Boy scout vote fired up a Kelly foe

Boy Scout vote fired up a Kelly foe

By Jeff Shields, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 20, 2007

Paul Corbett doesn't have anything personal against City Councilman Jack Kelly. He just wants Kelly out of office for trying to evict the local Boy Scouts from their city-owned headquarters because of the national organization's anti-gay policy.

In September, the 78-year-old Corbett, a Republican like Kelly, sent a warning letter: Unless Kelly reversed his position on kicking the scouts out of their city-owned building on Logan Square, he would target him with 20,000 fliers that he said highlighted Kelly's support of "the homosexual agenda which would promote sodomy to our youth."

Kelly didn't bite. Corbett did. On weekends leading up to the Nov. 6 election, Corbett and his ad-hoc committee, Citizens Opposed to Politicians Who Pander to Perverts, leafletted cars outside churches in the Northeast.

The "Voter Alert," printed on yellow index cards, read: "Councilman Jack Kelly voted with the homosexual lobby to remove the Boy Scouts from their city rent-free headquarters. The Scouts can remain only if they agree with the homosexual agenda which would promote sodomy to our youth."

Two weeks after the election, the votes were still being counted between Kelly and his closest competitor, David Oh, although Kelly was expected to be announced as the

official winner. His margin as of yesterday was about 140 votes out of more than 125,000 cast.

"We kind of figure he would have won overwhelmingly if we hadn't done what we did," Corbett said.

Corbett said his ad hoc group is made up of individuals who gave their own cash for the fliers. He said he saw no need to register it as a political committee, though officials said any committee putting out such campaign literature is required to by law.

"This is a religious and moral issue, and if someone wants to take me to court on it, go ahead," Corbett said.

Kelly said he regarded Corbett as a "distraction" during the campaign, the fliers as "garbage" that no one took seriously. He had not reported Corbett, but may now, he said.

"I don't think anyone should have to put up with this kind of activity or slander against them," Kelly said.

Kelly voted on May 31 with 15 other council members (Brian O'Neill voted against) to break the Boy Scouts' $1 annual lease, based on a legal opinion that the city could not rent to a group that excludes gays.

The city last month upped the Scouts' rent to $199,999 annually as a "fair market" price. Kelly offered a resolution that would compensate the Boy Scouts for improvements to the building, but withdrew it so as not to complicate ongoing negotiations.

Corbett's fliers have gotten Republican ward leader Phil Kerwick in a bit of hot water as well. The leader of the 35th Ward in the Lower Northeast, Kerwick, too, was an at-large candidate for Council, and GOP officials suspect he might have been behind fliers as well.

Kerwick and Corbett denied that. But the Republican City Committee wasn't so sure. To avoid the appearance that party funds were being used for the fliers, Republican City Committee Chairman Michael Meehan redirected Election Day payment for poll workers in Kerwick's ward - which would normally go to Kerwick - to the ward chair.

"The only candidate this year who ran on the issue of the Boy Scouts' leasehold was Phil," Meehan said.

Meehan knew about the fliers because he received one on his car at St. Christopher Roman Catholic Church on Proctor Road in the Far Northeast. Kelly got one, too.

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