Phawker

BY AMY Z. QUINN Somewhere, Kevin Spacey is smiling. And I need to do someone a big favor — stat. See, while Team Phawker waited in the will-call line at the Tower Theater to pick up our tickets for the Jon Stewart show Friday night, a friendly couple approached — desperate to give away an extra pair of tix. A quick glance at the freebies showed they were probably pretty good, so we took them with the couple’s admonishment to “Pay it forward.”

As it turned out, the seats were front row — several rows closer, even, than where the beneficent couple were sitting. Lucky us, because we had the catbird seat for Stewart’s hour-plus act, in which he riffed on some familiar political topics: Bush (“People think he’s stupid, he’s not stupid. People think he talks stupid. He doesn’t talk stupid, he talks the way you talk to stupid people.”) Cheney (“The man to call when you wake up in a hotel room with a dead hooker.”), Imus (“I’m glad he got fired, because now racism is over!”) and gay marriage (which irks conservatives because they just can’t concentrate “with the sound of one man’s balls slapping into another man’s ass, miles away” — you and I can’t hear it but the sound is DEAFENING to right-wingers).

When he threw it open for questions at the end of the set, it wasn’t surprising to hear him asked which candidate he was going to support for President, nor was it a shocker to hear him say he hasn’t yet made a choice. He seems suspicious of Obama’s sudden rise and wary of Hillary Clinton’s studied pursuit of the White House.

Stewart, who grew up in Lawrence, NJ (for all you Pennsy people, that’s in the “up near Trenton” part of the Garden State) but proved himself enough of a Philly boy that we should start claiming him as a local. He easily and convincingly poked fun at Upper Darby and West Philly — even the Tower itself, which he joked hadn’t been cleaned since he attended an Alarm concert there back in 1984. [Good Lord! I was there, too! Sonofabitch, I was hoping to take THAT to my grave.--The Ed.]
GRADE: A+

RELATED: “The Alarm — the biggest band to come out of Wales in the 80′s, successfully combining bombastic rock with the power of the mullet.”

BY DAVE DAVIES OF THE DAILY NEWS An Appearance by Tommy the Loan Shark, the heckling mascot who dogs mayoral candidate Tom Knox, got ugly yesterday when publicist Frank Keel broke into Tommy’s news conference and insisted that rival Bob Brady was funding the fish and his sidekick, Jim Nixon. How did Keel claim to know Brady was behind the Shark attacks on Knox’s history with high-interest payday lending?

“I know the truth, because they approached me first and foremost to run this shadow operation,” Keel said. “I find this disgusting, deplorable.” Keel told reporters that on Feb. 9, Brady political operative Ken Smukler tried to recruit him to run a secret operation to harass Knox.

“They wanted me to organize a grassroots-style organization, that had a total firewall between the Brady campaign,” Keel said. “They would basically make payments intermittently into an account. I had complete carte blanche [on] how to use that money to organize some of the faith-based communities, some of the community-activist types, up to a million dollars.”

Smukler, who resigned last night as the controversy over his actions grew, admitted meeting with Keel, but said he had made it clear he wasn’t acting on behalf of any candidate or campaign, even though he’d worked on Brady’s mayoral announcement the previous month.

***

“Back your thugs off!” Nixon told Keel. “Keep your thugs away from me!”

“Aw, shut up with the thugs!” Keel shot back.

“Shut up! Shut up! That’s real classy. You’re a classy guy,” Nixon responded.

Keel then addressed the shark, who hadn’t spoken.

“Tommy, give us your name, pal,” Keel said. “It’s time. Come on, ‘fess up.”

“You let Tommy be,” Nixon said, still refusing to identify the man in the fish suit. “Tommy’s a nice guy.”

***

Smukler said he suggested Keel set up a “527″ committee, a political operation independent of any candidate that would could accept contributions and attack Knox’s record.

“I called Frank Keel to see if he would set up a structure, so that once people in this town recognized the threat of Tom Knox, there would be a vehicle to take their money and take him down,” Smukler said, adding that he’d spoken to a number of people about the idea.

Smukler acknowledged that he’d worked for the Brady campaign before he met with Keel, and that after that he helped with debates, public appearances and editorial-board meetings as a consultant to Brady’s congressional campaign.

The news conference outside was heated, as Nixon, Tommy the Shark’s talking sidekick, said he’d been followed and harassed by people he believes are from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of Keel’s clients.

(more…)

RELATED: The Rick D. Memorial Project

A credible e-mail threat to the two Delaware County Community College campuses in Chester County has prompted school officials to shut down the remaining three locations at least until Monday.

About a dozen e-mails were received about 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the Exton and Downingtown campuses threatening “violence against numerous persons,” Sgt. Martin Malloy of the West Whiteland police said yesterday.

(more…)

NOTE: The following post was brought to you by the swell folks at…*

As expected, the Inquirer is experiencing some blowback from its decision to let Citizen’s Bank sponsor the the front page of the business section. Some of that blowback is coming from within:

From: Lavin, Carl [Inquirer Deputy Managing Editor For News]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 1:57 PM
To: Inquirer
Subject: Newsroom ethics

To the staff

A version of this is on the Romenesko blog, but I wanted to be sure you have a copy. Please note that all the examples cited here are very recent. There will be more strong journalism tomorrow, and on Sunday and for decades to come – in print and online. Many thanks to each of you,

Carl

A writer for The Houston Chronicle and a columnist in The Nation have written critically about our decision to run advertising with a new business column on our section front. Neither writer contacted me, and there is no evidence that these writers regularly read our work or talk to our journalists. What these writers, and other commentators, are doing, though, is raising doubts about the integrity of everyone in this newsroom. I’ve worked here more than three years, under every imaginable stress, and I have absolutely no doubt about the dedication or ethics of this staff. Are we pulling punches? Will we? Of course not. The evidence is in black and white, and it is in front of readers every day. Some recen t examples: We went to court to force Rohm & Haas to release sealed evidence in a legal battle. We uncovered allegations of serious conflicts of interest involving one of the city’s biggest builders in a development plan for the post office site. We published a front-page investigation about moonlighting by the head of the local Chamber of Commerce. We revealed outsize co mpensation packages for the board members of one of our largest local businesses. The work we do has value because it is built on a foundation of fair and responsible inquiry. We answer to our readers. Anyone who has a question about our ethics is welcome to call. We will continue to provide answers every day.

