Political Power

Michael J. Stack Jr., 84, the Democratic leader of the 58th Ward in the Bustleton and Somerton neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia from 1970 to 2007 - and a political influence far beyond - died of congestive heart failure Wednesday, July 13, at Temple University Hospital. He was the father of the current 58th Ward leader, State Sen. Michael J. Stack 3d, and son of a congressman, Michael J. Stack, who served two terms from 1935 to 1939. In addition, he was an accomplished amateur landscape painter, and he self-published six novels of political intrigue in the manner of John Grisham.

Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, basking in the success of his Million Man March, said yesterday his Nation of Islam movement would now plunge into politics and become a "third political power. " The 62-year-old leader told a news conference his organization would follow through on Monday's assembly of what he said were more than one million black men. U.S. Park Police said the number was about 400,000. He said his organization would enter politics for the first time, register and mobilize millions of blacks and other disaffected voters to become a force in the 1996 presidential elections.

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority got a new executive director yesterday. Depending on your point of view, this was either a natural passing of the torch to a veteran professional or a shameless power grab by politicians anxious to carve up the spoils of an increasingly weakened Goode administration. And there could be important implications for alliances in the 1991 mayoral sweepstakes. The man named to the top job by the RDA board yesterday is Andrew Jenkins, 54, an 11-year veteran of the authority and a West Philadelphia community activist.

While everyone here was all gaga yesterday over the moviemaking of actor- comedian Eddie Murphy, a top official of the African National Congress visiting the Capitol did not go entirely unnoticed. Sindiso Mfenyana, administrative secretary to ANC President Nelson Mandela, was kicked off the set of Murphy's movie. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here," someone from the production crew said as Mfenyana walked through the Rotunda, according to a Casey administration official who accompanied Mfenyana.

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Paulsboro, where we lay our scene . . . With apologies to the Bard, the tale of the Burzichellis and the Sabettas - families that have shared the borough's political spotlight for more than two decades - is reminiscent of the story of the Capulets and Montagues. Their clashes in the town square have been over political differences - and, friends and colleagues say, personal issues. The latest duel occurred last month, when patriarch John D. Burzichelli, 66, defeated challenger Jimmy Sabetta, 47, for a school board seat.

Earl Baker didn't buy it. Even after Chester County GOP chairman Bill Lamb told the influential state senator on April 30 that he no longer wanted the chairmanship, Baker faxed letters to fellow Republican legislators asking them to support Lamb's re- election bid. Lamb told others of his decision, and Baker finally conceded that the high- profile, highly successful West Chester attorney was serious. Yet, after Lamb went public last week, few in the political warp and weave of this tightly knit suburban county could understand why. Why did the most powerful politician in the county walk from a job that was his for the keeping?

Maha al-Douri took a radical stance when she decided to run for a seat in the Iraqi National Assembly in December: The candidate on a minor Shiite Muslim slate put her face on campaign posters - and succeeded in raising eyebrows around the country. "I got threats," Douri, 36, said. "I am the first [female] candidate to talk about women's rights. The political parties list women as candidates, but they want to waste the woman's voice. Where is the secularity and democracy we hear about?

During the years just before the United States entered World War II, local newspaper publisher Ralph Beaver Strassburger was a notable spokesman for the isolationist position in U.S. foreign policy. From a position of power, he wielded a great deal of influence. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Hitler declared war on the United States, Strassburger's influence evaporated and his credibility was questioned. The result was that for the rest of his life, he was attacked as a self-serving dupe.

After all these years, they still called him senator - Sen. Henry J. Cianfrani; Buddy Cianfrani to most people; "Buddy Brown" to his oldest pals downtown. The little man with the monk's haircut and flashing eyes might have gotten lost in another crowd. But this one had him surrounded in a marbled corridor of the Rittenhouse Hotel, jerking his outstretched right hand like the big lever on a voting machine. Not even in his days as one of the most powerful men in Pennsylvania could the legendary South Philadelphia politician ever have pulled a crowd as big and as illustrious as the one he pulled last night.

After seven days and 22 witnesses, the defense in the federal corruption trial of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo will feature a big name on the stand tomorrow - Gov. Rendell. And Fumo, too, might get up there. As the sweeping case against the once-powerful Democrat finally winds down, the testimony of the two political titans could be the climax of one of the city's most memorable trials in recent years. Rendell's appearance as a defense witness might seem odd, because Fumo secretly paid for attack ads against him in the 2002 gubernatorial primary, and used a state-paid private investigator to spy on construction of his Jersey Shore home.

