Philadelphia’s leaders should be elected, not coronated | Editorial
While other cities have implemented changes to include more voters in the process of selecting candidates to fill sudden Council vacancies, Philly remains mired in a system that serves insiders best.
Major change is coming to Philadelphia’s City Council on Election Day, but most voters wouldn’t know it. That’s because the winners were essentially already decided in the backrooms of the Democratic Party.
Nearly 25% of the Council seats are open. That’s an unprecedented change in a calcified body where members are known to serve for a lifetime. Some have even quit for a day, collected their hefty pension payments from the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, and returned back to office or other city jobs, but that’s a separate editorial.
The spate of vacancies was brought on by early jockeying for next year’s mayor’s race. The Philadelphia Charter requires elected officials to give up their current post to run for another seat.
As such, four Council members resigned over the summer. Three of them have launched mayoral campaigns. They are Derek Green, Cherelle L. Parker, and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez. A fourth Council member, Allan Domb, resigned but has not announced his campaign yet. City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart also resigned to run for mayor.
The openings provided a great opportunity to inject some fresh blood and new ideas into City Council. Instead, the replacements were picked by ward leaders, with heavy influence from the departing Council members.
In the case of Quiñones-Sánchez’s seat, her former chief of staff, Quetcy Lozada, is poised to win the special election. Parker’s seat will likely be filled by Anthony Phillips, 33, who was an intern in the Council member’s office when she was a state representative.
» READ MORE: Philly Council President Darrell Clarke orders special elections to fill two seats vacated by mayoral contenders
Green’s chief of staff, Sharon Vaughn, will likely win her boss’ at-large seat. The other at-large seat is earmarked for Jimmy Harrity, who just happens to be the political director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
Each of the Democratic candidates will face Republican opponents, but given that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 7-1 in the city, the races are not expected to be close.
Since there has been no real campaign, most voters know nothing about the Council candidates. As such, Nov. 8 will be more of a coronation than an election. Letting the city’s ward leaders act like the College of Cardinals electing a pope is no way to run a healthy democracy.
More broadly, the special Council elections could affect turnout for the all-important statewide races for governor and U.S. Senate.
Initially, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke planned to fill just the two district Council vacancies, held by Parker and Quiñones-Sánchez. But he changed his mind and added the at-large seats to ensure enough Council seats are filled to override a mayoral veto. Such inside baseball is where Council often spends much of its energy — when it is not off for the summer. That’s also a separate editorial.
Clarke’s dithering and a zoning dispute with Mayor Jim Kenney over smoke shops forced a further delay in sending mail-in ballots to Philadelphia voters. The delay could result in fewer Democratic votes for governor and U.S. Senate, where the stakes are enormous and every vote matters.
» READ MORE: So many City Council members are running for Philly mayor and it could delay your mail ballot this fall
The unfit Republican gubernatorial nominee, Doug Mastriano, wants to ban abortion in Pennsylvania and personally decide winners in future elections. Likewise, control of the Senate is on the line, and the Republican nominee, Mehmet Oz, a TV doctor from New Jersey, has morphed into a gun-lover who says abortion is murder.
In case anyone needs reminding, Pennsylvania is a swing state. But the bulk of the Democratic votes come out of Philadelphia.
Energizing Philadelphia voters can be the difference in a close statewide race. Just ask Hillary Clinton, who lost Pennsylvania to Donald Trump in 2016 by just 44,292 votes. Four years later, a record 749,000 votes were cast in Philadelphia and Joe Biden received 20,000 more votes from city voters than Clinton did. Biden won Pennsylvania by 80,555 votes, and ultimately the presidency.
The 2022 election goes far beyond a difference of ideas. The future of U.S. democracy is on the line. Handpicking Council replacements is not a way to energize voters.