Phila. Black Clergy endorses Williams for D.A.

Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, a group of hundreds of pastors whose support can influence a close election, yesterday endorsed Seth Williams in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia district attorney.

The announcement comes at a crucial time for Williams. He was ordered off the ballot Friday when a Common Pleas Court judge ruled that he had failed to identify all sources of income on the "statement of financial interests" he filed last month with his nominating petitions.

After hearing testimony on a rival candidate's lawsuit challenging Williams' nomination, Judge Allan M. Tereshko disqualified Williams for not disclosing as income more than $10,000 he received from his campaign committee.

Williams, whose appeal to Commonwealth Court is pending, maintains that the money was reimbursement for campaign expenditures. He contends that it is documented on a separate, publicly available campaign-finance report and that Tereshko must have misread the law when he equated reimbursed expenses with income.

However, the judge's seven-page ruling stated: "[T]he definition of income as proposed by the Candidate is not the one that the Legislature defined."

As the only candidate who has made a previous run for Philadelphia D.A., Williams laid claim to front-runner status in the five-way Democratic primary, to be decided May 19.

The legal challenge has the potential to distract Williams' focus and disrupt his fund-raising, but he said yesterday that he would get back on the ballot and that efforts to knock him off would backfire because supporters now were "galvanized even more." He is continuing to campaign.

"Though the decision to remove him from the ballot was a travesty of justice, we vow to stand for Seth," said the Rev. Terrence Griffith, director of the Black Clergy's political action committee. "Friday's ruling was nothing more than a cheap political trick."

The Rev. Steven Avinger, pastor of Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church in Southwest Philadelphia, said in an interview that the organization of African American religious leaders - representing 450 churches - decided Thursday to endorse Williams. The announcement of the endorsement was expected to be made closer to primary day, but was moved up "because of the controversy" over Williams' removal from the ballot, Avinger said.

Williams' legal appeal is to be heard on an expedited basis, although oral arguments have not yet been scheduled.