Sam Katz, eying Philadelphia mayoral race, meets with African American leaders

Sam Katz, toying with a fourth run for Philadelphia mayor, has met in recent weeks with several influential African American leaders he would need to win over if he is going to exploit Mayor Nutter's apparent weakness with black voters.

"I urged him not to do it," said J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. Even if he won, Mondesire said, Katz would fail to gain the backing of a majority of City Council's 17 members. "He could not govern," he said. "It would be an almost impossible hurdle for him to achieve."

Along with Mondesire, Katz has also met with former Mayor John F. Street's campaign manager, Lana Felton-Ghee, lunching with her at the Doubletree Hotel in Center City.

"We did have a discussion about outreach for him being potentially the next mayor," said Felton-Ghee, an active player in African American religious circles who has been involved in every Philadelphia mayoral campaign since the 1970s.

There was no discussion of a timeline, she said, emphasizing that Katz was unclear whether he was considering a run next year, or in 2015.

Bilal Qayyum, a longtime African American community activist, was also among dozens of black religious, community, and political leaders who have met with Katz. Qayyum declined to discuss what the pair spoke about.

Among the others Katz met with were Edgar Campbell Jr., leader of a group of African American ward leaders, and the Rev. William Moore of the Tenth Memorial Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.

"To try to divide and conquer really reflects old-style Philadelphia politics," said Richard Hayden, Nutter's political adviser. "You have one city, you have to represent everybody."

He added, "As a candidate, Mayor Nutter was the first person in a multicandidate field to draw support across neighborhoods, races, ages, and income."

In past elections, Katz, who is white, has had a dismal record when it comes to black support. In 1999, when he ran as a Republican, 2 percent of African American voters backed him. He did no better four years later, still under the GOP banner, drawing, again, just 2 percent.

Now he is being encouraged to run against Nutter - as a Democrat in next spring's primary - by Street, who beat Katz in both those elections and is a political foe of Nutter. Street in 1999 captured 94 percent of the black vote, and in 2003, he drew 98 percent.

Besides Katz, no other potential Democratic challengers have so far emerged.