Al Taubenberger

Al Taubenberger
Member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 2016
Preceded by	Dennis M. O'Brien
Personal details
Born	(1953-08-18) August 18, 1953 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Joanne Brenner Taubenberger
Children	Matthew, Elisabeth, William and Sarah
Residence	Fox Chase, Philadelphia
Alma mater	Northeast High School Penn State University
Occupation	President, Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce [1]
Religion	Christian
Website	Al For Council

Alfred W. "Al" Taubenberger, is an American Republican Party politician and businessman who currently serves as a member of the Philadelphia City Council.

A resident of Northeast Philadelphia, Taubenberger was President of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, a private organization of over 900 members, from 1991-2015. ^[2] He worked as Councilman Jack Kelly’s chief-of-staff, was vice-chair of the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission,^[3] member of the Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission, administrator of the Philadelphia City Council Republican Caucus, and ran the district office of U.S. Rep. Charles F. Dougherty.^[2]

Tenure at Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce

When Al Taubenberger was chosen to head the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce he made it his responsibility to build a forum for growing business. Back in 1991 business wasn’t booming at the Chamber office – membership barely hit 200. At that time, growing Northeast Philadelphia business wasn’t the business of the Chamber of Commerce. Taubenberger changed that. For 23 years Al has been the energy behind the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GNPCC). His tenure has fostered business growth and collaboration, and positioned the GNPCC as a strong voice and forum for Northeast Philadelphia business. His focus has been: protecting business, personally testifying in front of Philadelphia City Council, personally introducing to Northeast Philadelphians governors and United States Senators as well as Philadelphia Mayors Ed Rendell, John F. Street and Michael Nutter.

Just one example of his many successes is the job creation that resulted from a meeting that Al scheduled between Pennsylvania Speaker of the House and Vincent Genovese of Agusta Westland. Agusta, a helicopter manufacturer with 50 employees in Northeast Philadelphia was contemplating a move to the Midwest or the South. But they needed help in order to stay here. After a helicopter ride and an afternoon well spent – 10 years later Agusta stayed in Philly and now has 600 employees adjacent to the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.^[4] That’s the kind of help Al Taubenberger continued to bring to the Philadelphia region for over 20 years.

His list of accomplishments is substantial. He grew the 200 Chamber members to more than double that. He confirmed key sponsors and supporters of the region’s growth to support events such as regular networking meetings such as business card exchanges and signature annual events like a Golf Outing, Accolades Awards Celebration, and the Business is Blooming Business Expo – an event that’s featured Mayor Nutter, Comcast’s David L. Cohen, 6ABC’s Matt O'Donnell, Bernie Parent, Ron Jaworski, and many more. The Chamber today has a regular newsletter, a reliable and regular schedule of events, numerous occasions to meet city leaders – Archipbishop Charles J. Chaput, Governor Tom Corbett, Mayor Michael Nutter. Al developed the meet the next PA Governor Series, which have grown to include numerous forums for business leaders to meet candidates for various offices – most recently for the 2015 Philadelphia Mayoral campaign. He brought the GNPCC Golf Outing back to Northeast Philadelphia. Al has cultivated GNPCC Directors ^[5] who are in touch with what area business owners need. They are accessible to members offering advice and support. The strength and diversity of the board reflect Al’s expertise in relationship building.

Political career

After graduating from Penn State University, his first job was grounds supervisor at Friends Hospital. He later held staff jobs for Republican Congressman Charles F. Dougherty in the early 1980s and later for two City Council members, Democrat Joan Krajewski and Republican Jack Kelly. In 1979, Al joined the district offices for Congressman Charles F. Dougherty. Within a year, Charlie had promoted Al to the Director of Constituent Relations where Taubenberger supervised 3 offices and 12 people. Following his time with Dougherty’s office, Al joined the Mid-Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center which was a program of the United States Department of Commerce. The program was designed to help American companies which were adversely affected by foreign import competition. Under Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, Al was the Administrator Secretary for City Council’s Economic Development Committee. In addition, Al served as the Business Liaison for Councilwoman Krajewski’s office.

Before his long tenure with the GNPCC (see below), Al was Councilman Jack Kelly’s chief-of-staff, but also had a dual title as the administrator of the Philadelphia City Council Republican Caucus.

In 2002 and 2004 Taubenberger ran for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. Both times, he was defeated in the primary election by Melissa Brown.

In 2007, Taubenberger ran for mayor of Philadelphia. Philadelphia Magazine did a feature on Al where they referred to him as "The ultimate good neighbor, the guy you want living on your street. He’ll roll your car window up when it rains, and he’ll watch your house when you go away. He’s a family guy." ^[6] The Philadelphia Inquirer on Election Day wrote "Even though he campaigned against a Democrat who was pronounced the "presumptive mayor" months ago, Republican Al Taubenberger did not give up until the end of the night. From morning into night, he crisscrossed the city, visiting polling places to press the flesh and ask people for their votes." ^[7] Taubenberger was defeated by the largest margin in Mayoral history - losing 82.52% to 17.07%.^[8] Mayor Nutter appointed Taubenberger to the newly formed bipartisan Philadelphia Jobs Commission.^[9]

In 2011, Taubenberger ran for an at-large seat on City Council. In the general election, Taubenberger finished narrowly behind David Oh losing by 203 votes for the final at-large City Council seat. Taubenberger earned 6,606 more votes than Oh in Northeast Philadelphia's 14 wards but Oh made up the deficit in North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia.^[10]

In 2012, Taubenberger ran for PA Representative and was defeated by a margin of 67.87% to 32.09% to the incumbent Kevin J. Boyle.^[8]

In 2015, Taubenberger ran for an at-large seat on City Council.^[11] The city council has seven at-large seats, two of which are designated for Republicans. He faced a field of five candidates, which included incumbents Dennis M. O'Brien and David Oh. Taubenberger received endorsements from politicians and organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 22, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.^[12] For his many years of service for the City of Philadelphia, Al had the Tauben-Burger, a limited specialty sandwich, to promote his candidacy at The Dining Car.^[13] With nearly 99 percent of the ballots counted, Oh and Taubenberger were declared the winners of the two seats.^[14]

Personal life

Taubenberger is a child of German parents who immigrated from Germany in the 1930s. Taubenberger was raised in Northeast Philadelphia in the Burholme neighborhood. He has been married twice and has 4 children. His children, Matthew, Elisabeth, and Sarah were conceived in his first marriage to his ex-wife Barbara Muller. He currently resides in the Fox Chase, Philadelphia neighborhood with his second wife Joanne Brenner Taubenberger and their son William where they are parishioners of Saint Cecilia Parish.^[15] Taubenberger is a cousin to world-renowned virologist Jeffery Taubenberger, of Washington, D.C., is Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and National Institutes of Health.^[16]

References

External links

• Campaign Website at the Wayback Machine (archived November 8, 2007)
• Campaign Commercial

Current Members of the Philadelphia City Council Squilla Johnson Blackwell Jones Clarke (President) Henon Quiñones-Sanchez Bass Parker O'Neill Brown Greenlee Oh Domb Green Gym Taubenberger