Kendra Brooks has the political machine on its toes, but is she a real change agent?
Brady vs. Brooks
Kendra Brooks' Working Families Party quango candidacy has ruffled feathers. But does she represent real change?
Oct. 24, 2019
Last week, the political motorcar was jolted awake when Kendra Brooks, 1 of two Working Families Party candidates for City Quango'south ii minority political party seats, released an open up letter accompanied by a flyer to City Committee foot soldiers, announcing the launch of "Urban center Committee for Kendra Brooks"—an effort to encourage Autonomous party stalwarts to endorse her, in keeping with the pithy pitch of her campaign: "Republicans Out, Working Families In."
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Problem is, the flyer seemed similar it was an endorsement by City Committee of Brooks' entrada, attributable to the presence of an official-looking City Committee logo and its pretty unambiguous wording.
Well, that didn't sit well with a number of Democratic Council incumbents, because, in addition to targeting Republican incumbents Al Taubenberger and David Oh, Brooks' pitch—backed by their colleague, Helen Gym—really potentially takes votes abroad from one of the five Democratic incumbents. (Voters go five votes for vii at-big seats).
Then Boss Bob Brady's cell phone started buzzing, and he came out swinging. "This is a fraud, plain and unproblematic," he said when I caught up with him. "These Working Family candidates desire to become rid of Trump for lying, and now they're doing what he does."
In curt society, a bulletin from Brady went out to his thousands of foot soldiers: Support Brooks at your peril. The party posted a alert on Facebook that "Party rules country that any Committee Person who backs a non Democrat in the general election shall lose his membership in the said Commission" and Brady spoke of denying any Commission person who endorses Brooks street money or printed ballots on ballot twenty-four hours.
Along with ward leader and onetime Controller Alan Butkovitz, he got in the face up of State Representative Chris Rabb, who is as well a ward leader, for endorsing Brooks.
For her part, Brooks maintains in that location was nada underhanded almost her entrada's outreach to Committee people. "We have a coalition from beyond the city, and that includes some committee people," her campaign managing director Arielle Klagsbrun told me. "We wanted to assistance committee people back up Kendra if they wanted to."
That said, Klagsbrun concedes that the campaign has since changed some of the language of the original release, presumably because the phraseology and logo led some to believe it was a communique of support from Urban center Committee.
If all this sounds like a helluva lot of inside baseball game, you are right. But, on another level, it is deeply meaning. This latest political imbroglio raises serious questions about whether Philly politics volition double-down on backroom shenanigans and knee-jerk ideology, or whether much-needed reform will make a improvement. Does Brooks represent real change or more than of the aforementioned?
First, permit'south stipulate that Brooks is running an impressive campaign. She's got a not bad story to tell, equally evidenced by her latest entrada video : In her campaign finance filing today, it'due south expected that she will written report having raised in excess of $200,000—a record sum for a third party candidate.
Brady dismisses her fundraising prowess by positing that "a lot of her money is coming in from New York"—where the Working Families Party has long flourished—just her campaign says that two-thirds of her donors accept contributed less than $50, which suggests there is some grassroots momentum behind her candidacy.
The Republican incumbents and City Committee ought non underestimate Brooks and the other Working Families candidate, Pastor Nicholas O'Rourke, given that "Contained" is actually the fastest-growing political party designation in Philadelphia.
That said, is Brooks selling what Philly needs right now? Her candidacy is unabashedly a reaction to Trump: "At that place is no reason why Trump's party should be making decisions in our urban center," she says in her video. In that, she represents a leftward lurch that doubles-down on ideological shibboleths, as in this response in her questionnaire for Reclaim Philly, ground null for local Social Democrats:
"There is enough of wealth in this country and this city. Our problem has never been if we have enough coin, but instead if our elected officials have the political courage to check the powers of the ane% and to demand funding for resources for poor and working people. As a City Councilperson, my job would be to demand the 1% pay their fair share for fully-funded schools and affordable accessible housing for all, while also making sure that we pass laws that protect working people from corporations and ensure fairness and nobility at work…Every bit a councilperson, I volition ever look for laws that lessen and abolish white supremacy and patriarchy in our system, and that uplift Black and Brownish people, women and gender non-befitting people. To me, this starts with fully funding our education system, [and] ensuring accessible affordable housing for all people."
