Chester Democrats fighting among themselves

Four years ago, Democrats took control of Chester's government with a sweeping victory in a city long controlled by Republicans.

They hoped to bring change to a Delaware County municipality plagued by crime, financial problems, and difficulty attracting economic development.

The same issues remain today - in fact, Chester's 30 homicides in 2014 set a record. Except now, Chester also has infighting and a growing divide within its Democratic leadership, as State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, the city's senior Democratic politician, is running to unseat Mayor John Linder.

Kirkland has aligned himself with the four incumbent city council members, while Linder is running alongside a new slate of council candidates.

The two Democrats, once friends and allies, are vying to persuade voters how Chester can become a safer, financially stable city.

Kirkland said Chester needs a mayor that gets along with the rest of the council if the city is going to move forward. Linder said he needs another four years to continue the work he started.

The winner of the May primary will face former Mayor Wendell Butler, the Republican whom Linder unseated in 2011.

"It is what it is," Linder said of facing a primary challenge. "I'm running as a Democrat and the incumbent mayor."

Kirkland, elected last fall to his 12th two-year term in Harrisburg, acknowledged he would be leaving a comfortable job paying more than $80,000 annually to lead one of the state's most troubled cities, at a much smaller salary. He said constituents and party leaders asked him to return home.

"It's a bittersweet pill, but I do what I have to do," he said.

Kirkland, a Chester High School graduate, is well-connected in the city, where he is pastor of Community Baptist Church. One-third of Chester's 33,000 residents live below the federal poverty level. And their biggest complaint, Kirkland said, is public safety.

If elected, Kirkland said his first move as mayor would be replacing Police Commissioner Joseph Bail because he has been "invisible" to community members.

"I would immediately put in a new commissioner, someone who is connected with this community," Kirkland said.

In Chester, the mayor has one vote on the five-member council, and controls only one department. Because Linder oversees the police, he is facing blame for the city's homicide rate. Some of Linder's disagreements with council center on the police; he went to court in 2012 to block the council from firing the commissioner.

Linder said he wants to hire former Philadelphia Commissioner Sylvester Johnson to work alongside Bail and encourage community policing. He is still working to find a way to create the position, however, without needing approval from city council.

"The 30 homicides are alarming," Linder said. "It's going to be a priority issue no matter what happens."

The four Democrats on the council have also criticized Linder for failing to control police overtime costs.

Overtime for Chester city employees has totaled about $283,000 per month, or more than $3 million per year, according to a report from Fairmount Capital Advisors completed as part of the city's Act 47 designation.

But overtime expenses are just one part of Chester's "considerable cash deficit," Fairmount Capital Advisors wrote in an October report warning that the deficit could reach nearly $3 million.

With an annual budget of about $50 million, Chester faces the same trouble with increasing pension and health insurance costs as other cities, the report said. But the city also faces declining gaming revenue from Harrah's Philadelphia casino and has labor contracts with significant annual pay increases.

The city was declared "financially distressed"in 1995, and has since been unable to emerge from the state's Act 47 program.

Linder said a receiver should be appointed to oversee the city's finances. But Kirkland said fiscal management has improved under City Councilman Nafis Nichols, who leads the finance department and is running for reelection on the same ticket as Kirkland.

Kirkland has the benefit of endorsements from the city and county Democratic Parties, which have parted ways with Linder.

Kirkland "is someone who can take the reins of the city, repair the schism between the mayor's office and city council, and try to move forward again," said David Landau, chairman of the Delaware County Democratic Party.

Butler, the former Republican mayor who lost reelection to Linder in 2011, said he knows his candidacy is a long shot.

"I'm the underdog, that's obvious," he said.

Butler said he had not paid close attention to city government since leaving office but said Chester faced "always basically the same issues."

30

homicides were reported in Chester in 2014.

1/3

of the 33,000 residents live below the federal

poverty level.

20

years Chester has been in the state's Act 47 program for financially distressed municipalities.

$50M

is Chester's approximate

annual budget.

$3M

is the approximate amount spent on overtime for city employees last year.

$4.7M

is the amount Chester owed

in pension

payments in 2014.

EndText