For those who have never heard of the First Baptist Church, this is
what it looks like looking from the west side of 17th St. It's quite a gorgeous church from the
outside. I've passed by it many times, but this was my first time inside the great church.
This is a view of the inside of the church from the second deck, I
forget what this is called in church-speak. I realized while walkind around this gorgeous piece or architecture that it was my first time inside a church since moving to Philly over a year and a half ago. Peep that bajillion pipe organ. I have no idea if it is still functional.
But I wasn't there for a tour, I was there to take photos of the Neighborhood Networks -
African American Coalition Candidate Forum with Chuck Pennacchio [the guy I'm volunteering for] and Alan Sandals. Liz already posted on the Pennacchio Blog, but here's my round up of the happenings of Saturday's forum. It was a good turnout. I'd say between 100-150 people showed up on the gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Young and old, political veterans and newbies who were energized by this particular Senate race.
Organizers Ron Holt and Vivienne Crawford from the African American Coalition
flanking candidates Pennacchio [L] and Alan Sandals [R]. And that's an empty chair with a piece of paper with Bob Casey's name on it. What a dick Casey is.
[L to R] Marc Stier [NN], Vivienne Crawford [AAC/NN], Sandals, Pennacchio, Tracey Gordon [AAC], Gloria Gilman [NN].
Before the candidate forum began, Tracey Gordon of the African American Coalition gave a rousing speech on why the AAC was becoming involved in projects with NN. She's pictured here speaking of her group's action in clearing the Philly streets of the advertisement of 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' which showed 50 holding a gun in his left hand and a mic in the right. The group successfully got Clear Channel to take down the billboards depicting the violent message.
And pretty Liberal Republican candidate John Featherman was in the house too. He as
also at the League of Women Voters debate in Harrisburg last week. He was schmoozing with the crowd and stayed afterwards to talk to people as well.
The forum part was moderated by Ms. Crawford. It consisted of five questions which were given to the candidates all of about twenty minutes before the debate was to begin. She noted that neither candidate had any problems about this and that she was very pleased with that, no stuffy pre-meditated answers here. It was going to be off the cuff. The questions:
- What improvements to the quality of life in Philadelphia would you seek to make through Senate action?
- What do you think are the most pressing issues facing our nation today that the Senate should address?
- What policies would you seek Senate action to address the survival of life on our planet?
- Describe the role of the Senate in ensuring the balance of power in our government structure and what you would do about this issue at thsi time?
- Why should we elect you instead of other candidates?
Each candidate would have [I think] three minutes to respond. After the questions, the floor would be open to questions from the audience. I wanted to follow the answers more closely, but I was there to ake photos and didn't want to put down the camera to take notes.
Chuck Pennacchio brought his kids to the event, Ben and Sophie. I think
they're nine and seven. They were both interested in my camera gear. Pretty well behaved too if you ask me. They were unsupervised for the most part of the three or so hours there. Chuck spoke in his usual firey manner getting the crowd to yelp and clap some thunderous applause at some point during each of his responses to the questions.
Alan Sandals was his usual self as well, subdued and not so firey. Not to say that his responses weren't thoughtful, they were and he always has been when I've spoken with him, but just that he lacks that oomph needed to carry a crowd.
Here are Alan and Chuck sitting at the table in front of the massive organ pipes. Taken with the wide-angle 12-24mm Tokina.
I think the strongest point that Pennacchio made during the debate was that he already had a great grassroots network formed across the state consisting of 5000 volunteers. He's been working hard for the past year and a half forming this network of contacs throughout the state and that went over very well with this very grassroots oriented crowd. Sandals countered by stating that he already had television commercials on air and that going out to meet activists on the ground was an old-fashioned tactic. Me, I like meeting candidates and it has invigorated my political fire within. Meeting candidates on an almost weekly basis at the Center City chapter of Drinking Liberally [which Chuck and Alan have frequented] is quite an amazing experience. You can really corner a candidate and grill her/him about what they stand for. They can't escape and you're there one on one, pretty empowering.
After the candidates had their say they joined in a round of applause of the audience who had given up their Saturday to hear what their candidates had to say. After a few questions from the audience, the group broke for a yummy lunch downstairs where we sat by neighborhood and brainstormed a bit about the forum and beyond, but that's another post.
And a note on the photos: all taken by me and not for reproduction elsewhere without the express
consent of me. The first four shots and the one of the candidates in front of the pipes were taken
with my Tokina 12-24mm f/4 and all the others were taken with my Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8ED. Wanna
use them? Get at me.
