Media Consultant

Mayor Goode's media consultant for the 1983 mayoral race will not be with him in the 1987 campaign, and many political observers believe he may jump to the camp of probable Democratic primary rival Edward G. Rendell. Sources close to Goode said that Neil Oxman of The Campaign Group formally severed his ties to Goode late last week. Reports that Oxman might do so began circulating last month. Oxman created Goode's TV advertising in the 1983 primary and general elections, and continued to advise Goode until as recently as two weeks ago. As of last night, Rendell said he had no contract with The Campaign Group.

In a sign that he may soon announce a bid for mayor, City Council President John F. Street has hired a nationally known political consultant to advise him on a campaign. The consultant is David Axelrod, 43, of Chicago, whose resume includes helping elect Democratic mayors in Chicago, Washington, Cleveland, Houston and Detroit. Street, who must resign from Council before he can run for mayor, has sent signals that he may announce his decision to leave Council on the last day of its current session: Dec. 17. He may announce a run for mayor the same day or wait until after the holidays.

Herbert Linsenberg, Republican city controller candidate, has his work cut out for him. Incumbent Jonathan Saidel has money and the backing of the powerful Democratic party. But Saidel also has an Achilles heel: the troubled Philadelphia Housing Authority board, which Saidel chaired until federal officials took control. Linsenberg believes PHA represents corruption, inefficiency and the dirty hand of politics for many voters. Those are the votes he hopes to lure by raising the issue of Saidel's character.

Judge Russell Nigro had $1.3 million on his side. He is a Democrat in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 500,000. But in the end, Nigro lost the Supreme Court race to Republican Ron Castille by 50,000 votes. What happened? "In a sense, the race was won both here and in Pittsburgh," said Castille. In the numbers game, Nigro won the state except for his home turf: Philadelphia and its suburbs. He won Philadelphia, as expected, but lousy turnout savaged his margin.

One week after he was broiled in the media for a photo-op with an accused drug dealer, Mayor Street yesterday reconfigured the communications staff of his reelection campaign. Amid worries from some prominent Democrats that his message was muddled, Street named the former chief spokesman for Gov. Rendell's successful 2002 campaign as senior communications adviser. Daniel Fee, who also was the Democratic Party's state spokesman in the 2000 campaign, will take over on Monday.

Pull a cat's tail enough, and he'll scratch back. After several days of negative TV ads from Democratic mayoral candidate John Street, Republican foe Sam Katz swatted back yesterday with a 30-second spot accusing Street of "trying to scare voters and run a negative campaign. " Within hours, the Street campaign returned the volley in a new spot that reminded voters of the attack ads Katz ran during the Democratic primary. And judging from the noises in each campaign, the commercial carnage will continue.

Christine Todd Whitman took an explosive broadside from an unlikely source yesterday when fellow Republican Roger Ailes, the now-retired GOP media wizard, denounced her as "slick Christie" and accused her of lying about an infamous TV ad. In an extraordinary public attack on New Jersey's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Ailes faxed a statement to reporters questioning Whitman's judgment and integrity for incorrectly linking him to the controversial 1988...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Todd Whitman said yesterday that she had hired the man who created the infamous advertisement featuring black prison inmate Willie Horton during the 1988 presidential campaign to develop television commericals for her bid to unseat Gov. Florio. In addition to the Horton ad - denounced as racist and disavowed at the time by President George Bush - media consultant Larry McCarthy also created a spot supporting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991 that questioned the moral integrity of three Senate Democrats considering Thomas's appointment.

Like bears attracted to a $15 million pot of honey, some of the nation's top political professionals have been drawn to Philadelphia this year for the mayoral election. All six of the major mayoral candidates have been able to raise enough money to attract the best talent available, whether it be a media consultant, a pollster or a campaign manager. And the talent has come running, from New York and from Washington, from Chicago and from Austin, Texas - enticed by what may be the costliest and most competitive election anywhere in America this year.

A member of the advisory board of the state-funded New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program Inc. was paid more than $30,000 in consulting fees by the organization over a three-year period, according to the VVLP's executive director. Robert K. Berry, president of Berry Associates Inc., a Chatham, Morris County, public relations firm, was paid the money for serving as the VVLP's media consultant, said Steven R. Ross, VVLP executive director. Ross, in a recent interview in his Jersey City office, said Berry had been retained by the VVLP since 1984 and had been paid at a rate of $100 an hour.

