So who were you speaking for above when you called the CFP alternative ballot "fake."

This is an emotional issue. People will disagree. Let's just realize that in a city of 1.4 million people, there are only a few hundred who engage on these topics as much as we do. And, as shown by this blog, we do not always agree. But, it doesn't mean we do not care.

As a relative newcommer to the anti-casino movement, I don't know the entire backstory. However, tying the shadow ballot to the mayoral election to the 527s just doesn't seem productive. The way I see it, alot of passionate people are trying to do what they think is right, most of us are on the same side, but sometimes we come to different conclusions. Right now, the most important thing is to unite where possible and set aside the differences. After the elections, everything is fair game.

Oh, and whether you like it or not, your name tends to be associated with the Nutter campaign, due to your strong endorsements all over the web....please keep that in mind when the rhetoric starts getting out of hand.

i also want to clarify that when i say i am a "consultant who worked on anne's race," it wasn't me being paid for it. no one on that race was paid.

i really cared about these issues, and i still do.

They are a tax on the poor and middle class.

They are a tax on women.

They contribute to increasing suicide rates and gambling addiction.

They rob local companies of business and new jobs.

And they pervert the political process.

And that's really the whole crux of the matter. For too long have Philadelphians been told: you can't do anything about guns. You can't do anything about a harmful & regressive tax system. And you certainly can't do anything about casinos. Its a done deal. You don't have a choice - in fact, these elections are just a sham.

Philadelphians have been treated with contempt and kept silent with fear.

But the stakes are too high. Homes and neighborhoods are at risk. And instead of caving into despair, neighbors did something different: they fought back. They took what was theirs all along. What's more, CFP and DRNA have grown in strength, in numbers, and in leadership. Perhaps not in 40 years has there been such a positive moment for democracy in Philadelphia. I'm awed to see it grow and flower.

As someone who fought to keep the casinos from coming at all, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what is going to happen this summer when all the appeals go before the surpreme court.

Looking at how the judiciary has ruled with regards to the Brady petition case, it is hard to see how elected judges are going to go up against both Governoer Ed Rendell and State Senator Vince Fumo (the two architects of the project), and kill casino projects all over the state that their friends have invested millions and millions of dollars in. In fact, it seems impossible. It would be political suicide for them...and most judges are scared already because of what happened to the judge (name escapes me) who lost his job at the ballot box in the pay raise scandal. Ed Rendell and Vince Fumo get judges elected, and help keep them in power. To rule against them on one of their most important pieces of legislation would take major cajones, and i dont know who has that...

...especially since Ed Rendell is basing his propoerty tax relief plan on the casinos. Who doesn't want property tax relief?

It's not a question of how bad or good the lawsuit is. It's a political question.
Ed Goppelt knows this - he actually withdrew his lawsuit because the judiciary is too biased. I mean, those guys (as of now) are going to let Fumo's lawyer be the same lawyer who would actually be a WITNESS in his own case.

I will be the first anti-casino activist, then, to say this: the casinos are coming.

They are.

We have to figure out how to deal with them.

Move them if we can.

Mitigate their effects.

Hide them, bury them...

We need to suck them dry for money. Build a blockade between them and Pennsport. Use them to pay for a major transit project along the Delaware that would alleviate the traffic. Paint Mural Arts all over them. Get them to pay for 150 new mini-schools like the School Reform Commission suggested. Create some sort of barriers so that Philadelphians lose less money from them.

Whatever.

Sometimes - in order to win a larger war - we have to admit to ourselves that we have lost a battle. And then you just keep fighting.

I think that since we are going to have casinos here, we need to get real, and derive social benefits from them. I am hoping that with a new mayor, we will be able to develop our economy over the long term; but in the short run, our city government could really use some cash.

and just want to add that 527's and Rove were not the only reasons that Dems lost the elections, and resorting to such tactics are certainly no guarantee of success. The main key are better candidates and better organization of a Democratic voting constituency - which means having a reformed and more responsive Democratic Party leadership that reaches out to disaffected and disillusioned voters.

If anything proves that such changes are a real possibility it is the type of work that CFP has been doing - which pressured the existing Democratic Party leadership in Philly to feel a bit less complacent about their responsibilities.

I think I was paying attention in 2004, but I missed that one. Did all those liberal reporters everyone talks about change their registration?

BTW, Anne, I agree with you on double standards. Which is why I find all the handwringing here about McGinty and DeBerardinis most amusing. If Republican state officials had been exposed in the same minor conflict of interest, folks on here would be calling for their heads.

Regarding casinos, this is a tougher fight than the salary grab repeal or the fight to get ethics legilsation passed in Council. The vast majority of voters were with the reformers on those issues. Our polls, and polls by others, show Philadelphians are split about 50-50 on casinos. Before you can convince elected officials, you have to convince the people.