Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20150510

A hot pan of oil boom it went. We had a lot of responses, including a pretty hardedge one from mayor nutter. Heres what he had to say. Anyone who is not smart enough to at least ask him to stay is probably not smart enough to run this city. And this was beyond the mayor. We had seth williams, whos an ally of Tony Williams, who tweeted out support for chief ramsey. We had the black clergy come out and say, we like him just fine. Was this a smart or not smart thing for Tony Williams to have done . Well, i think he may have said it inartfully, but i think anyone who says theyre against stopandfrisk has to understand what commissioner ramseys position is on stopandfrisk. If he thinks its a fundamental part of public safety, then you as mayor and he have a fundamental difference, and he probably should not be your police commissioner. And i think that senator williams should have said it more artfully than he did. In the end, politically, the question is among black male voters in the city of philadelphia, stopandfrisk is one of the fundamental key issues. And i think what the senators doing is strengthening his position with that constituency by taking a more aggressive position on stopandfrisk and the commissioner and trying to tie the two of them together. At the same time, this is the commissioner whos standing next to president obama as the cochair of the task force, so its hard to say you know perhaps it was inartful the way he said it. Certainly, it was. And to have a situation where youve got obamas guy and then youve got the mayor jumping in, seth williams, all these other people, i dont think it advanced his campaign this week the way he did that. You know, theres an interesting eliteversusthepublic breakdown. You get the feeling as you read opinion columns, as you listen to some of the bites from politicians that theyre pulling back from Tony Williams and that could just be i dont know if youre gonna win, so now im couching things a certain way. Does that matter with people on the street in 10 days . Does it matter if opinion writers and the political elite say, were not so sure about Tony Williams . No, i dont think it matters at all. I think this is clearly a politically calculated motivation in a very tight race. I think george hits the nail on the head when he says its going after a certain demographic. Its a question of whether that demographic comes out to vote. You know, this is the debate were having all across the country right now, which is, you know, are africanamericans specifically you know, thats where we need law and order the most, in some of these neighborhoods, and how folks feel about things like stopandfrisk and whether those folks are coming out to vote for law and order or not. You know, ajay, tony also went up with an ad this week in which he brought up comments that jim kenney his biggest competitor made in the late 90s that seemed to be in support of hard line Police Tactics in certain neighborhoods. Kenney has come out and said listen, that was almost 20 years ago. Ive grown. Even people like rendell have said, i dont know why you would do that. Youre pulling from back then. Its not now. Was that a good ad . Was it a smart ad . Or sort of into the wind . I dont know if you people do evolve in their opinions, so, you know, id leave that to jim kenney and peoples interpretation of whether or not he has evolved politically. But theres a perspective. If youre, lets say in a lowincome neighborhood doesnt have to be africanamerican if youre in a lowincome neighborhood, historically, and especially if youre in an africanamerican neighborhood, historically there has been a chasm between the institutions that are meant to protect the Africanamerican Community and the Africanamerican Community itself. That institutional racism that has existed for years in our country, that hasnt flushed through yet. It will take another generation before that goes through. So the perspective of the elites, when they say this is just more of a commissioner ramsey versus policy discussion, they can say it from a perspective where theyre not in a phone booth where the bees are stinging them constantly. Imagine the perspective of a Small Community where youre in a police state where you feel as though youve been terrorized for years by the same institution thats supposed to protect you. Its from that perspective that theyre talking about whether or not stopandfrisk should be a policy. And if you have a commissioner that is an advocate of it, you know, that person has to go. Its not an attack on a popular commissioner as much as a policy. I think it was a legitimate he said it as an adult. He didnt say it when he was 17 or 20. He said it when he was in politics 15, 16, 17 years ago, and i think its a legitimate thing for somebody to say. He can also say, ive evolved. But most people werent saying you cant beat them over the head with a billy club. I cant use a flashlight. What am i gonna be using a feather duster . Thats, you know, the frank rizzo language of the 1970s. And i think its legitimate to bring it up. And i think he one, he didnt disavow it until it showed up on television. And two, all of the people who are being critical of the ad i think the