Who do you think is paying him? Come on, you know somebody has got to be paying him. Nobody gets a distraction this big without good reasons, generally the countable kind. But that would be the easy way, the reflexively cautious and prudently suspicious way to approach judgement about anything that Milton Street does.

Incidentally, the mayor's older brother announced he was running for mayor of Philadelphia last week, despite the campaign difficulties of being under indictment and living in New Jersey. In fact, he was arrested in Jersey today for unpaid parking tickets. When first we saw Milton Street a few weeks back he was standing in front of his home in Jersey. The house that came equipped with a lawn and, on it, a cheesy sculpture of a noticably Caucasian lawn jockey holding the ring for massa.

Who couldn't love that in yo face disgrace, Milton Street style? Come and get me feds? Come and get me Philadelphia. The showman answered the call. What'chu got on me?

So far that's the highlight reel of Milton Street's political career. And what does that tell us about his legacy? That the man reacts well under indictment? There are a lot of sleeze balls and stand up guys who have gone away for political corruption Philadelphia over the years. Ozzie Myers shamed his South Philadelphia roots by squealing like a pig on a buchet, begging for mercy in his first and only speech on the floor of the Congress before he was expelled. Jimmy Tayoun served his time and wrote a book about how to serve time. Is that guy Lebanese, or what? There have been so many characters over the years. Men conveniently named Izzy. (Well, is he? ) For young reporters it was like shooting fish in a barrel. "It's rainin' men! Hallelujah!" That could have been the soundtarck during Abscam as reporters at four Philadelphia daily newspapers toasted their good luck to be covering City Hall during late nights at the Pen and Pencil Club.

Even then, Milton Street was a joke. It was almost like other pols couldn't be arrested fast enough to keep him out of the net. . Milton was on every reporter's dance card. It was only a matter of time. He once, famously, betrayed his entire constituancy -- forget about black people, he sold out the Democratic party -- by cutting a deal with the Republican governor and changing his votes to break a deadlock in the State Senate. As a consequence, Milton Street has never -- and will never --be ected to anything ever again in Philadelphia. And now he's running for mayor. While under indictment. Some would wonder why.

Not me. I want to go on record by stating that I don't believe Vince Fumo is behind Milton Street's campaign for mayor. He needs Milton like he needs another Orec. I don't believe that he's working for Bob Brady. There are already 223 better- qualified black men running for mayor. Besides, both white candidates are running TV ads that sound like Steve Martin doing. "I was born a poor black child. . ." We get it guys, none of us had it easy. So who's Milton working for? The white guy? The black guy? The Watermelon Man? How dare he? How dare Milton Street play the same game and get away with it. How dare the man who's paying him.