Tag: Thesis

Philadelphia Republican Party: a new home for my senior thesis

Back in July 2008, I finally got around to updating a WordPress.com I had been using to track the work I was doing on my undergraduate honors thesis researching the future of the beleaguered Philadelphia Republican Party.

Two and a half years later, in looking to get a jump start on a 2011 resolution of ordering my online presence, I have abandoned the WordPress.com and brought that blog, its research and my final research paper to a subdomain here.

THESIS.christopherwink.com

I won’t be updating it. Rather, I just wanted a more stable, professional and suitable location to some dated work of which I am still proud and, believe it or not, I still get emails from people closer to what I covered than I certainly am.

Give it a look (perhaps most specifically the research paper from May 2008) and let me know what you think.

My Honors Thesis Web site: The Philadelphia Republican Party

Updated: My thesis has now moved to a subdomain here, as explained here.

CHECK OUT A (SEMI) COMPLETED WEB SITE I made for my year-long thesis project that I only finished now, having spent a couple months as a college graduate.

I graduated from Temple in May, with honors I might add, because of that thesis project on which I worked. Despite being a couple months removed from college, I only recently finished the final revisions offered to me by my paper’s adviser, the eminent Dr. Joseph McLaughlin.

Back in April, I announced I had the site running, but now have the final paper available. I hope to add some more features and supplemental info, but for now, it is a nice collection of the research and work I’ve done.

[www.phillypolitics.wordpress.com]

Graduation: closing out my thesis

Here just outside of the Liacouras Center, I stand with Assistant Dean Joseph McLaughlin, who has presided as adviser over this thesis project since last spring.

Today I graduated from Temple University and, unsurprisingly, he was there to congratulate me.

I turned in my thesis for a grade two weeks ago. Still, though I’ve graduated, I will be taking on his revisions before I place the paper here and wipe my hands clean of the project – for now.

Bill Green: three generations profiled by Philadelphia magazine

This month, Philadelphia magazine has a great long-form piece on three generations of Philadelphia political leaders named Bill Green.

AT AN EVENING meet-the-candidates session for State Senate, Bill Green proves he is his father’s son. The first-term City Councilman has come to the Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square for a function thrown by the Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club, and is using the opportunity to pepper one of State Senator Vince Fumo’s aides with questions. “Is Senator Fumo committed to serving four years?” he asks, standing in the crowd.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Fumo’s aide, Ed Hanlon, replies.

“What about the indictment?” Green shoots back.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing to talk about,” responds Hanlon. “We want to talk about the issues.”

Just hours from now, Fumo will withdraw from the race to focus on the 139-count federal indictment he faces. This entire conversation will be rendered moot. What’s memorable about it is the way Bill Green stands up in an open forum and tries to commandeer the floor, the way he turns a pizza-and-beer political event into his own personal grandstand. “Is Senator Fumo committed to serving four years?” he asks again. The crowd seems a little uncomfortable. MORE

There are also mentions to Dave Glancey and other people I’ve interviewed.

How the Republican Party chooses a candidate to support in Philadelphia

Michael Meehan is a powerful guy in the city’s Republican Party – for whatever that means. But it occurred to me that that isn’t always explained why.

One doesn’t need Meehan’s permission to run, of course. But this state’s elections, like those in much of the country, expect it. The blessing of the Republican committee comes with the promise of making the ballot and much less competition than in the Democratic Party. In the small pond of the Republican Party, Meehan holds influence to divvy available jobs, which keeps some Philadelphians registered with the party. Thus, in deciding that the party will support a particular candidate, ward leaders and committeemen rarely deviate from Meehan’s choices.

One can briefly encapsulate the selection process thusly: the Republican Party selection committee – which Michael Meehan leads – chooses a candidate and the party’s 67 ward leaders ratify that decision. Meehan’s control over the committee and effective sway over most ward leaders makes him as powerful as an unelected Republican can be in this city.

Photo courtesy of History Cooperative.org.