ad, quite frankly, is a pretty powerful ad. All the people who are being critical of the ad have used negative campaigning. Whether theyve done it on television or in direct mail or some other form, all of them who get righteous when theyre not running have used it as part of the process, and this is a part of the process. And people wouldnt use negative advertising if it didnt work. Well, youve made ads. Youve run for office, so your perspective on this american cities, which is a super pac that supports senator williams position on charter schools. Stunning numbers 950,000 are expected to be spent on radio and tv in the last week of the campaign. It is going to be impossible to get in your car, turn on your tv without hearing an ad about Tony Williams. You guys have seen this in action. What does that mean for Tony Williams . I mean, what sort of difference is that gonna make for him . I think they should be spending more money in newspapers, too. [ laughter ] of course you do. Anyway, look, i think that Much Television may or may not be i dont know whether it really does have a tremendous impact 650,000 versus 900,000. I mean, thats a saturation buy. At the same time, you know jim kenney has certain unions who are gonna be supporting him and getting out that vote, so i think its fair game. I think its probably an overspend, and well see how efficient it is. I think that, though, in the end, you know, these elections are actually won on television. I mean, people get so much information. They really decide who they like and whose policies they like. And i think thats the effort, whether its an overbuy or not. I think thats people are gonna see a lot of television of Tony Williams and jim kenney over the next few days, and on election, thats close. Very quickly around the table, who do you think at this moment is going to be mayor well, the candidate for mayor, come a week from tuesday . I predict that the republican candidate will win the republican primary. [ laughter ] all right. Brian . I think it probably looks like its trending towards kenney, but i wouldnt be surprised if williams pulls it out. I think black voters consolidate around Tony Williams, and i think Tony Williams wins. I think we have a tale of two cities, and Tony Williams could be the connective tissue that binds the two cities. All right. Lets turn and take a look at city council. A lot going on there, as well. Interesting picture for maria quinonessanchez who has had interesting race in the 7th district and had 4 mayors come out in support of her against her democraticprimary challenger. Is this pretty much done, that shes walked away with this, and is she somebody to look at for the future . I think it was a very powerful statement when you get the diversity. But going back to bill green my gosh. I havent seen him in a long time out there in that situation, and i think it does say, you know, theres a certain Institutional Support that she has, and its basically an imprimatur going forward. I think from street to green there was a pretty interesting contrast in looks. What was the way street was dressed . George, help me out. Hes probably coming from a walk. But i think maria has i wont call it perfected but has learned how to win tough races and has learned how to be an independent member and a really constructive and smart voice on city council, and i think she is poised for a 2023 look at the mayors race. And also, shes earned it. I mean, shes one of the most wellrespected City Council Members in recent times. And thats a broad consensus. Lets talk about the domb effect on the race. Hes running for an atlarge seat, spent a lot of money putting in more than 250,000 of his own money, which has triggered something. That means the other candidates can now take in more donations. Does that help the incumbents, and was that kind of part of the plan all along, to help out these incumbents . Or thats just political hearsay . Look, i know alan domb. I dont think that was a calculation. It was just, you know, hes running a campaign. He has put his own money in it. Who the winners are from that calculus i dont think it was a calculated approach by alan domb. Lets talk about janet blackwell. Shes got an aide in her office who it turns out also has a role in an organization that was fundraising for her. That was no good. Found to also give out political donations. That was no good. And then questions raised about this group called the southwest Philadelphia District services that theyve gotten grants for work that they havent done and people alleging shakedown activity when it comes to zoning. The bigger question is, could this turn into an ethics issue for her . Looks like it already is an ethics issue for her. I, you know, marvel at these politicians who continue to get involved with these nonprofits and get in trouble. You think they would have learned their lesson. Folks have gone to jail already pretty powerful folks. Seems to be another case of that. I dont want to prejudge it but clearly already some ethical issues have been raised. It seems so oldschool, too and so like what were trying to get away from in the city of philadelphia, and sanchez representing, frankly, Something Different and hopeful and optimistic in the future. But the zoning issue takes