Today at 11:30, Seth Williams and Mike Untermeyer debate on Channel 6. These things are generally pre-taped, and this is no exception. So, rumors of what happened have already filtered out, and, apparently, we are going to be treated to some pretty disturbing statements by Untermeyer.

11:30 this morning, Channel 6.

(See the bottom of the post for update.)

Ah, the DA's race has really heated up. Today, I learned that Seth Williams is in the mob. If that is the case, I don't know who to feel sorry for, Seth, or the mob. (Ba-da-da-dum!)

For those who haven't seen it, the Inquirer today had a front page story on the DA's race today, written by George Anastasia, the Inquirer's noted mob reporter. Why would a mob reporter be writing about the DA's race you ask? Very much to his credit, Anatasia does not exactly bury the lede:

This is a story about politics and strange bedfellows, South Philly-style.

It revolves around a young lawyer, Gregory Quigley, snared in a Delaware County mob investigation.

And it's causing agita in the campaign of district attorney candidate Seth Williams, a bit player in the drama whose opponents are attempting to smear him and introduce the specter of organized crime, sotto voce, in the D.A.'s race by twisting facts like a soft pretzel.

And:

Those associations and the unanswered questions about the campaign contribution have piqued the interest of law-enforcement investigators. But sources say the focus is on Quigley and has nothing to do with the Williams campaign.

In other words, bu-bu-bu bullshit.

Here we have our falling apart city, with enormous problems, and with the potential to fundamentally reshape the criminal justice system, and this is what we are talking about? Some hack lawyer, who apparently uttered the line "Once they give you immunity, then you can commit perjury."

Now, which of Seth's opponents could be trying to push this out there? Hmmm. Who could ever guess?

I haven't talked much about the DA's race, and I have tried to stay away from personal stuff with the candidates, because it is kind of uncomfortable for me to do in my old age. But, here is the way I see the candidacy of Michael Turner, who seems to me to be the campaign most likely spreading these rumors. (Or, put it this way: at least one of them.)

First, Mr. Turner is, by all accounts a nice guy, on lots of boards, engaged in his community, his church and his neighborhood.

Second, despite that, I will never, ever, ever vote for Mr. Turner in this race. Why? Well, take a look at his professional profile, and the cases that his company considers worth bragging about. Mr. Turner's career appears to have been spent doing things like defending corporations against people who said asbestos gave them lung cancer or mesothelioma. (Actually, not just against those people, but against their estates, because, uh, they appear to oftentimes be dead.) In this race, for this office, at this moment in time, I will simply not be voting for the person who spends his time defending the powerful against laborers dying of lung cancer. Sorry.

Third, whether he is a nice guy or not, Turner appears to be running a nasty campaign, with his campaign manager uttering sweet rumors into the ears of the media, and anyone else who will listen. (To their credit, they don't really appear to be taking what he says at face value, as witnessed by this story in the Inq. and by the fact that have not simply put this up as a he said/she said thing.)
(See Below.)

So, no, I will not be voting for Mr. Turner. And I hope that at the Neighborhood Networks candidate forum tonight, someone asks him and everyone else whether they will cut the crap. The challenges we face are simply too great to be distracted by the bottom feeders.

These aren't the only rumors floating out there, either. In fact, others, likely spread by the Lynne Abraham wing of the party, are even more personally affronting. Their goal is to just throw anything out there, see if it sticks, get a quick story in the paper, and bring down the guy they really, really, really hate.

It is time to start calling it all out.

(Update: Below, Harry Cook denies this is coming from the Turner campaign, and suggests another campaign instead, which is entirely possible. I won't be voting for him, but Harry is right that there is no proof that it is his campaign doing it.)