maintains Egan's approach to the college media was typical of his unwillingness to talk about specifics. But Egan and his campaign have demonstrated little recognition of the University -- the largest university and private employer in the city. He has made one appearance on the University campus, while his opponent, University alumnus Rendell, has been on campus twice. During that appearance, Egan showed up 40 minutes late and kept referring to the students in the crowd as "advanced business students" even though students and faculty from across the University attended the forum. And his single proposal involving the University and other non-profit institutions has been to propose requiring the University to pay "user fees" or give in-kind services to the city, such as offering city employees free tuition to the Fels Center of Government. Meanwhile, Egan for Mayor literature has been difficult for students on the University's campus to obtain, while a Rendell table has been on Locust Walk sporatically for several weeks. When his sixty minutes with the college and high school media expired, Egan was whisked away to tape new radio spots, only answering the questions of a Philadlephia Inquirer political reporter. When reporters followed him out of the building and to his car and pushed him for more time to discuss the issues in the race, Egan did not respond. Instead, Sanchez turned to a reporter to answer the question for him. "Sorry, we gave you an hour."

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