A FEDERAL JUDGE on Thursday upheld the city's ban on political giving by police officers and ruled that they could not contribute part of their paychecks to a political-action committee. Siding with Mayor Nutter's administration, District Court Judge Juan Sanchez said in his decision that the Home Rule Charter provision banning cops from political activity is still constitutional, because of the Police Department's history of corruption and the potential for abuse if cops became more politically organized.

Cardiss Collins, 81, an Illinois Democrat who reluctantly filled her late husband's seat in Congress in 1973 and over the next quarter-century became one of the most prominent black women on Capitol Hill, died Feb. 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va. A family friend, Mel Blackwell, said she had complications from pneumonia. Mrs. Collins won a special election for the congressional seat six months after her husband, Rep. George Collins, died when a commercial jetliner on which he was a passenger crashed near Chicago's Midway Airport, killing more than 40 people.

MANAMA, Bahrain - American envoys challenged assertions Saturday that Washington seeks to diminish its role in Middle East affairs, insisting that U.S. political ties and energy needs bind the country closely to a region full of "threat and promise. " The defensive tone by U.S. officials, in response to questions raised at an international security summit in Bahrain, reflects growing speculation about a possible U.S. policy realignment toward Asia at the expense of Mideast initiatives.

JERUSALEM - They spent their journalistic careers analyzing, covering, and skewering Israel's politicians. Now, a striking number are vying to join their ranks. Four prominent Israeli TV anchors and news pundits are leaving their jobs and running for parliament in Israel's coming elections, reflecting the rising star power of media personalities for an electorate that has long had a penchant for retired army generals. The recent surge of journalists-turned-politicians reflects in part a desire for new blood in a political scene long dominated by the same faces.

Pat Robertson stood before Independence Hall Saturday and proclaimed that "This nation belongs to Jesus. " The 82-year-old broadcaster, a stalwart of the Christian right, spoke to a crowd of nearly 10,000 that had gathered on the mall to reverse the course of what they called a United States gone wrong. "I ran for president once, and it's a mistake I wouldn't want anybody to make," said Robertson, who had walked to the lectern slowly and hunched over. "We will never change America through politics.

CAIRO - Egypt's Islamist president fired the first volley Sunday in his battle with the nation's powerful generals, calling on the Islamist-dominated parliament to reconvene despite a military-backed court ruling that dissolved it. A week into his presidency, the surprise move by Mohammed Morsi threatened to plunge the country into a new bout of instability and violence, nearly 17 months after the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak....

CAIRO - The Muslim Brotherhood has stopped talking about its longtime dream of an Islamic Egypt and expelling Israel's ambassador to Cairo. Instead, President-elect Mohammed Morsi is hurriedly building a diverse alliance with leftists, liberals, and Christians to bolster his battle to end military rule. Those familiar with the group's inner workings say, however, that this may only be a short-term strategy that will give way later to a push for the stricter imposition of Islamic law. That could partly explain why the secular generals who took over from ousted President Hosni Mubarak 16 months ago will not relinquish their hold on most levers of power.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani lawmakers elected a ruling-party loyalist with a checkered past as prime minister Friday, restoring government to the country after days of political turmoil. But the election of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was unlikely to calm the tensions roiling the country, and many predicted he would face the same fate as his predecessor, who was ousted this week. The drama highlighted the turbulent nature of politics in this nuclear-armed country that is vital to U.S. hopes for ending the war in Afghanistan.

CAIRO - Egypt's presidential campaign has been full of startling moments. At one point, ousted President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister rode into a rally on a white horse like a knight, promising to restore Mubarak-era stability and ensure secular rule. A veteran of the old regime, Ahmed Shafiq was himself booted from office by protests weeks after his former boss fell last year. Now he's a presidential candidate, his dramatic entrance before a cheering crowd typifying the choices facing Egyptians in this week's landmark vote, between voices from the authoritarian past and Islamists promising an uncertain future.

The Passage Of Power The Years of Lyndon Johnson By Robert A. Caro Alfred A. Knopf, 712 pp. $35. Reviewed by Dan DeLuca   Long live Robert Caro. Loyal readers of the biographer's now four-volumes-and-counting, truly epic political history and character study, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, will understand that I mean that quite literally. As in, "Please let the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who's now 76 and has finally, in The Passage of Power, gotten to the point where LBJ has fulfilled the prediction he made as a teenager that he would one day be president, live long enough to get to the end of his page-turning saga.