POLITICS in Philadelphia is often a family business.
That can mean one generation trains the next for public office.
It can also lead to family feuds.
Consider the 197th state House District in North Philly, a vacant seat since Jewell Williams left it last month to become sheriff.
Six Democrats filed nominating petitions yesterday to get on the April 24 ballot for that seat.
One was the sheriff's daughter, the similarly named Jewel Williams, who works for the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
Another was T. Milton Street Sr., the former state senator who ran for mayor last year after serving time in federal prison for not paying his taxes.
Street said he "had some ugly words" this week with his nephew Sharif Street, who is supporting Jewel Williams for the House seat. Street says his nephew, son of former Mayor John Street, was promised a job as chief counsel of the Sheriff's Office.
"He's out there working against me," Milton Street said. "This is going to be real ugly because I don't back down or roll over."
Sharif Street, while reluctant to engage in a dispute with his uncle via Clout, called the claim "far-fetched and ridiculous."
He also called Jewel Williams a "fine young candidate."
"I thought that long before I knew my uncle had any interest in this," he added.
Undersheriff Joe Vignola confirmed that Sharif Street had not been offered a job, and noted that the Sheriff's Office does not have a chief counsel.
This is not the first political face-off for the Streets. Milton and Sharif both ran for Council at-large in 2007.
Both lost.
The stampede of candidates every two years for state House seats can be a confusing affair in a normal electoral season.
Forget normal this year.
Consider the 169th District, also a vacant seat because Denny O'Brien left it last month to become a city councilman.
The seat was moved from Northeast Philly to York County in a redistricting plan in December but returned to the city last month, after the state Supreme Court tossed the plan.
And that's how we have a York County chicken farmer seeking the same job as a Philly labor guy.
Farmer Allan Case, one of three York County Republicans who filed for the seat, said he was advised to submit his nominating petitions by the state deadline yesterday just in case a new redistricting plan brings the seat back to York County this year. Case doesn't expect that to happen.
"We're in a real mess," Case said. "I don't think anyone knows what is happening."
