Cummings Artice in City Paper

Fast Track
The PPA gives one of its own a political head start.
by Jenna Portnoy

As candidates position themselves for a 2007 run at District Councilwoman Joan Krajewski's seat, the Republican-controlled Philadelphia Parking Authority recently gave a GOP-affiliated employee an edge over the field of possible contenders. PPA head of investigations Scott Cummings, who is vying for the 6th District, which includes Mayfair, Frankford and Holmesburg, has campaigned for House Speaker John Perzel, a Philadelphia Republican who orchestrated the state takeover of the PPA in 2001.

The Home Rule Charter bars municipal employees from running for higher office while on the payroll. No such rule exists for state officials, but the PPA had previously prohibited employees unless they took an unpaid leave of absence or resigned to avoid the perception that they were using public resources to campaign. That all changed Oct. 24, when its board of directors authorized its employees to seek office. Spokeswoman Linda Miller said the board "did not want to deter anyone from carrying out their civic responsibility."
Now Cummings is openly campaigning while possible Democratic contenders state Rep. Michael McGeehan, Finnegan's Wake co-owner Mike Driscoll and Marty Bednarek, a School Reform Commission member, mull a run.
The new policy of the PPA, a traditional bastion of patronage, could give an Authority employee an unfair advantage over a city employee. None of the potential candidates has made an issue of the change, probably because nothing, aside from the party bosses' OK, prevents them from declaring. McGeehan, who wouldn't have to give up his state seat to run, says he is focusing on winning re-election to the House this year. Driscoll ran an unsuccessful campaign for an at-large council seat in 2003 and if he opts to run for the district seat, opponents would likely bring up his connection to Kevin Rankin, a strip-club owner linked to indicted Councilman Rick Mariano.
Krajewski has enrolled in the city's early retirement incentive program, a sign the seven-term councilwoman will not run again. In the meantime, Cummings is working to ensure that political connections are not all he has going for himself in 2007.
Every Friday night, Cummings, a 44-year-old father of three and a former bodyguard for Donald Trump and Henry Kissinger, works the door at JAMZ roller skating rink when the Mayfair Civic Association (MCA) reserves the rink for residents. As president of the MCA, he made a name for himself turning around the former WOW Family Fun Center, which was previously blamed for youths terrorizing the area. "There were kids going through the neighborhood causing damage," Cummings says. "They weren't neighborhood kids."
He should know. Cummings' whole world exists within several miles of the rink. He hops in his white truck and drives to St. Matthew Elementary School for the varsity basketball game. Then it's on to the soon-to-be-opened John M. Perzel Community Center and finally a spin past row homes in search of "House NOT for Sale" signs he distributed to combat the number of sellers fetching high prices for their homes and bailing.
After graduating from Father Judge High School in 1979, Cummings went to Mansfield University, and thanks to his parents' reverse psychology—"That's OK, the neighbors didn't think you'd make it anyway"—earned a degree in criminal justice. He guarded Trump from 1989 to 1994.
In response to a rash of five murders stemming from domestic disputes in the Northeast, Cummings says he wants the large 15th police district split up or covered by surrounding districts. "It's hard to get a police car down here," he says. "They're busy under the El with shootings and stabbings."
Cummings is capitalizing on the chance the Republican establishment gave him to gain an early advantage in a city, but not a district, where Republicans are vastly outnumbered. Cummings, whose wife Vicki won the GOP nomination to challenge Krajewski before bowing out of the 2003 election, is planning a Super Bowl party fundraiser, but city GOP head Vito Canuso noted that bringing in the cash is not a priority. "A lot of the incumbents try to raise a lot of money to scare the other candidates away," he says. "A guy like Scott is doing it the other way. He's working hard."
Still, hard work may not be enough to succeed a "legend," says political consultant Larry Ceisler. "These things don't come up very often," he says. "You're going to have a lot of people interested in running. No one hands these seats to anyone on a silver platter."