POLS ON THE STREET: Petition Challenges Thin The Field

by Joe Shaheeli

After ballot positions are drawn for municipal elections, but before the actual voting, all candidates must pass the most-ruthless scrutiny of all: that of their rivals.

To get on the ballot, candidates must submit petitions containing valid signatures of voters – 1,000 for citywide offices and 750 for district council races. But even the best organized petition-circulator is apt to pick up some flawed signatures. Candidates who are inexperienced or overwhelmed often fall prey to technical sloppiness. And sometimes circulators are found to have forged names and signatures of nonexistent voters – up to whole sheets in the same handwriting.
The sleuths who uncover these flaws are working for other candidates. If they believe they can knock enough names off a competitor’s petitions to invalidate that candidacy, they will challenge them in Common Pleas Court.

Last Friday, petition challenges were finished in Philadelphia. In some key races, the field is now much simpler.

All six mayoral candidates remain on the ballot. Milton Street survived a challenge based on his disputed residency.

The unprecedented throng of City Commission candidates, on the other hand, saw two candidates knocked off: Commissioner Stephanie Singer and her former Deputy Dennis Lee. Lee has filed an appeal to Commonwealth Court and Singer has been weighing that option. Appeals seldom succeed but sometimes a candidate can get lucky at the appellate level.

CLERGY from over a dozen different congregations, Jewish as well as Christian, gathered in City Line Hilton Hotel last week to endorse State Sen. Anthony Williams for Mayor. He vowed to maintain close liaisons with faith-based communities across Phila. if elected Mayor, saying, “Government cannot heal this city by itself. I will need your input.”

This still leaves a mob of choices for Democratic primary voters, who must pick two for City Commission from among Commission Chair Anthony Clark, Will Mega Ashante, Tracey Gordon, Carol Jenkins, Lisa Deeley, Donna DeRose and Omar Sabir. Observers suspect Singer’s removal would benefit Jenkins more while Lee’s departure would aid Sabir more. Honestly, though, no one has ever seen a City Commission race like this before, so no one really knows what it all means.

AT CITY HALL rally, city’s AFSCME leaders pledged united front with powerful Local 1199C health-care workers to support Jim Kenney’s candidacy for Mayor. From left are Phila. AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding, 1199C President Henry Nicholas, DC 33 President Pete Matthews and DC 47 President Fred Wright.

Sheriff Jewell Williams swept his only challenger, Larry King Sr., off the ballot so the incumbent will now walk home.

Only two district council seats remain in play. 3^rd Dist. Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell survived Tony Dfax King’s challenge to her petitions but King was counterpunched out of the ring (he is appealing, though). In the 8^th Dist., Ward Leader Greg Paulmier withdrew his challenge to Councilwoman Cindy Bass. In the 9^th Dist., Cherelle Parker swept three others off the board, successfully challenging Bilal Sabriya’s petitions and persuading Archye Leacock to withdraw.

That leaves only two donnybrooks to play out: the 2^nd, where Ori Feibush is tackling Councilman Kenyatta Johnson; and the 7^th Dist., where Manny Morales is drawing a bead on Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez.

It’s harder to knock a candidate off the ballot in at-large council races because a contender has 20 rivals to scrutinize and too little to gain by picking one of them off. But Lillian Ford has withdrawn from the race, leaving the field at 20 for five seats.

Democrats Tap Cohen, Skip Singer For Deeley

The Policy Committee of Democratic City Committee has recommended endorsements for City Commissioners, Council Members at Large and municipal judges.

INTIMATE dinner meeting at Center City home of attorney Larry Pitt introduced professional leaders to Lynne Abraham’s mayoral candidacy. From left are attorney Joel Feldman, legal executive Phyllis Meloff, Abraham, Pitt and Dr. George Rodríguez.

For City Commission, it’s Commission Chair Anthony Clark and Lisa Deeley.

All four at-large council incumbents were recommended. Sherrie Cohen, who came in sixth in the at-large council race in 2011, was recommended for the fifth slot this time around.

Twelve aspirants to Common Pleas Court were recommended: Scott DiClaudio, who drew top ballot position; Judge Ken Powell, who drew #2; and Tracy Roman, who drew #3. Lyris Younge (at #7), Daine Grey (at #10) and Judge Abbe Fletman (at #13) also benefit from a decent ballot position. Good ballot placement is an important factor in winning a judicial election: The top three are hard to beat and the bottom three have a hard row to hoe.
Contenders recommended farther down the list are Kai Scott (at #32), Mia Roberts Perez (at #35), Michael Fanning (at #41), Judge Vincent Melchiorre (at #45), Chris Mallios (at #46) and Judge Stephanie Sawyer (#54). Qualifying for the ballot were 59 attorneys as of Mar. 19, although some will undoubtedly withdraw. Down-ballot recommendations typically reflect high esteem DCC members hold for these individuals. If they don’t win nomination in the primary, they are likely candidates for judicial appointments when vacancies arise in between elections.

