Brady rejects redistricting rumor

Because of a production error, this portion of Philly Clout was left out of the final edition of yesterday's Daily News.

REDISTRICTING, the once-a-decade process of redrawing the lines to determine which politicians represent which constituents, often inflames partisan passions and gives rise to rumors.

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of the Democratic City Committee in Philadelphia, says that one hot rumor circulating in Harrisburg about his 1st Congressional District is way off the mark.

The rumor: Brady offers a weak Democratic candidate for a special election for the state House's 169th District in Northeast Philly if the Republicans controlling the General Assembly and redistricting redraw his district in a fashion he favors.

That special election may happen because the holder of that seat, Republican state Rep. Denny O'Brien, could win an at-large City Council bid this year.

"Nobody ever talked to me, not for one minute or one second, about Denny O'Brien's vacant seat," Brady told us Thursday.

Democratic leaders in Harrisburg tried to recruit local Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby to run for O'Brien's seat. McNesby said that he would decide after Labor Day, but probably won't run.

Brady told us that he expects O'Brien to win a Council seat. He also advised McNesby to keep the job he has now rather than run.

Brady's district stretches from Chester in Delaware County and up Cobbs Creek through Southwest Philadelphia to Brady's Overbrook Park neighborhood and up the east side of North Broad Street to the lower Northeast.

Republican and Democratic sources in Harrisburg confirm that the rumor about Brady seeking a deal is swirling.

One senior Democratic source put it this way: "Every House Democratic leader is extremely frustrated that you have the leader of the Philadelphia Democratic Party attempting to sell out a Democratic seat just to help himself."

- Staff writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

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