N.E. Philly Leaders May Be Swinging To Boyle In State Senate Race

by Joe Shaheeli
A caucus endorsement, so vital in organization politics, is a decision, once made, was considered poured in cement. That was true in the recent annals of the Democratic Party – until last Thursday. It is now in flux in the battle of the 5th Senatorial Dist.

The nine ward leaders making up that Northeast Senate district, who happened all to be at State Rep. Mike Driscoll’s St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser celebration at the FOP Hall, also held a meeting in another room.

That’s when wounds created over a past primary-candidate selection and the surly attitude of one them toward another caucus member finally erupted with the end result: a 5-4 decision calling to rescind their earlier endorsement of State Sen. John Sabatina, Jr., followed by a vote endorsing State Rep. Kevin Boyle for that seat instead..

Efforts to ask the full Democratic City Committee, made up of every ward leader in the city, to approve a request for a contest-committee resolution by Northeast Ward Chair Mike McAleer had not yet been decided.

McAleer, whose own ward leadership spans over three decades, said, “This was an unprecedented move and it just didn’t make sense.”

An insider commented, “They just opened a can of worms.” In similar splits, If ward leaders didn’t like their district caucus results, they made it known on election day by dropping the endorsed candidate’s name on the ballots in their ward and adding the name of their choice. Those ballots were then handed to voters outside the polls.

No matter what comes down, contest committee or not, the district is split and the winner of this primary contest will have truly earned the senatorial seat that had been filled by State Rep. Sabatina when then-Sen. Mike Stack became the State’s Lieutenant Governor.

Bettor’s choice now has it 5-6 in favor of Boyle, who has FOP’s John McNesby on his side and a lot of police and FOP retirees following his lead in that district.