Obviously this is an important race, but between planning a wedding (well, actually letting my fiance, mom, and future mother-in-law plan it, I’m just the guy that bought the ring), buying a house, and being ungodly busy at work, i haven’t followed it as close as i normally would.

I guess my question is, there is obviously an tremendous amount of enthusiasm for Seth Williams. What percentage of that enthusiasm is based on “Seth Williams is a great man and has the potential to be one of the best DA’s the city has ever had” and what percentage is based on “It’s time for Lynn to go and get some new blood in there”.

The reason i started this post with “let me ask a serious question” is because I’ve stated on this blog before that I would be considered a moderate Republican, so i don’t want that fact to make it appear like I’m asking this question to rain on any parade. Like I said, I’ve read as much as i can about the guy and I think he’s impressive as hell (plus, i always like to see ex-Penn Staters move up in the world, although Santorum went to Penn State so i guess not always).

Hell, if i hadn’t dropped the ball and forgot to change my registration, i probably would’ve changed to Democrat to vote for him. Like I said, i’m just asking a question.

The thing is, I really couldn’t have hoped for a better candidate than Seth Williams. This guy really is an exceptional politician, and like I said above, the kind of person who doesn’t show up in Philadelphia politics too often. Listening to his speech, and listening to his interaction with curious voters at some meet the candidate’s forum last month is what really got me to the point where I’m willing to sound like a campaign commercial on my site (not something I really care to do). The guy was as straight forward about his plan as you could ask a politician to be; describing in extraordinary detail how it would work, how it would help, and the problems it wasn’t designed to solve. The breadth of his knowledge with regards to the criminal justice system was downright stunning, and he was able to explain it in a forthright and compelling way.

At this point I would say that 90% of the energy you are seeing is what you described as “Seth Williams is a great man and has the potential to be one of the best DA’s the city has ever had”. Everybody who I’ve met who has interacted with him or heard one of his speeches, comes away excited about the guy and excited about getting him into office. I think if it were the other way around, you would be seeing quite a good deal more anti-Abraham stuff out there. I know I’m sitting on a pile of it that I would normally be chomping at the bit to use.

Anyway, is the wedding soon, or has it already happened? I got married a little over a year and a half ago and I still haven’t recovered from the ordeal. Not only did I have my now wife and mother-in-law going mad over every detail, but also a very aggressive, future sister- in-law who wanted final say over most everything (she also happens to be a lawyer). Good luck and best wishes.

I’ll get back to the main point in a second, but it really is amazing how people who aren’t actually the two getting married feel the need to butt in. Me and Kim have talked almost since we met about how we wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon, it starts in Vancouver and goes up the Canadian coast to Alaska, and AT LEAST ten different people, mostly her friends, can’t stop bitching about the fact that we’re not going to either Europe or some island. WHY DO THEY CARE, IT’S NOT THEIR F***ING HONEYMOON?!?

Getting back to the DA thing, one of the reasons I’m trying to follow this as closely as possible is because of something that happened a year or so ago. One of Kim’s friends claimed she was sexually assaulted and went to the police. Now, her friend is a bit of a drama queen, and a lot of this stuff was he said/she said type stuff, because the girl actually did ask the guy to come back to her house. What happened only those two will ever know, BUT this guy hired one of the best defense lawyers in the city, whereas the girl didn’t even talk to the ADA on the case face to face until THE MORNING OF THE PRELIMINARY HEARING!! She kept calling the office before that but didn’t get anywhere. Once in the preliminary hearing, the defense lawyer tore the girl apart and it was thrown out.

Now, like i said, i think there were some gray areas in the case of Kim’s friend, but sexual assault is obviously the worst thing a woman can ever have to go through. what happens in legitimate cases where there aren’t gray areas and a woman really is sexually assaulted?

Obviously, there are slam dunk cases with DNA and all that, but any DA’s office can win the slam dunks. A good DA’s office gets convictions where everything isn’t cut and dry and a guilty verdict isn’t right there for them on a silver platter. And i’m not saying this to blame the ADA’s. They’re overworked. The office needs reforming.

The primary draws near. May 17th is “D-Day” if you will for us Philadelphians. Seth Williams is running against Lynne Abraham for the position of District Attorney and he needs our help. If you have some extra cash to spare,