|
|
|
ElectionEar
*~~~*STEPHANIE SINGER BEAT CITY COMMISSIONER MARGE TARTAGLIONE*~~~~*
That's the biggest news from yesterday, but not the only news.
The primary might not, on the surface, look like much of a voters' revolution. Turnout was terrible — shameful, embarrassing, inexcusable, and all that — and the election was, largely, an incumbent-fest:
- The top vote-getters for Democratic Council At-Large (as of late-night Tuesday) were the five incumbents: Bill Green, Bill Greenlee, Wilson Goode, James Kenney and Blondell Reynolds Brown.
- Nutter won easily (duh).
- Only one incumbent Council member — Maria Quinones-Sanchez — faced a serious challenge, and won handily in the end.
And yet, in some ways, the election was a revolution:
- The victory of Quinones-Sanchez, who lost the backing of local ward leaders, over Frankford ward leader Dan Savage could be seen as Latino voters rallying to ensure representation despite efforts to redistrict them into four separate districts.
- Stephanie Singer, candidate for City Commissioner, smashed forever-incumbent Marge Tartaglione.
- As of late Tuesday night, Al Schmidt, Republican candidate for the same position — and part of an insurgency within the Republican party — had come within less than a half percentage point of incumbent Joseph Duda and will appear on the ballot with him in November.
- John Featherman, another Republican insurgent who's not backed by Republican party bosses, had also come within less than half a percentage point of beating the establishment candidate, Karen Brown.
- David Oh won first (then Rep. Denny O'Brien, Joseph McColgan, Al Taubenberger, and Michael Untermeyer) in the Republican At-Large vote, helping to oust Frank Rizzo, a Rizzo.
Nail Biters:
- At-Large candidate Sherrie Cohen came close, but not close enough (so far — apparently some votes still haven't come in) to oust W. Wilson Goode, Jr., who won the fewest votes of an incumbent in that race.
- 2nd Council District candidates Barbara Capozzi and Kenyatta Johnson were neck and neck all night. Johnson has emerged on top so far — by fewer a hundred votes — but Philly Clout is reporting that Capozzi hasnt conceded yet.
The moral: Even with a shameful, crappy, embarrassing turnout, Philadelphians can change the establishment, reshape government and make a difference. The city's still run by party bosses, yes — but yesterday proves it doesn't have to be.
View galleryCouncilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez appeared to have handily beaten opponent Dan Savage last night, as most of yesterday's primary election results came in.
The victory was hard-won but, for the same reasons, leaves Sanchez in a strong place: She faced opposition not only from Savage, whose strength laid in the white sections of the heavily-gerrymandered district, but also from party leaders in the neighborhoods comprising her base in Philly's ever-growing Latino community. State Rep. Angel Cruz and ward leaders declined to back her — an almost-unheard-of situation for an incumbent.
Now, she can enjoy four more years on Council as independent from party bosses as any candidate, and will preside — critically — over the redistricting of Philly Council districts that will follow this year from the 2010 Census.
If Sanchez is able to change the boundaries of her district to inlclude more Latinos (the city's largest Latino population is currently split between four Council districts), she may be able to retain her seat for some time to come.
We stumbled on this via Twitter: ElectionJournal.org is reporting electioneering at a Philly polling place.
A picture seems to show a poll worker handing out clearly-marked sample ballots. The ballots read, "56th Ward." On the table next to the sample ballots is a political advertisement for a candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas, as well.
We can't, of course, confirm any of it immediately, but will post an update when we have one.
You've got four hours to get out, stand up for yourself, and vote, damnit — or else live in the secret knowledge that you'll let [insert most hated politico here] trample all over you with his/her little voting posse.
That's right.
SO:--> Get your polling place location here
--> Find out which district you're in and who represents you here.
--> Read our exciting descriptions of selected races here.
--> Read our ongoing blogging of the whole shebang here.
--> Read profiles from the candidates who submitted them here. or at Seventy.
If you have trouble, call this number: 1-866-687-8683 (Committee of Seventy)
Judges: There will be a lot of judges on the ballot, and you may not know what to do. We can't tell you; but we can point you to other endorsements:
National Lawyers Guild progressive judge survey
With the exception of a number of startling revelations about judicial candidate James DiVergilis — such as the fact that he can't pronounce the word "ethnicity," that his campaign gave out police "courtesy cards" for campaign donations, or that he told an audience that he's hit people and would do it again ... — City Paper has not, admittedly, done a good job of covering the judicial races in tomorrow's primary.
Neither, we'll point out, has anyone else.
Except, that is, for lawyer Maxwell Kennerly, who points out in an email to CP that Common Pleas judges "are the only judges most Philadelphia lawyers will ever encounter," and who at least gave it the ol' college try and put together over the weekend a guide for voters. It represents, of course, his own point of view and his opinions are not ours. Here's the link.
A "mailer" — think giant postcard — from the campaign for Joseph Duda, Republican for City Commissioner boasts Duda's endorsement by the Firefighters Local 22 union.
The problem: Local 22 endorsed his opponent, Al Schmidt.
Mr. Duda could not be immediately reached for comment.
