The crisis in Philly's public school system — which CP's Daniel Denvir detailed in his cover story "Who's Killing Philly Public Schools?" — is rapidly turning into a story of national interest, as a worst-case example of the consequences of defunding public education. Today Denvir was on Democracy Now! to talk about what's going on now and what we can expect down the road. Here's the video.

On March 18, Democratic members of South Philly's 40-B Ward met and elected Tracey Gordon, a neighborhood activist (and one-time Council candidate) to the post of committeeperson — a surprise, considering she's in the middle of a lawsuit against the Democratic City Committee over having been thrown out of exactly that position.

Upon hearing of her recent election, Gordon responded by immediately resigning.

Wha?

Here's the deal. In 2010, Gordon, along with five other political newcomers, decided to run for the position of committeeperson in different divisions, without the backing of party bosses. The Democratic City Committee (DCC) responded by filing challenges against their petitions. All but Gordon were knocked off the ballot.

Gordon, however, went on to win the position. Ward leadership, citing an obscure bylaw that says a ward committee can remove someone who has been “unfaithful” to the party, kicked Gordon out anyway, as Holly Otterbein reported at the time.

Gordon, with the backing of a group of insurgent Democrats known as the “Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus,” sued the DCC. Her suit claims that the DCC has no right to throw people out of elected positions at will, and sought to have Gordon reinstated, as well as to obtain an injunction against the party's pulling similar moves in the future.

The rub: Since then, Gordon has been hired as a deputy commissioner under City Commissioner Stephanie Singer. As a deputy commissioner, she's forbidden by ethics laws to engage in political activity — and being a committeeperson would violate that rule.

Gordon has acknowledged the conundrum to CP before, saying that she was simply seeking to be given the choice that she says she earned: The position should be offered to her, and she'd either decline it or resign from the City Commissioners. The point was moot, in other words, until such an offer was made.

What she didn't expect was to be suddenly, and without her participation, reinstated in absentia, as it were. At the beginning of the month, Irv Acklesberg, who represents Gordon in her suit, says he received an invitation for Gordon to attend the ward committee meeting, where the committee would vote to reinstate Gordon. Acklesberg declined on behalf of his client, and suggests that the City Committee was, essentially, setting a trap.

“We think it was basically a set-up,” says Acklesberg. “They tried to put her in conflict [with the ethics rules].”

By simply showing up to the meeting, in other words, Gordon might have risked exposing herself to an ethics violation.(Indeed, City Paper later received a tip that Gordon was in fact occupying both positions).

Acklesberg said Gordon would not attend the meeting, and asked that he and his client be informed of the outcome.

“When I was notified that she had been restored [as committeeperson], she immediately resigned,” he says.

Dan McCaffery, an attorney for the DCC in this case, says the vote wasn't a trap, but a way to “force their hand,” when it came to the suit.

“The relief she was requesting was to be reinstated,” McCaffery says. “So we reinstated her.”

“This is about a group of individuals who identify themselves as the Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus trying to oversee or take charge of the Democratic party of Philadelphia,” he says.

“The lawsuit itself was never really about reinstating Tracey Gordon.”

Both sides agree on that last point: Acklesberg says that the lawsuit will continue, though he's hoping to substitute PDPC in for Gordon as a plaintiff.

“The case was never just about [Gordon],” he says. “It was to prevent the party from doing this, and we're still trying to do that. … They want to retain the power to nullify elections, and the purpose of this lawsuit is to make sure that there is no such legal power so that courageous people like Tracey Gordon will come forward in the future and stand up for office and stand up to this dictatorial party.”

City Commissioner Stephanie Singer says she has no direct knowledge of the recent back-and-forth, but that she and Gordon have both been in close consultation with the city's Board of Ethics over how to properly handle the matter. 

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Chairman-elect Rick Hellberg, left, and insurgent ward leader Mike Cibik, right.

Last night, Philly Republicans ousted longtime party chairman Vito Canuso. It was a victory for the Republican “insurgency,” a group of Philly Republicans who've been trying to rock the boat and reinvigorate their party.

Canuso has been accused by his foes of having gone outside party bylaws to oust various elected ward leaders. Opponents also claim that Canuso was not, in fact, duly elected. In 2010, the Republican State Committee declared the chairmanship vacant.

That Philly's GOP could use some new vigor was apparent during the role call, conducted by Matthew Wolfe, who's been a leader of the rebellion. Many of the city's Republican wards either have no ward leader or have a contested ward leader. Of the city's 66 wards, only 20 were represented in the vote to replace Canuso with financial consultant and one-time challenger to US Rep. Chaka Fattah, Rick Hellberg, who received a unanimous vote last night.

Many ward leaders, of course – presumably among them some who still support Canuso - simply didn't show up.

The mood in the room was excited, and several politicos got up to make speeches. Ward leader Kevin Kelly, whose election Canuso had tried to throw out, probably gets top prize for thinly-veiled disses: Referring only to “certain people” being uninterested in “coming together” to bolster the party, Kelly said:

“Certain people have no interest in doing that. The things they have to gain from the current situation – and I mean personally, down to one or two people, they couldn't get in the market of free ideas. What they get is what's given to them as payment for what you just heard: vacant wards, wards that haven't been represented for decades.

… There are certain people who do not want to win elections, who do not want to build the Republican party. This party can't suffer because certain people can't tear the leather in the real world. Thank you for being here, it has been a long struggle. And for folks that have only come for the last few years, understand that every other avenue has been exhausted.”

Hellberg himself had this to say about the party's former leadership: Our founding fathers knew that the rule of law is the most important thing. If the leadership of the Republican City Committee had learned those lessons from our founders, we wouldn't be here this evening. If elected to this position as Chairman I can tell you the first thing I will do is we will work everything we do by the letter of the bylaws.”

He also outlined what might emerge as a local republican platform, attacking Mayor Nutter's plan to raise an additional $94 million for the city through the Actual Value Initiative (the administration says it is just “capturing” a net increase in real estate value).

This was also phrased in thinly-veiled name-calling.

“When the ruling elite tell us a $94 million increase in real estate [assessments] is not a tax increase … we need to give Philadelphians a voice,” Hellberg said.

As for how Canuso and his wing of the city's Republican establishment will respond to the vote, Larry Otter, serving as Counsel to for the 59th Ward, told the audience: 

"Yeah, I expect a challenge. Let's be realistic. But," he said, apparently addressing "certain people" not in the room, "Bring it on. We'll see you in court."