BY MICHAEL CURRIE SHAFFER INQUIRER STAFF WRITER It’s not easy to be a minor mayoral candidate. The insiders mock you, the media ignore you, and the public has never heard of you. About the only time you get mentioned in a newspaper is on filing day, when some curious journalist sees your name, scratches his head, and wonders just who the heck you are.
Like right now.
So, for the record: Queena Bass and Jesus White — the self-styled Davids facing five Democratic Goliaths in this mayoral primary — both say they have a “calling.”
White [pictured, right], who described himself as a minister and whose campaign paperwork reported that he also worked as a security guard, listed his address as a homeless shelter on the 1200 block of Race Street. But in a brief phone interview, he said he did not consider himself homeless.
White said his main goal was to urge Philadelphians to live peacefully with one another. “Everyone has to have some type of initiative to want to get along,” he said. “We all are going to have to get along.”
White said it wasn’t just he who wanted to see City Hall do more for the poor. A higher power wants it, too. “The Lord has called me,” he said. “This is a calling. I have certain social issues: homelessness, education, many things.” White was about to elaborate when the cell-phone connection went dead. Several subsequent voice-mail messages for him went unreturned.
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[Photo courtesy of Daily News]