There are only three openings on Municipal Court. The Policy Committee recommended Sharon Williams Losier, who drew #1; Joffie Pittman, who drew #2; and Christine Hope, who drew #4.

Policy Committee recommendations are not official DCC endorsements; those will come in a couple of weeks. But it is unheard of for its recommendations for these offices to be dismissed, barring remarkable late-breaking developments.

GOP Council Hopefuls Aim For Scarce Seats

Unbeknownst to most Philadelphians, a serious race is underway to choose Council Members at Large – among the one-seventh of our voters who register Republican.

This is because real jobs are at stake. The Philadelphia Charter specifies that of our seven Council Members at Large, two seats are reserved for parties other than the majority. So it is impossible for Democrats to make a clean sweep of the at-large races; their horde of at-large candidates is competing for a legal maximum of five seats.

HELEN GYM, education advocate and candidate for City Council at Large, received endorsement of Penna. Federation of Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division, an affiliate of International Brotherhood of Teamsters. General Chairman Jed Dodd said, “Our union does not normally endorse candidates for local office. However, Helen Gym is clearly worthy of our support. Helen Gym is one of those rare exceptions in politics today.”

In practice, “minority party” has long meant “Republican” in this city. While Greens or Libertarians or Independents can do so, the expenses of a citywide campaign are prohibitive for third parties. They are increasingly difficult even for Republicans, who have to cover the same ground as their Democratic peers with much less bang per buck.

In most wards, a Democratic candidate can walk into any gathering and assume most of the registered voters in the crowd are registered Democrats. Republicans are lucky if a quarter of any crowd they find are fellow partisans. So GOP at-large hopefuls rely heavily on direct mail to reach Republican needles in a Democratic haystack.

Last Saturday, however, 80 Republicans from across the city gathered at the historic German Society of Pennsylvania on Spring Garden Street to hear all seven pitch their cases.
After internal reform in 2011, the Republican City Committee broke with the ancient custom of endorsing a ticket. (The Democratic City Committee still follows this practice, which is normal in politics.) Under the chairmanship of State Rep. John Taylor (R-Northeast), “Let 100 flowers bloom” is the urban Republican motto. You want it? Go for it. Show us your stuff… That’s how RCC leaders currently view their role, as umpires of what they want to be vigorous competition among many qualified candidates.

They got what they wanted in 2015. Seven candidates are vying for five slots on the ballot. All have a reputation for competence, experience and reliability. In order of ballot position, they are Councilman at Large David Oh, James Williams, Terry Tracy, Dan Tinney, Councilman Denny O’Brien, Al Taubenberger and Matt Wolfe.

But the intraparty competition doesn’t stop on May 20. While the primary ballot positions were determined by the luck of the draw, the general-election ballot positions will be decided by how many votes the candidates got in May. This doesn’t matter for Democratic at-large wannabes; they’re all in regardless. But only two out of five Republican at-large candidates will emerge from November victorious. And high ballot position (1-2-3) can be worth thousands of extra votes in either party.
Therefore, all the gentlemen who graced the stage of the German Society have something to gain by coming out at least third out of seven in their primary contest 47 days from now.
The Republican candidates do differ on policies as well as tactics: how best to express a Republican view and accomplish Republican goals in City Hall. They also represent different neighborhoods and age cohorts.

Abraham Continues Her Polling Lead

Since New Year, Lynne Abraham has been the only candidate to tout her polling numbers. That’s a sign her announced numbers match the internal polling of her major competitors… good news for her.

The Mellman Group ran a telephone interview of 500 voters Mar.14-17. It found Abraham claiming 30% of the vote, way ahead of her nearest rivals, Jim Kenney and Anthony Williams, at 14% each.

CONGRESSMAN Brendan Boyle kicked off his campaign Monday night at Independence Visitor Center. Supporters included, from left, Tom Wyatt, candidate for City Council at Large; Niki Iskarpatyoti, Boyle finance director; Congressman; Nick DeBenedictis, CEO of Aqua America; and financial advisor Alan Yuhas. Photo by Bonnie Squires

Abraham’s support is strong among all races. And she tends to be the second choice of both Kenney and Williams voters.

All this was good news for Abraham as of Mar. 17, before Williams’ and Kenney’s television ad campaigns began. Among pros, all eyes will be on the next polls taken before the Ides of March. They should reflect the effectiveness of TV campaigning as it comes into play.

Abraham has also launched a new website, http://LynneAbraham.com. It features 12 conclusive issue statements, each of which contain policy declarations and solutions. Topics include: environment and energy, transportation, jobs and economy, education, budget and taxes, housing, senior care, public health, crime and public safety, civil rights, veterans, and arts and culture.

Abraham stated, “I look forward to voters visiting my website. I want them to know where I stand on the key issues facing our city, and on the issues most important to them.”