With more than 2,000 votes since our ElectionEar Ultimate Primary Poll went live late last week, the results are shaping up to be interesting indeed — and, surprisingly or not, a little different that conventional wisdom about this election and who's going to win it.
What do the results represent? Who knows — maybe this is the CP readers' ticket; maybe it's a younger, online demographic; maybe it's the candidates' friends.
The Ultimate Primary Poll is still open! Vote here; then vote for real using our mini voting guide:
--> Get your polling place location here
--> Find out which district you're in and who represents you here.
--> Read our exciting descriptions of selected races here.
--> Read our ongoing blogging of the whole shebang here.
--> Read profiles from the candidates who submitted them here. or at Seventy.
In any case, a few highlights from the poll so far:
While recently touting his campaign to clergy members, judicial candidate Jim DiVergilis said that he has hit people before — and he has "no problem" continuing to do so as a judge.
"I've done it. ... It's not only a punch in the mouth, but there is a baseball bat or a golf club," he said. "I have no problem doing it today as a lawyer or as a judge. And you can bet as a judge, if the parents are not gonna discipline these children, I'm gonna jump off the bench and I'll discipline either the parent and [sic] the child," he said.
Then, while talking about flash mobs, he added, "It's time to get up off that bench and give them a back hand to the mouth. And that's exactly what they need. If they got it like we all got it growing up, this city would be better."
You can hear DiVergilis' words yourself in the video above. According to a source who was there, DiVergilis was speaking to the Pentecostal Clergy PAC, along with several other politicians, in March.
DiVergilis did not immediately respond for comment. He is running for judge in the Court of Common Pleas in May 17's election.
Another part of the video worth noting: While talking about committee people, DiVergilis says there are "some things that we can take care of, to give them something for their efforts of getting petitions signed."
DiVergilis, if you recall, was just in City Paper last week: According to a letter obtained by CP, if you donated money to his campaign at a recent fundraiser, you would get police "courtesy cards" — better known as "get-out-of-jail-free cards" on the street — in return. Read more here.
"Patronage has its purpose," says an Inquirer-endorsed candidate for the (historically political) job of Philly sheriff.
On April 24 — before a public debate (partly sponsored by Philly.com) had taken place, and well before candidates had submitted campaign finance reports — the Inquirer went ahead and endorsed State Rep. Jewell Williams for Sheriff.
Although the position is responsible for such seemingly normal city functions as transporting prisoners and overseeing sheriff's sales, it's been an independently elected position since the mid-1800s.
It's also a well-known bastion of patronage. And it's also been enmeshed in scandal after an audit by City Controller Alan Butkowitz found accounting ... problems.
Want to get a taste of next week's election, like, right now?
Head over to City Paper's nail-biting 2011 Ultimate Primary Poll!, where there are landslides, upsets and big losers aplenty ... where mayoral candidate T. Milton Street is somehow grabbing 21 percent of the vote, Al Schmidt is the biggest winner of anyone with 87 percent of the vote, and incumbents are losing all over.
Want to cast a vote? Our polls are open until Tuesday, May 17, at 8 p.m.
Here are some of the most interesting results thus far:
- Michael Nutter is winning in the Democratic mayoral race, of course, but you might be surprised he's got 70 percent of the vote. T. Milton Street has 21 percent.
- Al Schmidt is on the verge of a landslide in the Republican City Commissioners race with 87 percent of the vote, while incumbent Joseph Duda has 5 percent and Marie Delany 8 percent.
- Democratic City Commissioners candidates Stephanie Singer (62 percent) and Blair Talmadge (15) are winning. Incumbents Anthony Clark (5) and Marge Tartaglione (7) are losing pretty badly.
- Sheriff candidate John Kromer, the guy who wants to abolish the office he's running for, is winning with a whopping 71 percent. Jewell Williams is behind him with 19 percent.
- In the Republican Council at-large race, Joseph McColgan (12 percent), David Oh (20), Dennis O'Brien (15), Al Taubenberger (12) and Elmer Money (17) are the top five winners. Incumbent Frank Rizzo is not among them.
- In the Democratic Council at-large race, Blondell Reynolds Brown (14 percent), Sherrie Cohen (13), Andy Toy (29), Bill Green (8) and Jim Kenney (12) are winning. Incumbent Bill Greenlee is not.
- Mark Squilla's winning in the 1st Council District race with 48 percent, but guess who's second? Jeff Hornstein with 29. Guess an endorsement from former Gov. (and Mayor) Ed Rendell isn't worth what it used to be: Joe Grace has 7 percent of the vote.
- In the 2nd Council District race, Barbara Capozzi is winning with 54 percent, while Kenyatta Johnson's claiming 35 percent and Tracey Gordon has 12.
- It's a tight race in the 6th Council District: Bobby Henon has 52 percent; Martin Bednarek has 48.
- In the 7th, Danny Savage is beating incumbent Maria Quinones-Sanchez with 60 and 40 percent of the vote, respectively.
- And in the 8th, things are split every which way: Cindy Bass is winning with 36 percent of the vote, with Howard Treatman (22) and Greg Paulmier (18) right behind her.
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
