Political news: Former congressman Joe Sestak, pictured in Frankford with Rev. Michael Robinson during last week’s snowstorm, recently announced he would seek the Democratic nomination for Senate.
State Sen. Anthony Williams, a Democratic candidate for mayor, last week held a news conference at his campaign headquarters, 1528 Walnut St., to offer recommendations to close the School District of Philadelphia’s gap.
Williams identified $200 million in revenue. He’d work with the state legislature to secure $100 million in charter school reimbursements to pay for public school building costs and overhead, such as electricity, heat and maintenance; ask the Philadelphia School Partnership for $50 million; and lobby City Council to increase the property tax allocation to schools from 55 percent to 60 percent, bringing in $50 million.
“Education is the key to expanding economic prosperity and reducing poverty in our city,” he said.
Williams, a member of the Senate Education Committee, pointed to his support for sales and cigarette tax hikes that have helped the school district. He said that shows he’s supported public schools more than his opponents.
“It’s a record that’s factual,” he said.
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Former City Councilman Jim Kenney, who is also seeking the Democratic mayoral nomination, released the following statement on Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal to increase funding for both early childhood education and kindergarten to 12th-grade public education.
“Governor Wolf’s budget proposal provides new opportunity to Philadelphia’s children. As mayor, I will work with the state to provide high-quality pre-K to every three and four-year-old in need, and to ensure state education funding is used to create a thriving public school in every neighborhood. While even I was hopeful that programs like vouchers could aid the city’s education crisis in the 1990s, time and research have proved that the only way for all of our children to have access to the high-quality education they deserve is to directly fund our public school system.”
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Helen Gym, a Democratic candidate for an at-large City Council seat, supports Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget because of its funding for public education and potential to hire more teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians and support staff.
Gym attended Mayor Michael Nutter’s annual budget address, in which he announced
roughly $100 million in local funding for schools.
“More than ever, Philadelphians need elected leaders who take a consistent, common-sense approach that prioritizes schools, but also keeps our city working for homeowners, families and our seniors. When I am elected to City Council, voters can trust that I will be a consistent voice fighting for our schools and neighborhoods,” she said.
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The Green Party of Philadelphia elected a new committee, including at-large member Galen Tyler of Holmesburg.
The party’s Kristin Combs is running for an at-large City Council seat. Glenn Davis is running for city elections commissioner.
The Green Party supports nonviolence, grassroots democracy, social justice and “ecological wisdom.”
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City Council has passed legislation that proposes to amend the Home Rule Charter to ensure what supporters call “language access.”
The resolution, introduced by Councilwoman María Quiñones Sánchez and co-sponsored by Councilman Wilson Goode Jr., will be presented to voters on the May 19 ballot.
The foreign-born population in Philadelphia has increased by more than 40,000 people in the last 15 years. One in five Philadelphians speak a language other than English at home.
If adopted by voters, the amendment will ensure that uniform standards are followed by all city agencies, boards and commissions. Newly covered agencies include City Council and offices such as the city elections commissioners, the district attorney, the sheriff and the Board of Revision of Taxes.
With the amendment, the mayor would be required to designate an entity to assist agencies with drafting and implementing language access plans, and to evaluate their compliance. Furthermore, an annual report for each agency will be filed with the Department of Records and made available to the public.
“There absolutely should not be any barriers to equitable access to city services for any citizen of Philadelphia,” Goode said. “Every demographic group, every neighborhood and every language speaker deserves the same entitlements. I am proud to stand with Councilwoman Quiñones Sánchez to protect those basic rights.”
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Former congressman Joe Sestak last week announced he would seek the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2016.
Sestak, a retired U.S. Navy admiral who served two terms representing a Delaware County-based district, made his announcement at Independence Hall.
No other Democrats have announced their candidacies. The incumbent is Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who edged Sestak in 2010.
“Toomey acts like he cares about helping the poor but then votes against struggling Pennsylvanians back in Washington, D.C.,” Sestak said. “Even the Erie Times-News editorial board noted how Toomey failed to invite any women or minorities to a staged event about poverty and homelessness late last year. Toomey believes the underserved population is on its own.”
Meanwhile, the VoteVets.org political action committee endorsed Sestak.