Let'south put bated the fact-checking, salve for noting that Philadelphia decidedly does not accept "plenty of wealth." In a city in which more ii-thirds of all jobs created since 2009 pay less than $35,000 a year, we've played the redistribution game and have effectively run out of that which to redistribute. Rather than respond to Trump's soullessness and incompetence with localized versions of Bernie Sanders' rhetoric, why not talk about what Philly really needs: Good government reform, applied problem-solving and jobs, jobs, jobs.
Information technology'southward difficult to do any of that by wiping out the local Republican political party. Yes, it long ago accepted the crumbs of patronage in return for not actually competing politically. Just when Gym, Rabb and other prominent Democrats endorsed Brooks and O'Rourke, it was a case study in political naiveté. Gym has rightly railed confronting Republicans in Harrisburg for underfunding our schools; but information technology'south infinitely harder to secure said funding increases from the Rs who control the state coffers if you're explicitly trying to decimate what's left of their party in your backyard.
It'due south a red herring to suggest that our issues will be solved if just we tin can rid Council of Taubenberger and Oh, neither of whom have actually stood in the way of any contempo progressive legislation. Oh, in fact, has been the loudest critic of Republican patronage abuses at the Parking Dominance. Still losing either of them could have dire consequences, not because of what they've done, per se, but because of where it leaves Philly: As an island unto itself, unable to count on assistance from Republicans either at the state or federal levels.
From a campaign standpoint, a "Republicans Out, Working Families In" slogan makes political sense in Trump's America. But not when it comes to governing . If we want to motility the trouble-solving needle, at some point you're going to need the help of people who might disagree with you lot on some things.
Philadelphia is confronted by deep, intractable challenges that take been decades in the making. The answer to them is neither left nor right. The answer is to actually reform our politics past making government more than efficient and competent. After all, examples of governmental incompetence and drift are all effectually us.
Kids are existence kept from going to schoolhouse considering administrators, despite two years to plan, were surprised that asbestos would be exposed during structure at a public school. Mayor Kenney has a tape $five billion upkeep (to service 1.5 1000000 citizens) withal we've just finished our ninth consecutive year of outlandish overtime costs. Meanwhile, an indicted Councilman runs unopposed for reelection and Quango won't even itemize its $16 million a year budget.
In a city that is 40 percent African American, only 2.5 per centum of businesses are black-owned, and non only is there no plan for turning that around, it's not even paid lip service. And don't fifty-fifty go me started on our worst-in-the-nation poverty, child poverty and deep poverty rates. Given those sets of facts, wouldn't you call up candidates for public office would focus on creating jobs and expanding opportunity, instead of fighting proxy political wars?
We need cleaner regime that does the people's business, not more taxing and spending to feed the Metropolis Hall beast—up 25 percentage in spending under Jim Kenney, the largest spending spree in our history. How are you feeling about your return on that investment?
The irony hither is that, on ane level, there is not so much distance between Brady and Brooks. Both run the chance of having their focus diverted from serving us —Brooks past virtue of her tendency to apply progressive talking points to local challenges, and Brady for his fealty to his insider tribe in a higher place the average taxpayer; political machines, after all, tend to work for those in them, but their history is spotty at all-time when it comes to solving problems for the rest of united states of america.
Come up to think of it, Brooks' attempt to lead political party apparatchiks to believe she had the machine'southward bankroll had the aforementioned "power for power'southward sake" experience and the aforementioned cynicism as Brady'due south backroom machinations. And her revenue enhancement, spend and identitarian policy prescriptions—like Brady's belief in the efficacy of patronage—seem just as atavistic.
We've tried Brady's mode and Brooks' style; what we really demand is a third way in our local politics, a type of progressive pragmatism, and next calendar week we'll come across an elected official who gets that.
Header epitome by Lucy Ferry 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/kendra-brooks-bob-brady/
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