place in a lot of places all over the city, not just in this area. I think its unfortunate because councilwoman blackwell doesnt need a lot of money. Shes running unopposed. And so this isnt really about generating money. I think its a little bit of carelessness, and i think the ethics board will grapple with that. I dont think there will be any legal issues that come out of it, but i do think therell be possibly ethical issues. Something came up this week that a lot of people were like really . A parking app could be out there where you could pay your meter you know, they could raise the rates, but you could stay in the movies, you could stay at dinner, pay your meter, and not walk out to the ticket. A lot of people like it. The ppa likes it. But city hall said, no. We make almost 2 million in parking fees. It just you do ads. You do public relations. Does this seem like a bad idea to say to the public, no, we want your parkingticket money . Yeah, it is. And theres a little bit of backtracking that comes after that and we didnt quite mean it this way, et cetera, et cetera. Although i can tell you you have Parking Spaces on the street and its not overnight, park there for 24 hours. Theres a reason that merchants want you to kind of move your car. But to admit that, basically we like the fines, and anything that makes it easy for people to avoid fines, we dont want. Its bad public relations. I would have presented it differently. 42 of our population doesnt have access to smartphones or broadband. So imagine playing a game of Musical Chairs and 42 are deaf. So when the music stops, the others get a seat while the 42 are driving around looking for a parking spot. So i would frame it as a well, first of all, we should advance and become digital, but at the same time, pull in the 42 that are left behind. I think thats the bigger issue. I like that. As a suburban republican, i marvel at the way the city of philadelphia gets in the way of itself. This is a great idea. I talked to Vince Fenerty about it yesterday. Other cities are doing it. We want to get people into the city to come to dinner and shows and shop and the rest, and this seems like a great way to do it. I just marvel at the way we get in the way of ourselves. 100 agree that we should do it. By the way, 30 of the traffic that you see are people looking for a parking spot. Yeah. Mmhmm. If you drive less than 10,000 miles per year, its cheaper to do uber. This entire driving cars will be disrupted in a few years, so if thats what youre hoping for to maintain a School District and others, its gonna go away very soon. Quickly, lets talk about something that blew up on sports radio and just around the water cooler. This was lesean mccoy in an interview with espn magazine talking about chip kelly, saying theres something more to the moves hes made. And this was one of the quotes theres a reason he got rid of the star black players, the good ones, like that. Now, were talking about a league thats almost 70 black. Mccoys position now will be filled by another black player demarco murray. We see Nelson Agholor in his eagles green. What was shady thinking . Like, does he have a point though . Or was this just i think he has a legitimate point. I think that and im an eagles fan, and i dont know chip kelly, but when you look at a team that has the lowest diversity in the league among its players, among its owners, among its staff, and within the organization who has shipped out jackson, whos shipped out mccoy, whos shipped out trent cole and pay a midlevel talent at best who was a Destructive Force in the locker room a longterm contract in riley cooper, its a problem. And its certainly a problem to the black community. Now, youve played football. Why would this make any sense, though, for chip . I mean, his whole goal is to win a super bowl. You know, why would he be out there trying to get rid of star players . I cant answer that question except to say that he has gotten rid of three really exceptional talents, and what hes gotten in return for them i mean traded, not just let walk away. Traded and what hes gotten in return for them is not demarco murray. He didnt that in a trade. He signed him as a free agent. You know, part of it is the chemistry of a locker room, and if you wanted to say why lesean mccoy was traded, its cause i think hes kind of poison in the locker room. Riley cooper wasnt poison in the locker room . That is an interesting point. If thats your feeling, dont you have to get rid of thats a bigger poison in that locker room. You know, he you know, i heard another quote, something to the effect of, you know, he wants to run the whole show. Yeah, hes and hell have to, at some point a year, two, three years from now, how you doing coach . But, ajay, youre really good at saying, this is how it should have been done. If you were gonna do this, shouldnt you have gotten rid of riley . Like, it does stick out that hes still there. I think the riley cooper incident does stick out like a sore thumb, but after riley coopers racial outburst the locker room came together and there was some forgiveness and redemption in terms of riley cooper. So if we dismiss it from that standpoint, for me, from my perspective, chip kelly i dont think has racist tendencies as much as he wants a team that has a certain mindset. And he goes after not people like Terrell Owens and others but people who can conform to a program, similar to bill belichick. It would be tough to judge whether or not there was any racist tendency other than speculation. All right. Well, we got to take a break. I would love to keep talking about this. Well take a break and come back to more inside story. