The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that billionaire Jeff Yass is behind a new super-PAC that is attacking progressive candidate Helen Gym in the closing days of the mayoral campaign.
ProPublica wrote about Jeff Yass and so did I.
Jeff Yass is a major funder of charter schools. Although he attended New York City public schools, he hates public schools and supports privatization. He is a MAGA Republican. He opposes abortion. He is a major funder for MAGA Republicans and grievances. The anti-public school lobby called the Center for Education Reform administers the annual Yass Award to charter schools (public schools need not apply).
I hope the Democrats who vote in Philly know who is behind the anti-Gym ads.
Vote for Helen Gym for Mayor of Philadelphia!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
To reveal what’s going on and get the word out depends more on boots-on-the-ground going door to door, then relying on the media reporting it in a way that almost everyone would learn who is behind the attacks on Helen Gym.
What AOC did in New York to win her first term in Congress.
In the absence of beaucoup advertising dollars, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells are the best strategy, as Lloyd points out. That is how Georgia ended up with two senators that are Democrats, and it is also the way that AOC won her first term. Billionaires must consider Gym at threat, or they wouldn’t be trying to smear her.
No More Yass Men! Helen Gym – Philly’s Mayor
Campaign bumper sticker/sign suggestion.
Or:
Helen Gym: Philly’s Mayor. Not a Yass Man.
I don’t follow Philly politics very much, but I would imagine crime is a very big issue for Philly voters. What’s Gym’s approach to getting violent crime under control?
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/myths-and-realities-understanding-recent-trends-violent-crime
Doesn’t really apply to Philadelphia or respond to my question.
Why don’t you look at her website?
Just did. Surprisingly, it has nothing to say about public safety.
https://helengym.com
Sorry, Diane. I just clicked the website and she literally addresses public safety on the first page, beginning in the fourth paragraph. And it builds on the first three paragraphs. This is basic reading comprehension, it’s not complicated. It is odd how the narrative of reactionaries and their water carriers claims the sky is falling in terms of crime, when it is not. They will cite crime statistics since the beginning of the pandemic and question anything that proves their narratives wrong, but avoid long-term statistics that demonstrate crime has gone down significantly in the past 40 years.
And at the same time, the odds of losing the lottery to be one of the select few to be involved in a mass or other type of shooting is higher than it’s ever been. Odd how the Chicken Littles yelling VIOLENT CRIME! don’t see the connection to guns. If you look at the crime stats to which Duane gave us a link above, you’ll see a reduction in most crimes that don’t generally involve guns and and increases in those that do.
Greg Brozeit, good to hear from you.
This is the fourth paragraph: “She has never sat on the sidelines when people are being hurt and harmed, like when she worked with the US Department of Justice to transform one of the most dangerous high schools in the state, South Philly High, into a safe place to learn in less than two years.”
Wow, what a public safety plan!
Philadelphia homicides have been rising for several years, since well before the pandemic. Last year, the city recorded its highest number of homicides EVER. To dismiss this as Chicken Littleism, or hand-wave it away as “oh it’s just the pandemic,” you have to either be an absolute moron or an absolute scumbag with zero regard for the violence that people in that city are forced to live with on a daily basis.
This is Helen Gym on public safety:
As Mayor, Helen’s top priority will be to ensure that every Philadelphian is safe and feels safe. That’s why she’ll declare a State of Emergency on Day One, bringing all agencies together around an all-hands-on-deck strategy to address the gun violence crisis. Helen will employ a comprehensive, unified approach to public safety by getting illegal guns off our streets; reducing 911 response times; providing interventions to stop those in the path of violence; and supporting victims of violence in their path to recovery. From safer communities to stronger schools to truly affordable housing, we need a champion who will never give up on our city. Helen’s biggest enemies are cynicism, apathy, and the belief that nothing ever changes in this town. She’s no stranger to overcoming big obstacles and delivering for everyday Philadelphians. Helen believes that the purpose of government is to make people’s lives better. As Mayor, she’s ready to deliver what every Philadelphian wants and deserves – peace and safety at home, dignity at work, and a good education for their children.
For those curious about crime in Philadelphia, including those who think that “long-term statistics that demonstrate crime has gone down significantly in the past 40 years” in Philly, here’s a graph showing homicides in the City of Brotherly Love since 1980.
As with most cities, this violence is concentrated in certain neighborhoods where residents live in daily fear. Not the fear of whatever one fears in the suburbs of Ohio, but the fear of having to raise children in a neighborhood where one can catch a bullet in the head on any given day if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What is Jeff Yass’ solution to violent crime? How about the solution to violent crime offered by his handpicked puppet candidate?
You do realize Cleveland Ohio is a more dangerous city than Philadelphia, right?
I don’t think it is a coincidence that where charters have destroyed neighborhood schools and enriched charter CEOs and starved the students who needed it most, crime went up. Chicago. Philadelphia. Ohio.
DeBlasio put a halt on charter expansion and the murder rate fell to its lowest level in history under DeBlasio. Even at the end of his term, the murder rate was significantly lower than the “dangerous” Bloomberg years.
Please do tell me the Republican solution to violent crime, other than “more assault weapons in more people’s hands”.
I will be waiting for your solution. I heard the same whining about crime when DeBlasio ended stop and frisk. Maybe the community schools bashed by so many ignorant people kept crime low in NYC. Putting the interests of charter CEOs over the interests of children is a recipe for higher crime – NYC did not, which might account for NYC’s low murder rate. Or likewise, look at Philadelphia and Chicago for what failure and abandonment of children and destroying neighborhood public schools does – sky high homicide rates.
In 2021 Columbus Ohio had the most murders in their history. What’s the solution?
It’s obviously Helen Gym’s fault.
I don’t know anything about Jeff Yass. And I’m not a Republican so I can’t tell you what the “Republican” solution is.
Crime isn’t a problem to be “solved” (it has always existed and always will exist), but it can be managed. Policing is a critical tool, the most important immediate-term tool, to manage crime. So I would defer to experts in that field.
Crime denialism (like, seriously, what kind of ostrich cunning is required to think that Philadelphia’s crime problem is simply a Covid-caused blip in a 40 year trend of increasing peacefulness) is never helpful.
FLERP,
You say you don’t know who Jeff Yass is. You could Google the ProPublica article about him. He’s the richest man in Pennsylvania. He was a major GOP funder. He is a Trumper. He opposes abortion. He went to NYC public schools but is one of the biggest funders of charter schools.
FLERP,
Please do not exchange direct messages with other readers on the blog. Your private fights are of no interest to others.
They are to me and the people who want to see who this coward is.
Philly used to be an industrial hub, particularly for textiles. When that and other industries left the city, the blue collar people in the city were largely left behind with few economic options. Those neighborhoods have been left to decay, and politicians have largely ignored their needs and offered few if any solutions.
Philly schools have been dramatically underfunded by the GOP legislature in Pennsylvania. The state diverts hundreds of millions to failing cyber charters and charters.
RePUG-ni-CONS attack because they have no plans and noting positive to offer anyone or any situation.