City of Wilmington Mayoral Race Cattle Call — Spring 2010 Edition

Adam Taylor of the News Journal does the work of rounding up the declared and the rumored, so I can do this without appearing to betray any confidences.  This list fairly humorous, especially if looking a this field in its entirety.  But many kudos to Adam for doing this and for having this story picked up everywhere — I first heard it this AM on WHYY.  Al Mascitti has been talking about this this AM too.  But keep in mind — the City of Wilmington Mayor’s race doesn’t happen until 2012.

The City of Wilmington is a Blue City, by a huge margin — and Republicans elected to City government are elected as a result of an affirmative action program that requires one of the at-large seats go to the minority party.  So the current Republican in City Council — Mike Brown — was a long time Democrat who switched parties to take advantage of one of the few bits of affirmative action that Republicans will actually endorse.  So here’s the list:

Rep. Dennis P. Williams, State Representative

Rev. Derrick Johnson, pastor of Joshua Harvest Church

Steve Martelli, City Councilman

Kevin Kelley, City Councilman

Hanifa Shabazz, City Councilwoman

Norman Griffiths, City Council President

Charles “Bud” Freel, At-Large City Councilman

Bill Montgomery, Mayor Baker’s Chief of Staff

Ted Blunt, former City Council President

Senator Bob Marshall, State Senator

Paul Calistro, Director of West End House

Mike Brown, At-Large City Councilman

Tyler Nixon, Perpetual Candidate

Robert Bovell, Bailbondsman and Perpetual Candidate

John Rago, Mayor Baker’s Communications Director

I placed Rago and Bovell in the purple category — Rago is an Independent (according to Taylor’s article) and Bovell has run as both a Democrat and a Republican since I’ve lived in the City and it is not clear to me which party he is claiming now. Right now, I would think that Williams has done alot of the work — he has been fundraising like crazy and has worked at being everyplace — but I would not say that there is anyone here who is yet a prohibitive favorite. This field is huge, and you can expect that there are alot of folks here doing positioning for other stuff (including a stronger voice in City Council). Some of these names are head-scratchers — how do Rago and Montgomery disown the Baker baggage? And Ted Blunt has been known to have some serious health issues (which may be cured now) and I don’t think that anyone sees Bob Marshall in the City anymore. Hanifa Shabazz is punching WAY above her weight class here, and Norm Griffiths has been a weak City Council President — which is why I think so many hats are possibly in the ring.

The thing that I think is really true about the City right now is that it is really ripe for the kind of leadership that has won and been working at transforming government in Newark, NJ or Philadelphia. We need a Cory Booker — someone who will be hugely invested in making the city work and in improving the quality of life. But someone who will dismantle the worst of the dem machine politics to get the flexibility to get those changes. I don’t see any real potential game changers on this list, except for possibly Paul Calistro.

So city residents — what do you think?  Who do you think are good candidates?  As we update this in the coming years, I’ll update the rankings better, but right now, I don’t see alot of great strengths in this field.