Right Speech, Wrong Stump Democrat Ivan Itkin Picked A Ridge Porch

By Peter Smolowitz, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Posted: October 20, 1998

WEST WHITELAND — On the campaign trail, politicians like to kiss enough babies, make enough promises, and shake enough hands to leave audiences cheering.

So Ivan Itkin did not expect the response he got from Katherine and Enrico Mazza after making an Oct. 8 stump speech at their West Whiteland home.

The Mazzas were infuriated that Itkin, the Democratic challenger to Gov. Ridge, used their porch without permission.

``In no way, shape or form would we have allowed a Democrat to hold a press conference on our porch,'' said Katherine Mazza, adding that she and her husband were registered Republicans. ``If you can't take care of somebody's basic, basic rights, how are you supposed to govern an entire state?''

The couple tried filing trespassing charges after Itkin addressed a reporter and two photographers for about 15 minutes while they were not at home. Police vetoed the idea because the yard is not fenced in, there are no signs prohibiting trespassers, and the Democrat did not enter the house.

``I've never had someone call and say, `There's a candidate on my porch,' '' said West Whiteland Police Sgt. Claude Frisbie.

Itkin will send an apology note, said Marc Weinstein, his campaign manager, for using the Mazza house as a backdrop for an attack on Ridge's proposal to privatize care for the mentally retarded. He chose the site because four people died in a 1996 fire at a group home that was once at the site. He did not realize that a new owner had built a house on the property, Weinstein said.

No one answered when Itkin knocked at the door before the press conference.

`` `Well, I'm here. Let's just do it,' '' Weinstein said his boss instructed those present. ``It wasn't the smoothest press conference. He regrets it.''

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