While issuing tickets at a record rate and hauling in $192 million in annual revenue, the Philadelphia Parking Authority has spent lavishly to promote itself to the public and state legislature. In six years, the authority has increased its annual spending on outside lobbying and media contracts from $3,000 to at least $382,000, according to records obtained by The Inquirer. In total, the agency has spent a minimum of $1.48 million - roughly 57,000 tickets' worth - on such services since 2002, much of that going to politically connected firms and consultants.

We are one month away from the primary election in Philadelphia. Do you know where your favorite candidate for mayor stands? The Ferrick Commission knows. My panel of expert (and anonymous) political observers has emerged from the Great Hall of Deliberation, where we thought deep thoughts, consulted the tea leaves, and took a short nap. Having completed cogitation, we are ready for prognostication. Let us cut to the chase. The Democratic campaign for mayor is now a race between two candidates: Chaka Fattah and Tom Knox.

Tom Knox sat for more than six hours in the front row of City Hall's Courtroom 676 on Tuesday, playing idly with a nail file as he watched fellow mayoral candidate Bob Brady squirm. Then Knox used a recess in the court proceedings to stick a shiv in Brady's back. "It's a no-show job," Knox told reporters, tapping papers that his lawyer had unearthed, showing the carpenters' union gives 140 hours' worth of pension contributions to Brady, a U.S. representative, each month for being the union's unpaid adviser.

With $1 million in the bank and a strong resume, retired admiral Joe Sestak has the best chance in 20 years to capture the Seventh Congressional District for the Democrats. What he lacks is experience, and it could be a crucial flaw. Sestak faces 10-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.), who is backed by the Delaware County Republican Party, perhaps the most formidable local political organization in the state. Even so, Sestak is bucking the advice of campaign professionals and is surrounding himself with friends and family.

Joseph M. Torsella, the National Constitution Center president who worked for the last seven years to open the $140 million museum, entered the race yesterday for the 13th Congressional District. Torsella, a Flourtown Democrat, has been credited with turning around the project, long-stalled and losing money, when he was tapped to head it in 1997. With no elective experience, Torsella is using his work on the center to cast himself as somebody who can get things done for the district, which includes parts of Northeast Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County.

One week after he was broiled in the media for a photo-op with an accused drug dealer, Mayor Street yesterday reconfigured the communications staff of his reelection campaign. Amid worries from some prominent Democrats that his message was muddled, Street named the former chief spokesman for Gov. Rendell's successful 2002 campaign as senior communications adviser. Daniel Fee, who also was the Democratic Party's state spokesman in the 2000 campaign, will take over on Monday.

Pull a cat's tail enough, and he'll scratch back. After several days of negative TV ads from Democratic mayoral candidate John Street, Republican foe Sam Katz swatted back yesterday with a 30-second spot accusing Street of "trying to scare voters and run a negative campaign. " Within hours, the Street campaign returned the volley in a new spot that reminded voters of the attack ads Katz ran during the Democratic primary. And judging from the noises in each campaign, the commercial carnage will continue.

Like bears attracted to a $15 million pot of honey, some of the nation's top political professionals have been drawn to Philadelphia this year for the mayoral election. All six of the major mayoral candidates have been able to raise enough money to attract the best talent available, whether it be a media consultant, a pollster or a campaign manager. And the talent has come running, from New York and from Washington, from Chicago and from Austin, Texas - enticed by what may be the costliest and most competitive election anywhere in America this year.

In a sign that he may soon announce a bid for mayor, City Council President John F. Street has hired a nationally known political consultant to advise him on a campaign. The consultant is David Axelrod, 43, of Chicago, whose resume includes helping elect Democratic mayors in Chicago, Washington, Cleveland, Houston and Detroit. Street, who must resign from Council before he can run for mayor, has sent signals that he may announce his decision to leave Council on the last day of its current session: Dec. 17. He may announce a run for mayor the same day or wait until after the holidays.

National Media Corp., the Philadelphia infomercial producer, and a group of telemarketing consultants and brokers have been fined $292,500 in connection with an alleged scheme to misuse customers' credit-card information. The Federal Trade Commission alleged yesterday that from 1989 through 1991 National Media Corp., helped by various middlemen, rented or sold a list of customers and credit-card data to other companies that abused the information. None of those cited yesterday admitted wrongdoing.