Phila. council bill could eliminate 2 GOP seats

While the GOP was anointing its presidential ticket in Minnesota this week, a Philadelphia Democrat was scheming to all but eliminate Republicans on City Council.

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. said yesterday he would introduce a bill this fall to shrink Council from 17 to 15 members by reducing the number of at-large seats from seven to five. If the legislation passed and voters approved a change to the 1951 City Charter, a provision guaranteeing two at-large seats for minority parties would also vanish.

"This is already a one-party town," said Goode, who called the minority-party quota "an arcane political tradition" and questioned whether Republicans had ever fulfilled the role of checking the city's dominant Democratic political machine.

The city would save about $1 million a year by eliminating two Council seats, according to the Council President's Office.

The idea yesterday was instantly denounced by Republicans, outnumbered by Democrats by more than 5-1 here.

"I know that we're set for extinction in this city, but I didn't think it would be this quick," joked Jack Kelly, who along with Frank Rizzo was reelected as a Republican at-large Council member last year.

"With all due respect to my colleague, what he is proposing is blatantly undemocratic," Kelly said. "There's still a number of proud Republicans in Philadelphia."

Such a bill could easily result in all but one Council position going Democratic, given the party's overwhelming registration edge.

The two parties now are permitted to nominate five candidates for the seven at-large seats, guaranteeing that a minority party would win at least two.

Under Goode's proposal, there would be only five at-large seats. The past suggests that Republicans would have a difficult time securing any of them.

Rizzo, the top Republican at-large vote getter last year, received about 77,000 votes, about 43 percent of the votes pulled by the fifth-place Democrat, William Greenlee.

Brian J. O'Neill, the one Republican on Council who would not be affected by the proposed change, also opposes the proposal. He represents the 10th District in the Northeast, a seat he has held for 29 years.

The bill received a cool reception from the Committee of Seventy, whose president, Zack Stalberg, said: "I think it would take a very strong argument to convince us to get rid of the guarantee of minority party representation. Philadelphia is already too much of a noncompetitive, one-party town."

The bill already appeared perilously close to being dead before it hit the floor of Council.

Democrats Joan L. Krajewski and Bill Green said yesterday they opposed the idea, joining Republicans O'Neill, Kelly and Rizzo.

"It's not fair to not have representation from the minority," said Krajewski, one of 10 district Council members.

That would leave the proposed charter change with a maximum of 12 supporters and no margin for error - any charter change to appear on the ballot requires 12 votes on Council.

Councilman James F. Kenney - who has complained about the minority quota for years - responded to a request for comment by saying the idea is "a legitimate discussion." Mayor Nutter said through a spokesman that he had not yet reviewed the legislation and would speak to Goode about it.

Republican City Committee counsel Michael Meehan said it was ironic that Goode, Council's champion of opportunities for African Americans and other minorities in city contracting, the construction industry and banking, would set his sights on eliminating a political minority.

Goode responded: "Economic inclusion does not necessarily mean a quota system, which is illegal - so why maintain a political quota system?"

Correction appended: A Friday story on a proposal to reduce the size of City Council misstated results of the 2007 general election for seven at-large seats. Democrat Blondell Reynolds Brown finished fourth, with 158,236 votes; Democrat William Greenlee finished fifth, with 135,419 votes; and Republican Frank Rizzo came in sixth, with 76,937 votes.