JOHN SABATINA.
Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai last week ordered a special election in the 174th Legislative District for Tuesday, Aug. 11.
The seat became vacant when Democrat John Sabatina Jr. was sworn into the Senate.
Possible Republican candidates are Tim Dailey, a teacher at Father Judge High School and Ross Feinberg, who is presently running for register of wills.
Whoever Republicans choose will undoubtedly point to the GOP’s commanding 118–80 advantage in the House as a reason to elect someone to the majority caucus.
A possible Democratic candidate is City Councilman Ed Neilson, who was defeated in the primary and will be leaving office at the end of the year.
Neilson formerly served in the House, winning a special election in the 169th district in 2012. In redistricting, the 169th was moved to York County, and Neilson’s neighborhood was placed in the 174th.
In 2014, Councilman Bill Green resigned his at-large seat. Democratic Party boss Bob Brady, wanting to avoid a nasty primary between Neilson and Sabatina, selected Neilson as the candidate to run to replace Green.
Sabatina’s two former offices remain open. They are at 8100 Castor Ave. (215–342–6204) and 16 Old Ashton Road (215–330–3714).
Turzai also ordered special elections for Aug. 11 for the 191st and 195th districts.
Democrats Ron Waters (191st) and Michelle Brownlee (195th) resigned after pleading guilty to a charge of conflict of interest, after they were allegedly caught on tape accepting money in return for favors.
Those two districts, based in West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, are so overwhelmingly Democratic that Republicans have no chance of winning.
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Andrew Stober last week announced his candidacy as an independent for an at-large City Council seat.
Stober, of South Philadelphia, recently resigned as chief of staff for the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities. He becomes the 11th candidate, joining five Democrats and five Republicans.
The top seven vote-getters in November are elected.
Based on past voting patterns, the five Democrats are shoo-ins. Stober is targeting one of the GOP seats.
“There is no good reason that Philadelphia voters should be stuck on Election Day with only the choices offered to them by the Republican Party,” he said.
Stober said the city needs to focus on the core mission of charter schools: to experiment with new models of instruction and supervision, and then transfer best practices to public schools.
“Philadelphia simply cannot afford charter schools that fail their students, line the pockets of executives and take scarce resources away from our public schools,” he said.
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City Council last week voted in favor of Council President Darrell Clarke’s proposal to amend the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to create a new Department of Planning and Development headed by a cabinet-level director.
Existing planning and development offices would be consolidated into three divisions: Planning and Zoning; Development Services; and Housing and Community Development.
Philadelphians will have an opportunity to vote on the Charter amendment in the Nov. 3 general election.
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Democrat Joe Sestak leads Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, according to a poll by the Robert Morris University Polling Institute.
The poll, sponsored by Trib Total Media, shows Sestak with 34.2 percent to 28.5 percent for Toomey.
“People are just disengaged. It’s like asking someone what they’re going to have for breakfast 100 days from now,” said Philip Harold, a Robert Morris professor of political science.
In a potential Democratic primary nominating contest between Sestak and three-term Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, Sestak easily led among those surveyed, 44.7 percent to 11.1.
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U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa will speak on Friday night at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference, which takes place at the Sheraton Hotel, 201 N. 17th St.
In addition to Ernst, the following speakers are confirmed :Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham; U.S. Rep. Steve King; Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus; Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush; former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum; and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
The event runs from Thursday through Saturday. ••
