An Election For Change, Except When It Wasn’t

Hey, Michael Nutter and Tom Knox did well! Whoo! Reform and change and it’s a new day in Philadelphia politics and “corrupt and contented” and Shame of the City, etc., etc.

The “reformers” did well in yesterday’s mayor’s race. The two somewhat outsiders, Nutter and Knox, were 1-2. But in City Council races, the reformers did well — but not well enough to win in most cases.

But let’s pass over that and get to the real story here: The end of the political career of one T. Milton Street, the former hot dog vendor and current New Jersey resident. Milton finished 17th out of 19 candidates in the Democratic primary yesterday. The loss pretty much ensures the end of Milton’s political career, since his trial on tax evasion and fraud starts later this year.

I supported a Milton candidacy because the value of his entertainment was worth much more than the $100 grand or so he’d be banking every year. (And he could have to pay it back to the city in back taxes, anyway.) If one estimates the average Philadelphia citizen pays, say, 5-10 cents in taxes to help pay Milton’s hypothetical salary, that’s quite a bargain for Milton’s non-stop wacky antics. A movie costs, what, nine bucks? It’d be the first time I knew my tax dollars were going to something I supported.

Plus, he wanted to legalize pot.

Let’s also hear it for Maceo Cummings and Rodney Little, who managed to lose to Milton Street.

2007 primary results [The Next Mayor]
[Quote courtesy of today's Daily News]