“There are many problems in Washington these days,” said Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org PAC. “But, at the core of it, there’s a deficit of trust. Americans don’t trust their elected officials, and elected officials don’t really trust each other. I have known Joe Sestak for a long time. There’s not a person I would trust more than him. Sailors put their trust in him, and he lived up to their trust. Parents put their trust in him when their kids enlisted in the Navy, and he lived up to their trust. He’s always lived up to the trust of Pennsylvanians. We need Joe Sestak in Washington, now more than ever.”
VoteVets.org PAC endorsed Sestak in his previous campaigns for House and Senate.
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Joe Torsella, a Democratic candidate for state treasurer in 2016, last week called for tough new reporting measures that would add a vendor’s political contributions to the state contracts database administered by the Treasury Department.
The proposal would let citizens see all information on political giving and state contracts in one place.
“Open and ethical government should have nothing to hide when it comes to the awarding of state contracts,” Torsella said. “It’s an issue where the commonwealth is falling short, and this commonsense proposal would instead make us a leader on ethics and transparency. Pennsylvania currently gets a C-minus rating from an independent nonprofit on state integrity measures. We can and should do much better. By adding political contributions to the Treasury Department’s contracts database and redesigning that tool to make it user-friendly, the next treasurer can be a catalyst for open and transparent record-keeping and full disclosure of all public information related to vendors’ campaign contributions.”
Torsella was the founding president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonprofit museum and education center in Philadelphia. He ran for the Democratic nomination in the 13th Congressional District in 2004, but lost to Allyson Schwartz.
Torsella and his wife, Carolyn P. Short, a lawyer, have four children and live in Flourtown.
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Jefferson County President Judge John Foradora last week announced his candidacy for a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Foradora will seek the Democratic nomination in the May 19 primary. There are three openings.
“Pennsylvania is much more, much bigger, than just Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania has the second-largest rural population in the U.S. — it is time our Supreme Court reflected that population,” he said. “To have a truly balanced court, and to truly clean it up, we need a justice who has seen what life looks like for Pennsylvanians who live in the vast ‘T’ that is often overlooked in elections.”
Foradora was elected in 2001. He was the first Democrat elected to serve as a Jefferson County judge.
“Unlike the other candidates in this race, as president judge of a one-judge county, I have been on the front line of every type of case that can come before the Court — criminal cases, misdemeanors to murder; divorce, custody, dependency, adoptions, property disputes, medical malpractice, contract disputes — you name it, I’ve seen it. I know with my experience and the values I hold deep in my heart I can help clean up our Supreme Court.”
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Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin M. Dougherty, of Pine Valley, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for Supreme Court, announced his support of the statewide expansion of Veterans’ Treatment Courts, a holistic approach to assisting U.S. military veterans who have become involved in the criminal justice system.
The program partners veterans who commit minor offenses with mentors who help them reclaim their lives. The Court also provides vets with assistance in accessing government benefits they’ve earned.
“If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, I will work to make treatment courts available to every veteran in need in our commonwealth,” Dougherty said. “I’ve seen firsthand the sacrifices our military service members make for us every day. Both my nephew and brother-in-law are active duty Army officers who have served in combat.
“Our vets served our nation honorably, but many unfortunately come in contact with the criminal justice system, largely through drug and alcohol abuse and other issues associated with the horrors of war and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. These men and women are deserving of the courts’ help in turning their lives around, and the Treatment Court has proven to be a lifeline for many vets. We must take care of those who have served us, especially those who have fallen on hard times.”
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Jared Solomon, who lost by just 158 votes in last year’s Democratic primary challenge to veteran state Rep. Mark Cohen, plans another run in 2016 for the 202nd Legislation District seat.
Solomon, a lawyer and president of the Castor Gardens-based Take Back Your Neighborhood Civic Association, hosted a “thank you” get together for supporters last week at Casa Brazil, a restaurant at 6222 Bustleton Ave.
Solomon told supporters, “We talked about improving the security in our region during my campaign. So we are partnering with a security firm that will work with local law enforcement to increase patrols in our neighborhood. In addition, we talked about increasing after-school programming. So we are collaborating with a corporate sponsor and ‘Legacy Tennis’ to provide summer enrichment programs for kids. We talked about failing infrastructure. So we are creating a public-private partnership to revitalize our local recreation center (Max Myers). ••
