Milton Street is there.
Yeah, that Milton Street.
At Ashland, Philadelphia's most entertaining political sibling is inmate #61079-066. Convicted almost a year ago, the 70-year-old big brother of former mayor John Street is serving a 30-month sentence for failing to pay federal income tax on more than $2 million.
Before landing at Ashland, Street held many titles: food vendor, community rabble-rouser, state senator, airport-services king, warbling mayoral candidate (remember his lounge-lizard act outside City Hall?).
And, notably, Fumo refusenik. The two had their famous falling out back in 1981, when Street, a Democrat just elected to the state Senate, switched allegiance to the Republicans, angry that Fumo wouldn't support causes he held dear.
"Milton was the only Philadelphia senator confident enough to tell Vince to go scratch himself," says Jimmy Tayoun, convicted pol, South Philly icon and straight-talking publisher of the Philadelphia Public Record. "He always had an independent mind. Vince hates that."
Street and Fumo have felt repugnance for each other ever since, says a former City Hall bureaucrat who knows both men well enough that he'd rather stay anonymous in this column.
"For Milton and Vince," he says, "I imagine being in prison together would feel like the equivalent of being locked up with the man who raped your mother, your daughter and your sister."
Uh-oh.
What if Fumo's plan to earn time off for good behavior gets thwarted by a throw-down with Street in the exercise yard?
On the other hand, a little bonding behind barbed wire might allow Team Street and Team Fumo to realize some efficiencies.
Their Philly visitors could carpool to Kentucky and split hotel costs at the Ashland Best Western (where the $94 room rates include HBO).
The guys could bulk-order Tastykakes. Share a Daily News subscription. Duet on "Fly Eagles Fly."
Cheer the Temple Owls.
