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Philadelphia Daily News (PA) October 18, 2001 CITIZEN PAIN WEBMASTER WATCHES, ANNOYS CITY HALL Author: JOSEPH R. DAUGHEN daughej @phillynews.com Edition: 4STAR Section: FEATURES Page: 53
Estimated printed pages: 6
Article Text: WHEN HE WAS a teen-ager attending Penn Charter School, Edmund Goppelt discovered computers and was instantly hooked. In 1975, at age 15, he spent $400 on a mail-order kit and built his own computer. Fast-forward a quarter-century, to March 2001. Goppelt, now 41 and a Harvard graduate, is living in South Philly and is furious at local government officials, particularly City Council, for not being more responsive to his requests for information. What's a computer geek to do? Retreat to his computer, and that's what Goppelt did. Frustrated by his inability to pry information out of the government, Goppelt decided to counterattack by supplying information about the government. Tons of information, available to anyone with access to a computer. "I figured if they wouldn't be responsive, maybe we could get their attention by putting the names of those who are giving these guys big money on the Internet," said Goppelt. Using the considerable skills he developed as a member of the Bill Gates generation, Goppelt created a Web site, www.hallwatch.org. The first material he posted on it contained the names of contributors, with amounts, to the campaigns of all 17 Council members and Mayor Street. "It's common knowledge that special interests shower politicians with contributions," said Goppelt. "I thought it would be helpful for the ordinary citizen to know who is making those contributions and who is receiving them. That way, the citizen can decide if the politician is representing the people who elected him or her or the people who contribute money to the campaign." It took him and his girlfriend, Jody Silvey, more than three weeks to input the material. For good measure, he included a list of contributors to state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo because "he's the most powerful" of the city's seven senators even though Fumo had nothing to do with the issues Goppelt was interested in. "What that is is 'Revenge of the Nerds' come to life," one politician said. "I am a nerd," Goppelt, 6-feet-2 and rail thin, said in his reedy voice. "I don't have a problem with that description, although I wouldn't say I'm seeking revenge." Fumo, describing himself as an advocate of campaign-finance reform, said he recognized Goppelt's right to publish donor lists. So did other officeholders, who pointed out such lists are public information. But while defending Goppelt's right to publish the information, some officials signaled their exasperation with the Webmaster. "Don't call him a nerd," Fumo said, referring to Goppelt. "That's an insult to the nerds. Everybody knows a characteristic of the nerds is that they work. This guy doesn't even have a job." Goppelt said Fumo was correct; he doesn't have a job. He said he didn't "consider it appropriate" to discuss how he supports himself because he felt it was irrelevant to his Web site. "I really don't think that details about my income are the public's business," Goppelt said. "I think Sen. Fumo ought to lighten up a bit. It's only a Web site." Both Goppelt and Silvey, 45, were willing to discuss all aspects of the site. But they wouldn't answer any questions that they felt intruded on their privacy. Silvey, a senior software analyst who graduated from the University of Missouri, said she was "very proud" of Goppelt for embarking on a mission "to help the little guy." The Web site was born after he learned that Council was considering a bill to fine the owners of barking dogs, Goppelt said. This concerned him because he owned a dog, a part-pit bull named Emmy Lou, he said, adding that he subsequently adopted an "elderly" Chihuahua named Sophie. "I was frustrated because I couldn't get any answers out of City Hall," said Goppelt. "I had a feeling that I was an outsider in my own city because things were happening that affected me as a dog owner and I was unable to find out anything. I wrote to Councilman [Frank] DiCicco every month for six months and he only answered me once." Goppelt also was concerned that the city planned to close a dog run in front of a senior citizen center at Passyunk Avenue and Dickinson Street. So he organized local dog owners and began pressing DiCicco for a replacement run. A political donnybrook in South Philly seemed an unlikely situation for Goppelt to be in. He was a child of privilege, raised in Haverford by a mother who taught English at the exclusive Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, and a father who is a psychiatrist. He had majored in German literature at Harvard and spent two years in Germany, one of them roaming the country wearing a backpack and learning the language. Yet here he was, living in a three-story rowhouse on a tiny street two blocks from the Italian Market that his mother purchased for $67,000 a decade ago, battling powerful politicians over what he called "doggie politics." "I've always gotten a response when I've written to a senator or a congressman, even if it's only a form letter," Goppelt said, peering intently through wire-rimmed glasses. "I thought it was wrong for Mr. DiCicco not to answer me. It was like talking to my wall. How do you get these guys to respond? That's part of the problem." "He doesn't give up," said DiCicco. "He keeps