Thank you for reading,

Carl Lavin
Deputy managing editor, news
The Philadelphia Inquirer

From: Larrick, Bruce [Assistant National Foreign Editor]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 2:15 PM
To: Inquirer
Subject: RE: Newsroom ethics

I suppose it wouldn’t do much good to suggest that we shouldn’t have headed down this road in the first place. We’re now being gored because, as everyone knows, the appearance of a conflict of interest is just as bad as an actual conflict. We can declaim all we want about how ethical we are, but as long as we keep pairing our news content with advertisers (as in the Comcast TV book), others will think we doth protest too much.

I find the situation deplorable and, frankly, think we’re getting exactly what we deserve.

*This is satire, the rest is not.

With Lou Reed and John Cale, Paris, 1972

THE WORLD CAFE
Filtering classic rock and pop hooks through a willfully lo-fi aesthetic a la Pavement or Guided by Voices, Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog sounds both timeless and immediate. Formed in 1999 as a recording project for two members of the more traditional indie-rock band Raccoon, Dr. Dog became a full-time gig when Raccoon folded in the early ’00s. Dr. Dog’s first two records, 2001′s Psychedelic Swamp and 2002′s Toothbrush, were both self-released but failed to make an impact outside of the Philadelphia area. Still, the band’s fortunes changed when My Morning Jacket’s Jim James handpicked Dr. Dog to open for My Morning Jacket for its 2004 tour. Subsequently picked up by an indie label for 2005′s Easy Beat, the group won raves for its combination of psychedelic pop hooks and Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies.

Dr. Dog’s new We All Belong is shaping up to be its most powerful and cohesive artistic statement yet. Buoyed by the band’s large and growing following, the disc — which delves into what members call “three-part harmonies, the out-of-doors, soya rotis, baking bread and diminished chords” — should help break Dr. Dog through to a larger and even more enthusiastic audience.

PHILADELPHIA — Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable television operator, said Thursday its first-quarter profits surged 80 percent, helped by a one-time gain from the dissolution of a joint venture with Time Warner Cable.

Comcast posted net income of $837 million, or 26 cents per share, in the quarter compared with $466 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hey, Aren’t They Headquartered Here In Philadelphia? In Fact, Aren’t They Building The TALLEST Goddamn Skyscraper In The City? So What’s Philadelphia’s Fair Share? ZERO For The Next 10 Years Because Of A Tax Abatement Offered By John Street And Ed Rendell? We Really Have To Stop Behaving Like The Girl Who Let’s You Stick It Where You Want On The First Date

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Three female African elephants from the Philadelphia Zoo will be packing their trunks to move to Western Pennsylvania sometime in the fall, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium officials announced yesterday.
PREVIOUSLY ON PHAWKER: Alas, The Great Philly-Pachyderm Assimilation Experiment Fails, Elephants Refuse To Play Ball, Still Shit Where They Like And Refuse To Order In English At Geno’s Or Offer No-Bid Contracts To Corporate Weasels

A new poll on the mayor’s race shows Michael Nutter (center) surging, and front-runner Tom Knox stalling.

The survey of 450 registered Philadelphia Democrats shows Tom Knox dropping slightly from the previous poll to 20 percent, with Michael Nutter surging to 18 percent.

David Patti is with Pennsylvanians for Effective Government, which commissioned the survey:

“The election now comes down to a statistical dead heat between Michael Nutter and Tom Knox.”

The others are having a tough time:

“Congressman Chaka Fattah has fallen to third. And Congressman Brady and Dwight Evans are a distance distant fourth and fifth.”

KYW: Breaker 1-9, Looks Like We Got Ourselves A Convoy
INQUIRER: Michael Nutter Profile
THE NEXT MAYOR: “According to a memo accompanying the poll, it looks like Nutter’s gains are due to a surge in his support among white Democrats where he leads Knox 29% to 24%. The memo also indicates that Nutter may be benefitting from the fact that Brady’s unfavorables have continued to climb. Meanwhile, Fattah, as in other polls, continues to enjoy the lead in support among black voters with Knox, surprisingly, maintaining second place in that category. However, 32% of the black voters surveyed remain undecided so there is room for any candidate to move there. The memo concludes by stating that it appears Knox ‘may have peaked too early.’”

This week brought word that Sam Katz has dropped his GOP party affiliation, a move that opens the door to a possible run in the general election as an independent. Mayor Street believes an independent could be viable this year, just not Sam Katz:“I think he’s fooling himself if he thinks lots of Democrats are going to go flocking to him, running away from the Democratic nominee. I think that’s a little pie-in-the-skyish. It’s not going to happen.”

The Mayor goes on to suggest that Katz should give up his dream of running City Hall:

“Sam ran a couple of decent races for mayor. But after a while, your time has come and gone.”

KYW: I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (Again)
RELATED: The Shame Of The City