Sam Katz (Philadelphia)
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- For the mayor of Winnipeg, see Sam Katz.
Sam Katz (born December 28, 1949) is a three-time mayoral candidate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is Jewish and a Republican. Katz began in politics as a Democrat, having worked on Wilson Goode's 1983 campaign for mayor. He switched parties in 1990. [1]
A 1967 graduate of Central High School in Philadelphia, Katz earned a BA in political science from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in urban affairs and policy analysis from The New School for Social Research. He worked for the Greater Philadelphia Partnership as a Research Analyst before co-foundingPublic Financial Management, Inc., which advises local and state governments on raising capital. After leaving PFM, he worked in a number of business ventures. Between the 1999 and 2003 campaigns for mayor, he was the CEO of Greater Philadelphia First, now the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
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[edit] Political career
Katz made his first run for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1991. He ran third in the Republican primary election behind legendary former-Mayor Frank Rizzo and Ron Castille. After the primary, Rizzo died of a heart attack and Joe Egan was selected by the Republican Party to run in his place.
In 1994, Katz made a run at Governor of Pennsylvania. Again, he would finish third in the five-way Republican primary with scant support outside of Philadelphia. Tom Ridge went on win the general election.
[edit] 1999
1999 was the year in which Katz finally broke out of the Republican primary. He was selected as the candidate to run for mayor against city council president John F. Street. Street emerged battered from a divisive Democratic primary thanks to an endorsement from popular outgoing-mayor Ed Rendell and strong support in African-American wards in the city. Katz, running as a liberal to moderate Republican, ran on a platform of cutting the high wage taxes in the city and bringing back businesses which had fled. Street ran citing his support of the Rendell administration's policies which many had felt rescued the city from a financial crisis. With a 75% voter registration advantage for the Democratic Party, Katz had his work cut out for him.
The race turned out to be racially divisive with Street holding over 90% support of the African-American majority wards and Katz boasting support from over 90% of the white-majority wards. Although both of the city's major daily newspapers, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News endorsed Katz's candidacy, in the end, Street held on to a slight 9,400-vote majority on election day. [2]
[edit] 2003
After his close 1999 defeat, Katz was ready for a 2003 rematch with Street. Despite a good local economy and some success in bringing development to the city, the mayor was unpopular in many circles due to several corruption scandals which had come to light during the mayor's term. None of the scandals were attributed to the mayor personally, but investigations of many in his inner circle (including his brother Milton) were a cause for concern for many residents. Katz's 2003 platform went back to the issue of wage and business tax cuts, but also included an anti-corruption platform to take advantage of the atmosphere in the city.
With Katz running strong, the entire election changed in October, 2003 when a sweep of the mayor's office turned up a listening device. The FBI admitted that they had planted the device, although the mayor, himself, was not a target of the probe. At first, it seemed that the discovery could seriously hurt Street's re-election bid. However, Street deftly turned the issue around on his opponent. The campaign attacked the FBI for targeting a black mayor in the middle of the campaign. Street was able to use the issue to tie Katz to President Bush, who was unpopular in the city.
The moved worked bringing liberal white voters back into the Democratic camp. By election day, Street had opened up an insurmountable lead and won 58% of the vote.[3]
[edit] Post-Political Career
While it is impossible to rule Katz out of politics in the future, he decided to pass on the 2007 mayoral contest. Katz is focusing on business ventures at this time. He has formed an investment partnership to invest in China and regular consults firms on doing business there.