Kenney Wins AFSCME Backing

Mayoral candidate Jim Kenney has rapidly assembled a strong force of union backers, capped Tuesday by the joint endorsement of AFSCME District Council 33, District Council 47 and AFSCME/NUHHCE District 1199C outside City Hall.

Local 1199C leader Henry Nicholas has proven to be one of the key players in the coalition that rapidly assembled Kenney’s candidacy this winter. Kenney is a former member of 1199C. But DC 33’s Pete Matthews and DC 47’s Fred Wright spoke passionately of Kenney’s deep experience in city government and his commitment to working people.

Kenney told the assembly of union members, “You work hard every day. You deserve a fair living wage and a chance to retire in dignity.”

Kenney Racks Up Backing From Labor And Women

Mayoral candidate Jim Kenney has been snatching up key endorsements from other major union and progressive groups.

On board with “Kenney 2015” in the last week are the National Organization for Women, SEIU and Pennsylvania Working Families.

Nina Ahmad, president of Philadelphia NOW, said her organization’s endorsement was unanimous.

Ahmad hailed Kenney for his work to combat street harassment of women. She said, “Jim believes that fighting for pay equality, punishing discrimination, funding schools and providing universal pre-K are the right things to do. None of those things will come easy. But if I’ve learned anything about Jim, it’s that words like ‘difficult’ or ‘hard’ don’t distract him from the work ahead.”

32BJ SEIU and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, who combined represent over 47,000 property-service and health-care workers in Pennsylvania, also chose Kenney.

“Jim Kenney put an end to stop-and-frisk,” said Gabe Morgan, 32BJ’s Pennsylvania director. “He supported airport workers, public schools and a $15 an hour minimum wage. “Kenney represents Philadelphia’s best hope at beating back the income inequality that destroys our communities.”

32BJ is the largest private-sector union in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Working Families board voted unanimously to endorse Jim Kenney for Mayor.

“I’m proud to receive the endorsement of PA Working Families,” Kenney said. “As Mayor, I will make it my top priority to level the playing field for those Philadelphians who are working low or minimum-wage jobs. No one should work 40 hours per week and still be unable to pay their bills or put food on the table.

“Our city needs a Mayor who will listen to the voices of regular Philadelphians who haven’t been adequately represented in our city government. I will make sure as mayor that those voices are heard.”

PA Working Families co-chair and VP of 1199C Chris Woods said, “Jim Kenney is the best choice for Philadelphia Mayor. For decades, he has stood up for Philly’s working families as a member of City Council, supporting efforts to raise wages, improve Philly’s schools, increase access to housing, end the discriminatory practices of the criminal-justice system, and limit corporate power in politics.”

Working Families is a progressive political organization.

SEIU Goes With Kenney, Others

Service Employees’ International Union’s powerful Local 32BJ, with 10,000 members, has endorsed Jim Kenney for Mayor and several City Council candidates in the upcoming May primary.

“The women and men who devote their lives to taking care of Philadelphians know Jim Kenney will fight for good jobs and a healthy city for all,” said Neal Bisno, president of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the state’s largest union of nurses and health-care workers.

Wilson Goode, Jr., Blondell Reynolds Brown and Isaiah Thomas received endorsements for City Council at Large.

“Wilson Goode, Jr. has one of the strongest records of any elected official in Philadelphia,” said Gabe Morgan, 32BJ’s Pennsylvania director. “Goode has fought for better jobs for workers at the airport, in fast food and in property services. He has written some of the most-progressive legislation, including returning control of public schools to Philadelphia, 21^st-century wage increases, and paid sick leave.”

STRONG funder for Council-at-Large hopeful Derek Green packed Time restaurant in Center City. Among 80-odd supporters who showed were, from left, Green, his mentor Councilwoman Marian Tas­co, City Controller Alan Butkovitz, judicial candidate Dawn Tancredi, nightclub impresario Sid Booker and TWU Liaison-Business Rep. Jeffrey Brooks, Sr.

“I am deeply honored to receive 32BJ’s support in this crucial election,” Thomas said. “32BJ and I share a vision of fixing our schools and rebuilding a Philadelphia with good, family-supporting jobs that sustains a strong middle class. I look forward to working with them to advance this important agenda to secure our city’s future when I am elected to City Council.”

In district Council races, SEIU went with incumbents Kenyatta Johnson (D-2^nd), Maria Quiñones Sánchez (D-7th) and Curtis Jones Jr. (D-4^th).

“I’m truly honored and privileged to have the endorsement of 32BJ, who represents working class people in Philly,” said Johnson. “Workers of 32BJ come from Philly neighborhoods like mine. They are the economic backbone of the city. I’m honored to stand with them and fight for good jobs and good schools for Philadelphia.”

“Johnson has been at the forefront of the fight to raise standards for Philadelphia International Airport workers, many of whom live in his district,” added Morgan. “He led the charge to add Philly to the growing list of cities to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour.”

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