Penn Dems endorse Williams for DA

Last night, the Penn Democrats endorsed Seth Williams for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming Philadelphia District Attorney election.

The endorsement followed speeches by representatives of four of the five candidates and a short discussion among Penn Dems members.

Williams is a former Philadelphia Inspector General. He ran against the present DA, Lynne Abreham, for the Democratic nomination in 2005.

Campaign staffers for Williams, Michael Turner, Dan McElhatton and Brian Grady were present. No one representing Dan McCaffery could attend.

The candidate representatives, including two campaign managers, spoke about their candidates' personalities and crime in the city but mostly expressed why they came to the meeting.

Jeff Yurcan, campaign manager for Grady, opened his address saying, "We really care about you, we have a lot of respect for this group."

The representatives all answered Penn Dems members' questions in broadly similar ways.

The subsequent discussion about who to endorse focused more on Monday's candidates' forum - also sponsored by Penn Dems - than the representatives' speeches at the meeting.

"Seth was by far the most articulate candidate ... and showed a modicum of charisma," College junior Adam Mandelsberg said.

Others in the group agreed.

"Seth really stuck out as the number one candidate with a leadership style to change the city," said College sophomore Grant Dubler.

There was, however, some degree of disagreement as members spoke in favor of Turner.

"Turner's demeanor reminded me a lot of Obama's," said Penn Dems Communications director and College junior Yelena Nam.

She added that Turner was good at listening and had not interrupted the other candidates during the forum.

Dubler said he would like to think Turner could be effective but in light of the level of crime, "we need a leader here."

Following the endorsement, Penn Dems vice president and Wharton sophomore Michael Stratton laid out the organization's plan for helping Williams get elected.

Penn Dems will collect petitions of supporters as a "show of strength" to indicate to the other candidates that "they are not going to get any votes at Penn," he said.

Penn Dems President and College sophomore Jordan Levine, a former Daily Pennsylvanian advertising representative, said the group is taking an active role in local politics to establish themselves as a Democratic force.

* This article was edited on Feb. 18 at 10:16 a.m. to reflect the fact that Williams is the former inspector general.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.