Besides races for mayor and City Council, voters on Tuesday will see a crowded ballot filled with the names of judicial candidates.
Four local district Council races feature just Democrats on the ballot. Mark Squilla will replace Frank DiCicco in the 1st district. Darrell Clarke will maintain his 5th district seat. Maria Quinones-Sanchez will return for a second term representing the 7th district. And Marian Tasco will be back in the 9th district.
Clarke and Tasco are hoping to succeed the retiring Anna Verna as Council president.
Squilla and Clarke will represent small portions of the Northeast for the next four years, but their districts will not include any local divisions in the 2015 election, following redistricting.
Quinones-Sanchez will also lose many of her Northeast divisions in 2015. She gladly gave up the 56th Ward, where Dan Savage crushed her in the primary. Democrats forced Republican Councilman Brian O’Neill to take the whole ward.
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Voters will also decide two ballot questions.
A proposed Home Rule Charter change reads, Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for a mandatory Budget Stabilization Reserve, more commonly known as a “rainy day fund,” and to provide for restrictions on deposits to and withdrawals from such Reserve?
A city bond questions reads, Should the City of Philadelphia borrow ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN MILLION TWO HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($111,295,000.00) to be spent for and toward capital purposes as follows: Transit; Streets and Sanitation; Municipal Buildings; Parks, Recreation and Museums; and Economic and Community Development?
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Philadelphia will soon get a new sheriff.
John Green resigned at the end of 2010, and Rhawnhurst’s Barbara Deeley has been serving in the position this year.
The candidates for a full four-year term are Republican Joshua West, Democrat Jewell Williams and the Green Party’s Cheri Honkala.
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Pennsylvania voters will elect two judges. The race for Superior Court features Republican Vic Stabile and Democrat David Wecht.
Wecht will appear on Marvin Barrish’s Political Shootout on Sunday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on WIFI (1460 AM). The call-in number is 609–447–0236 (37). The show can also be heard at www.wifiam1460.com
For Commonwealth Court, it’s a battle of Bucks County lawyers, with Republican Anne Covey squaring off with Democrat Kathryn Boockvar.
Pennsylvania judges seeking retention are Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin, Superior Court’s John Bender and Mary Jane Bowes and Commonwealth Court’s Renee Cohn Jubelirer, Mary Hannah Leavitt and Robin Simpson.
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Christine Solomon, a Castor Gardens resident and longtime Democratic leader of the 53rd Ward, is poised to be elected to Traffic Court.
Solomon will face Republican Lewis Harris.
Seeking retention is Traffic Court Judge Michael Sullivan.
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There is no drama in the race for two seats on Municipal Court. Democrats Marvin Williams and Joyce Eubanks are the only candidates.
Judges running for retention are James DeLeon, Thomas Gehret, Nazario Jimenez, William A. Meehan Jr., Brad Moss, Harvey Robbins, David Shuter and Karen Simmons.
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Eleven slots are open on Common Pleas Court.
Appearing on the Republican ballot are Anne Marie Coyle, Jim DiVergilis, Ted Vigilante and Ken Powell.
The Democratic candidates are Sean Kennedy, Angelo Foglietta, Diana Anhalt, Jonathan Irvine, Barbara McDermott, Vincent Johnson, Edward Wright, Carolyn Nichols and Thomas Nocella.
Maria McLaughlin and Charles Ehrlich will have their names on both ballots.
Common Pleas Court judges who are seeking retention are Joan Brown, Denis Cohen, Rose Marie DeFino Nastasi, Thomas Dempsey, Kevin Dougherty, Gary Glazer, Elizabeth Jackson, James Murray Lynn, Margaret T. Murphy, Arnold New, George Overton, Paul Panepinto, Nitza Quinones Alejandro, Lisa Rau, Robert Rebstock, Gregory Smith, Albert Snite, Earl Trent and Chris Wogan. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215–354–3034 or twaring@bsmphilly.com
