by KYW's Steve Tawa
Most of the Philadelphia mayoral candidates -- except for Bob Brady -- attended a forum on Tuesday hosted by the Philadelphia Bar Association.
About 200 lawyers -- many of them subsets of the main Bar Association, representing young lawyers, African-American, Asian-American, and the Hispanic Bar Association -- ate their box lunches in the Wanamaker Building as the candidates were grilled.
Philadelphia Bar Association chancellor Jane Dalton says nearly 50 percent of the 13,000 lawyers in her organization live in the city:
"Virtually all of us work in or near the city. We have a tremendous stake in what happens here."
At first each candidate had two minutes. Then each had one minute to respond to questions that included the justice system, taxes, and pay-to-play politics.
Michael Nutter touted his experience in City Council; Tom Knox said he'd run city government like a business; Chaka Fattah spoke of transforming the city; Dwight Evans focused on violence.
The lone Republican, Al Taubenberger, got the biggest applause, blaming a roving Penndot crew for his tardiness.
Lawyer Joe Vignola, the former city controller, moderated the event:
"As lawyers we're trained to be leaders. To hear what the next leadership of Philadelphia is going to say is a worthwhile endeavor."
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