gnawing and gnawing and gnawing." DiCicco said he secured an alternative site for a dog run at Columbus Park at 12th and Wharton streets, only to have Goppelt complain that it wasn't big enough. The councilman said he personally charted the size of the proposed run with a tape measure and found that Goppelt was right, so he obtained "several more square feet for it." Responding to Goppelt's complaint that he answered only one of six letters, DiCicco said, "I said no once. How many times do I have to say no?" "He makes it sound like I wrote to him about the same thing six times and that isn't the case at all," Goppelt said. He said DiCicco's reaction was similar to the reception he got when he contacted other officials, like the mayor and those in charge of voter records. His requests for information were ignored, he said. "By creating a Web site where you could read about what City Council is doing and where you could write letters and have them forwarded to public officials, I thought we could give the little guy a chance to speak out," Goppelt said. "This is an ongoing project. It's not finished yet." Wearing tan shorts and a green T-shirt bearing the legend "Four Dog Tavern" and pictures of four dogs, Goppelt sat in a booth at Maggiano's Little Italy and talked about his Web site. He refused to let a reporter pay for his lunch of linguini with white clam sauce. Goppelt was guarded in his responses and wary of questions that he felt intruded on his privacy. He said he was not used to dealing with the news media and at one point asked, "What does 'off the record' mean?" He was far more animated talking about hallwatch.org. Internet browsers have visited the site about 5,000 times since it went online in March. A majority of the visitors have addresses in City Hall, said Goppelt. But others, including reporters and SCRUB, the organization fighting against the spread of billboards, say they have used the site to track campaign contributions. Among other things, the information on hallwatch.org about City Council told visitors that: * Jim Kenney raised $155,847 last year, more than any other member. * Democrat David Cohen ($632.72) and Republican Frank Rizzo ($958.79) collected the smallest amounts. * DiCicco has introduced more bills (47) this year than any other member. If that is used as a standard to judge the "hardest worker in City Council," then DiCicco "is hands down the champ," the Web site says. * DiCicco is sponsoring legislation that would limit the right of citizens to appeal zoning board decisions, which the Web site characterizes as "bad legislation" and "anti-citizen." * Four members received more than 50 percent of their contributions from outside the city last year. They are Thacher Longstreth (64 percent), Jannie Blackwell (61), President Anna Verna (56) and Frank Rizzo (52). As he goes about collecting information, Goppelt has become a familiar figure in City Hall. "He seems like a pleasant fellow," Kenney said of Goppelt. "I've seen him in Council chambers taking pictures of us with his digital camera." Goppelt is known in the Council clerk's office, where he is addressed by name and given a table and chair to use while he researches pending legislation, committee reports and Council votes, which he then posts on his Web site. He also posts the photographs he takes. While in the clerk's office recently, he chatted with Daily News photographer George Miller and asked what he could do to prevent his photos from turning out too dark. Choose a slower shutter speed, Miller said, and that will let in more light. Renee Tartaglione, chief deputy City Commissioner, said Goppelt regularly attends her office's Wednesday morning meetings. But she took issue with Goppelt's assertion that her mother, City Commission chair Marge Tartaglione, hadn't responded to an April 9 request for a computer tape listing all of the city's registered voters. "Anybody can come in here and get a printed copy of the street lists with all the voters' names for free," Renee Tartaglione said. "If he wants a tape, we have to charge for that because it costs us a lot of money. A computer tape listing all the voters costs $1,015." When this information was relayed to Goppelt, he sent an e-mail to Tartaglione asking her to put her "offer in writing." And he imposed a deadline for her reply. The deadline came and went, but Goppelt said he obtained the material he was seeking from another source. Three weeks after he first asked for the voter registration data, Goppelt sent a letter to Mayor Street asking him to intercede with Marge Tartaglione on his behalf. He never heard back from the mayor, and Street's office did not reply to a request for comment. Goppelt strongly rejected any attempt to liken him to a Don Quixote-type idealist dreaming the impossible dream. "What bothers me about this view is the assumption that any individual who seeks to participate in the political life of our city is as absurd as an eccentric jousting with windmills," said Goppelt. "I would like to see people who don't have a big law firm or union behind them have a say in what goes on in our city. But it's hard to have much of a say when you don't know what's going on. Hence Hallwatch." *
Caption: G.W. MILLER III / Daily News Edmund Goppelt first listed City Council and mayoral contributions on his Web site. G.W. MILLER III / Daily News Edmund Goppelt's site was born of frustration with City Hall. PHOTO
Copyright (c) 2001 Philadelphia Daily News Record Number: 7003242228 |