Don’t let the back-to-school ads fool you. August is still an infant and summer’s only half over. The U.S. government has finally (temporarily) solved its debt-ceiling crisis, so for the time being things at the federal level are dullsville.
Aside from an occasional flash mob of gangs of parentless pipsqueaks terrorizing folks in Center City, all is quiet on the home front. Of course, some members of Philadelphia City Council are pondering redistricting while they enjoy their three-month summer recess, but for the most part, there’s plenty of summer calm before the storm.
When Council’s overpaid, underworked members finally do return to work sometime in mid-September, they’ll be thinking about getting re-elected on Nov. 8. But every Council candidate — incumbents and potential newcomers alike — should be spending some of their lazy, hazy days of summer thinking about who they will pick to succeed the retiring Anna Verna as president.
One thing is certain: The new president should NOT be Marian Tasco. The longtime 9th district councilwoman has enrolled in the wildly unpopular DROP retirement program and will collect $478,000 in January after staging a fake, one-day retirement. Yes, she’s running for re-election and is virtually guaranteed to win in November because the spineless Republican Party has not bothered to recruit a candidate to challenge her.
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: For the general election, the Northeast Times will not endorse any City Council candidate who refuses to rule out voting for Tasco for president when the new Council convenes in January.
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