David Copley: Preventing more years of failure

Corrupt and contented" is how muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens described the City of Philadelphia in 1904. Almost a century later, it's business as usual down at City Hall.

Incumbent Mayor John Street is now the subject of a wide-reaching federal probe looking into allegations of public corruption in his administration. So far, his office has been wiretapped, numerous city agencies have been raided, bank records have been seized and a grand jury convened. While no formal indictments have been issued, only in Philadelphia could the discovery of an FBI probe into corruption result in a significant upward bounce in the polls for the mayor.

To his credit, Street has been open and honest about his policy toward campaign contributors. According to CNN, "Throughout his time in office, Street has acknowledged that people who give money to his campaign are more likely to get city contracts, and he defended that patronage again Tuesday [during the second debate] as a harmless tradition."

But patronage is far from harmless! There is a high cost associated with the no-bid city contracts Street hands out to friends, family and campaign contributors alike. The City of Philadelphia is paying far too much for services and getting far too little in return.

Take the mayor's much-touted Neighborhood Transformation Initiative as an example. This ambitious $300 million program to clean up blight in Philadelphia's neighborhoods has served as the cornerstone of Street's administration. But according to a private e-mail written by Dan Fee, the official spokesman for the campaign to re-elect the mayor, NTI has failed. Why? According to Fee, "Because he [the mayor] just can't get his act together and he is relying on friends and contributors to do all the work." That sounds a lot like a serious patronage problem to me!

And Street has taken patronage to a completely new level. Last year, his brother Milton was given a $1.2 million no-bid city contract for equipment maintenance at the Philadelphia International Airport. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Milton will receive this money even though "he won't be held financially responsible for the work or how it gets done day by day." The Daily News also pointed out that Milton Street's firm Notlim (that's Milton spelled backwards) "had no experience in the field and no employees."

Not only does Philadelphia desperately need a mayor who will end the pay-to-play system, it also needs a mayor who will dramatically reform the city's broken tax code. According to last week's Philadelphia Business Journal study, the tax burden in Philadelphia is 30 percent higher than New York and 40 percent higher than Los Angeles. Philadelphia was the only city studied to tax both business revenue and net income, putting area businesses at a serious competitive disadvantage. Unsurprisingly, businesses have fled the city in droves and moved to more business-friendly locales, taking jobs and revenue with them.

Street has had four years to make progress in fixing these problems and has failed. It's also unlikely that Street will be an agent for positive change in the next four years. In fact, he proposes to continue many of the same failed policies that caused an astounding one out of six Philadelphians to leave the city during the 1990s.

There is a clear alternative. Local business leader Sam Katz pledges to clean up City Hall and end the corruption and patronage that has been plaguing Philadelphia for the last 100 years. Katz is among the most well-respected municipal finance experts in the country, and was called on by former Mayor Ed Rendell to mastermind the plan to get Philadelphia out of the deep fiscal crisis of the early '90s.

In 2003, Katz has prepared another plan to overhaul the city's tax code and reduce the burden on individuals and businesses. The most significant elements of his plan are the elimination of the gross receipts tax on business and a reduction in the city wage tax.

Do you want to make a difference in our city? The race between Sam Katz and John Street is tight, and the election is going to be won by the campaign with the better Election Day field operation. Your help is needed! On Tuesday, Nov. 4, consider giving a few hours of your time to help make Sam Katz the next mayor of Philadelphia. If you'd like to volunteer, please e-mail Phil Katz, a Penn student and the candidate's son, at pkatz@sam2003.com.

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