Milton Street gets backing

With five weeks to go until the mayoral primary, Democratic challenger T. Milton Street has grabbed two endorsements: Firefighters Union Local No. 22 and the Pentecostal Clergy Political Awareness Committee. Tomorrow, the firefighters will hold a rally for Mayor Michael Nutter’s opponent outside the Fourth and Race streets firehouse that was closed amid budget cuts.

Street said “words can not express” how he feels about the clergy endorsement. Group founder Bishop Leonard C. Goins told the Daily News that a letter Street wrote in their paper comparing himself to Moses played a role.

“It speaks to the capacity of people to forgive, restore and hear a message from a messenger that some have tried to count out or dismiss,” Street e-mailed.

Nutter re-election campaign spokeswoman Sheila Simmons cited the city’s appeal of the firefighters’ arbitration award as a potential driving force behind the decision but the endorsement “will have no impact on the admiration and support the mayor has for firefighters in Philadelphia and the brave work that they do.”