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. As teachers, were on the front lines fighting to give every child the education they deserve. Every child in every kind of school. Jim kenney is the one we trust to be a mayor for all our kids. Jim kenney. Hes committed to providing prek in philadelphia and hell work with communities and parents to turn around poorperforming schools. I trust jim kenney. Jim kenney. Jim kenney. Jim kenney. Hell be a mayor for all of philadelphia. Im the parent of a victim of sex trafficking. People need to know that even good kids from good neighborhoods are still vulnerable to this tricked environment where theyre being taken off the street and put into bondage. Welcome back to inside story. Im tamala edwards. We wanted to talk a minute about pat toomey, who is going to be up for reelection, the democrats looking to field somebody against him. He did Something Interesting this week. He went to the senate floor u. S. Senate for 15 minutes in defense of Police Officers. Now, this is a guy coming from a state with pittsburgh and philadelphia, very large urban populations that right now want to hear that people get it, that sometimes the police, in their opinion, do not treat them fairly. Why did senator toomey do this and was it smart . Youre our republican voice, val. Lets start with you. Yeah, i spoke to senator toomey about this yesterday, and i asked him, how do you think this will affect you in the election . And he said, val, i didnt give the speech with regard to that. He said, i did what i thought was right. No one seems to be sticking up for law and order, and people in philadelphia and pittsburgh need law and order. Now, if you listened to the speech, and i did, its interwoven with when police are bad actors, we need to make sure that we investigate that and go after that and change the culture if we have to. But someone, he said, needs to stick up for Law Enforcement in this country and law and order, or else you gradually descend into lawlessness. And i think thats his concern. And Police Officers need a voice out there, and he wants to be that voice as much as he wants to be a voice for those who are being, you know, abused, as well, by police. I think its unfortunate that our politics in this country and no disrespect, val but our politics in this country have devolved down to taking to the floor of the United States congress, whether its the house of representatives or the senate, to do that 15 minutes thats gonna show up in a campaign ad somewhere. Whether he did it with that intent, i guarantee you itll show up somewhere in a campaign ad in the next year, and thats just unfortunate. We dont send people to the United States senate to spend 15 minutes on the floor of the senate talking about policing and someone who doesnt have an expertise in it. I mean, if he were an expert then that would maybe give him some credibility. But i was disappointed in some of things that he had to say cause i listened to his speech also. You wouldnt have voted for him anyway, so he knows that. And thats exactly right. But whats wrong with sticking up for law and order when theyre under attack . I mean not just under attack verbally, but physically on the street being shot, being assaulted. Its nice that someone its not in his Job Description. Well, i well, is it in the president s Job Description . He made similar comments. I also think sometimes people like that get up and say that cause they really do feel what he was saying. And i dont think i think it was a nuance thing, what he said. And it was a point that and i think that where he thinks probably, also if you want to be pragmatic, where he thinks hes gonna get his vote isnt coming from george. He gave up on that. One way to restore trust with the institutions, especially the Police Department and those on the front line and the Africanamerican Community, is not to throw fuel on the fire. I think what senator toomey was doing was reminding everybody that you cant take a few bad apples and paint with a broad brush the entire police force or Law Enforcement. I think from that standpoint, it was a gentle and, i think, an appropriate reminder for all of us that there people that put their lives in danger every day to protect us. Those are the people that are going on the front line. Lets talk about the place that is at the center of a lot of this debate right now, and that is baltimore, where we saw the states attorney for the city come out and, within 24 hours of getting the police report, come out with charges. In one case, 2nddegree depravedheart murder charge, as well as manslaughter, assault, misconduct, and false imprisonment. A lot of this we got three lawyers here. The biggest question is four, actually. Okay. Well, the thing is, she can make the charges, but at the end of the day, you got to close the case. Did she overreach . Was she wise to come