Mumia Abu-Jamal makes another appearance in the Philadelphia mayoral race today.
The Fraternal Order of Police is scheduled to vote tonight on which of the five Democratic mayoral candidates to endorse, but the police union won't even consider Chaka Fattah because of his past support for a new trial for the convicted cop killer.
Tom Knox is slated to address the FOP's 200-member board of directors at 7 p.m. and then the board will vote which candidate to back. The other three candidates already had a chance to say their peace, but Fattah wasn't even invited.
FOP boss Bobby Eddis said last year that his union would work against Fattah and lobby other labor unions to join their cause. Sending letters has been the extent of the FOP's lobbying, but that could change after tonight's vote, Eddis said. (It would surprise if the pro-union Bob Brady didn't get the endorsement, but Eddis refused to speculate Monday night. He did, however, say that the union's best working relationships are with Brady and Michael Nutter.)
Fattah, meanwhile, believes he can still work with the police union if he's elected. He threw out an olive branch last week, saying that he would work toward raising pay for the police force and would try to negotiate the union's next contract, rather than relying on third-party arbitration.
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