Registered Republicans in Philadelphia compared to region

When I interviewed Michael Meehan, he mentioned that the latest total he saw put registered Republicans in Philadelphia at more than 147,000. He called that the largest county-wide total in the Commonwealth. Methinks he misspoke, easy to do because, I wouldn’t be surprised, for centuries that was true of Philadelphia.

But the past month there was a flurry of research into regional registrations after it was reported Montgomery County went Democratic, and because it is the state’s most populous, turns out that while Philadelphia’s GOP isn’t the state’s largest, it is among them, and those that beat it are all neighbors.

Using totals collecting by the Committee of Seventy (Seventy-PDF), Philadelphia has 145,439 registered Republicans and 799,381 Democrats.

Bucks County – 181,696 registered Republicans and 185,381 Democrats

Chester County – 147,010 registered Republicans and 113,278 Democrats

Delaware County – 188,834 registered Republicans and 156,608 Democrats

Montgomery County – 240,053 registered Republicans and 240,232 Democrats

Carton courtesy of Christine Berry.

Fumo candidate beats out Johnny Doc, affecting the Republican

Clearly, I overestimated the influence of Johnny Dougherty and underestimated Vince Fumo-backed Larry Farnese.

In yesterday’s primary, not only did Hillary squeak with a victory, but Farnese beat Dougherty in what, I can admit, was a surprise to me and it seems others, too.

Fumo showed the love he has for Dougherty, as suggested by the story by the Daily News:

Fumo and City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who have feuded with Dougherty for years, led a small crowd of supporters chanting, “Doc is dead, Doc is dead,” at Farnese’s victory celebration at the Paradiso restaurant on Passyunk Avenue.

Dougherty “finally put himself on the line against someone who nobody knew and he got his ass kicked,” Fumo told a reporter. “What else can you ask for?”

Continue reading Fumo candidate beats out Johnny Doc, affecting the Republican

The unveiling of my Philadelphia Republican Party honors thesis Web site

I have been busy.

Because I didn’t have the grades to get into the honors school initially, in order to graduate with honors on May 22 – my day of commencement from Temple University – I have to complete an undergraduate thesis project.

I have been steadily working on my paper, due the first week of May, but, in addition to a public presentation and defense of my initial findings at a research forum held two weeks ago, I have nearly put all the final touches on the framework of a blog that chronicles my year-long research on Philadelphia’s Republican Party, the focus of my thesis.

Finally, a home for all of you dying to learn everything there was to know about partisan politics in Philadelphia.

The paper will eventually go up there too, all of my research and notes, as a means for giving the project a permanent, more visible home. For now, I am happy to have a place to organize all of my work, interviews and research.

Give it a look. I’ll keep you posted on its progress.

Ed Rendell + Barack Obama = Hillary Clinton

Sen. Barack Obama embraces Philadelphia City Councilman Bob Brady and is applauded by Gov. Ed Rendell before speaking during a Democratic Unity Rally at Temple University's McGonigle Hall October 21, 2006 in Philadelphia. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Tomorrow Pennsylvania may decide whether the Democratic candidate for President will be Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or former Philadelphia mayor and current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s choice, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Rendell has said he’ll support whoever the Democratic candidate is, but it is interesting to see how Rendell has supported Clinton, whose husband was a staunch ally of his during his mayoralty from 1992 to nearly 2000. This a Salon article from earlier this month:

Continue reading Ed Rendell + Barack Obama = Hillary Clinton

Pennsylvania: a review of racial politics displayed in Rendell and Swann battle of 2006

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For those most interested in the seeming hesitance for black voters, particularly, to resist voting for the Republican Party, one of the most interesting thoughts is if a black candidate outside the Democratic Party ran. I was asked one question after my TURF presentation and defense of this thesis project and that was just it.

Do you think a black Republican candidate could sway black voters towards the GOP?

“No,” I said.

I have written on the dilemma of black hesitance to go Republican here before. It is a lot trickier than we often think.

Philadelphia has never seen a black candidate run for a citywide office without the “D” after his name, so I answered the question using the most recent, most local example.

Continue reading Pennsylvania: a review of racial politics displayed in Rendell and Swann battle of 2006