ELEPHANT CORNER: City Republicans ‘Pool’ Their Resources

CHILLING poolside in S.W. Phila. were, from left, Devon Hudson, host Annie Havey, Craig Melidosian, Deputy City Commissioner Tracey Gordon, Joe DeFelice, Mike Cibik and, crouching, Zaphir Burnett.

Last Friday night, Philadelphia Republicans held the first annual barbecue and pool party organized by Republican City Committee staffers ANNIE HAVEY and CARMELLA FITZGERALD. The event was held at 69th & and Greenway from 5 to 10 p.m. and was free of charge to attendees owing to the largess of a 20-plus host committee including WARD LEADERS MIKE CIBIK, MATT WOLFE, DENISE FUREY, RICK HELLBERG, JIM DINTINO, AGNES (CHUCKIE) TILLEY and VINCE FENERTY. Former RCC CHAIRMAN VITO CANUSO and current General Counsel MIKE MEEHAN were also members of the host committee. Candidates DAN ALVAREZ for District Attorney and TERRY TRACY for City Controller briefly addressed the crowd. Havey, coordinator of the event, estimates 200 people came to the barbecue.

Please note this event is not replacing the annual Billy Meehan Clambake, which will be held at Cannstatter on Academy Road on Aug. 25.

RCC has completely moved out of its longtime offices on the Parkway and into new offices on Cottman Avenue in Mayfair. The grand-opening celebration will be next Wednesday, Aug. 14.

Opponents of the Pennsylvania voter-ID law are back in court. A filing by the American Civil Liberties Union is requesting that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania not instruct election-board workers to ask for identification in November. Pennsylvania’s voter-ID law, which was passed by the legislature and singled into law by GOV. TOM CORBETT in 2012, was challenged last year by a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU and other groups opposed to the law on the grounds that the law violated the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Constitution. The case is pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and a decision may not come down prior to this year’s elections in November, but if it does, the Corbett Administration agreed not require that voters to produce Identification this November. The Commonwealth, during last year’s November election and this year’s primary, has been instructing poll workers to ask for identification, but not require it. The latest ACLU suit is asking the courts prohibit poll workers from even asking.

An Indiana voter-ID law that is substantially similar to Pennsylvania’s withstood numerous legal challenges. Ultimately, the US Supreme Court found the Indiana law does not violate the US Constitution. Liberals claim voter-ID laws are aimed at suppressing minority voting. They believe asking someone to produce identification is the same as Jim Crow laws that attempted to disqualify African American voters through restrictions that included literacy requirements. To counter these abuses, the Voting Rights Act was passed 48 years ago this week. The law applied to a number of Southern states that had a history of suppressing African American voters’ rights. Asserting that asking someone to verify that they are who they claim to be is the same as the odious Jim Crow laws … is a push. We need to produce identification to enter most government and private-sector buildings. We are frequently asked for ID when we use our credit cards for our protection against fraud. How many people do you know that do not have identification?

The Pennsylvania law also has special provisions for the elderly who are in the class most likely not to have ID. Georgia, a state that is subject to the Voting Rights Act, has a voter-ID law. Strangely, and contrary to what the liberals want you to believe, minority voting increased in Georgia after the passing of its voter-ID law.

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