out with charges and come out with them so quickly . Justice is slow in america, unlike other countries, and thats intentional. There is a process due process. There is an investigation that has to be done. My fear is and i dont know whether or not it was too early to use justice, at least the indictment, as a way to do crowd control or at least appease a crowd, as opposed to really let the process vet out. We probably might have seen a little bit of an overreach in the initial aspects of jumping too quickly, but at the end, i think there may be enough evidence out there. She may have reached the right conclusion a little too quickly. I think it undermines though, her credibility something that quickly without a grand jury, without some of the other pieces. I think she would have more credibility in what shes charging them with if it took a couple more weeks, if there was more of a process there. It sounds like, as Alan Dershowitz said, this is using arrest as a crowdcontrol tool. You know, george and val, its interesting. We already saw one of the lawyers for one of the Police Officers trying to pick apart the case in argument over the knife. Was it a legal knife . Was it an illegal knife . There are two competing investigation reports. It seems like theres a lot of area out there where theyre just gonna try to nitpick little pieces. Mmhmm. I think she was in a really difficult position. And could she have waited longer . Yes, she could have. But she had resolved what she was going to do, and waiting longer wasnt going to change her mind. And i think, you know, overcharging is routine in the prosecutorial world. I mean, it gives people the ability to negotiate pleas and do other things. And she was in a difficult she was in a difficult environment. Nobody can question that. I think she asked for peace and said, im gonna give you justice. And i think she moved quickly, and i think the facts themselves will bear itself out. Everybody posted bond. Everybodys out. No harm, no foul. We move forward and the process will play itself out. The most troubling component of it is the charges for unlawful arrest or unlawful imprisonment i forget what the actual charge was because the argument is you didnt have probable cause to arrest. So now police can be subject to prosecution because they may or may not have had probable cause. Now, volumes have been written on probable cause and the alleyways and the pitfalls and trying to make that determination. Our, you know, Supreme Court justices have written about it. And to put a police on the line, on the street that day, and ask him to make that snap decision if he makes it wrong, he could go to jail has a tremendous Chilling Effect on Law Enforcement. If i were in baltimore, if i were a police officer, id be looking for another job. The one thing there needs to be on Police Officers in america is a Chilling Effect. There are at least 10 black men who are dead today that almost everybody uniformly believes shouldnt be dead if there were proper policing. Nobody said theyre gonna go to jail or gonna be but everybody believes uniformly there are at least 10 black men who are dead who shouldnt be dead at the hands of Police Officers. All right, this debate will go on. Well take a short break and come back to our insiders inside story. We work weekends here. Because it works for our patients. Here, at Cancer Treatment centers of america in philadelphia, we give our patients the freedom to make appointments that fit their schedules, even on weekends. Because we believe in being here when our patients need us, so they can keep living their busy lives. Weekend appointments are now available here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com eastern. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Time now for our inside stories of the week. George, you. The National Democratic party spends 3 of its money with black businesses. Democratic National Convention under kevin washos leadership have to do a better job. My inside story garland, texas. One of the craziest parts of this is talking about hate speech. In america, whether you like it or not, people can put a crucifix in urine, put dung on mary, march nazis down skokie, and you can say whatever you want and draw whatever you want. Tamala, june 11th, the official launch of the germination project. Go to germinationproject. Com. Buy a ticket. Val. Senate republicans are poised to take up pension reform next week, and the harrisburg patriotnews published 995 state employees who retired who make over 100,000 a year from their pension, including one state rep who makes 477,000 a year. Thats the job i should have had. All right, happy mothers day out there. My moms here. I love you, mom. Have a good week. Im in nydia han along with eva pilgrim. A man was shot in philadelphias Port Richmond section. The search for the gunman is on. Fire drives a family from their home in bucks county. Things could have been worse if it was not for smoke detecters. Were in for a hot mothers day, but a cool down is on the way. Thats next on action news. Good afternoon, it is sunday may 10th, happy mothers day im nydia han along with eva pilgrim. Heres some of the stories were following on action news, three teenagers are hurt in shootings on south street