The Republican City Committee on Thursday night held its annual fall fundraiser at Cannstatter’s, welcoming district attorney candidate Pat Dugan, Commonwealth Court candidate Matt Wolford and city elections commissioner Seth Bluestein.
Dugan is challenging DA Larry Krasner.
“We need to fire Larry Krasner,” said city committee chairman Vince Fenerty.
Fenerty was happy that the GOP conducted a successful write-in campaign in the primary to have Dugan’s name on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. Dugan lost the Democratic primary to Krasner.
Now, it’s a matter of turnout.
“We have to get the vote out,” Fenerty said.
Bluestein said the deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 28. Apply at https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/OnlineAbsenteeApplication/#/OnlineMailInBegin
Mail-in ballot applications are also available at satellite election offices. Local satellite elections offices are at 6420 Frankford Ave. in the Mayfair Shopping Center and 1619-81 Grant Ave. in Grant Plaza. Those offices are open daily.
Completed mail-in ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on the day of the election.
They can be mailed to City Hall Room 142 or placed in drop boxes. For a list of local drop boxes, visit https://vote.phila.gov/about-us/satellite-election-offices/
On Nov. 4, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Fenerty said his focus is on electing Dugan, Wolford and Maria Battista for Superior Court.
Dugan, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent 17 years as a Municipal Court judge. He criticized Krasner’s handling of Keon King, charged in the recent abduction and murder of Kada Scott.
King was arrested in April in an unrelated case for kidnapping and strangulation, and prosecutors asked for a bail of $999,999, but a magistrate set it at $200,000, and King went free after posting 10 percent of the reduced total. The victim and a witness did not show up for court, and the DA’s office dropped the case.
Dugan pointed to a video of the kidnapping and said the case should have proceeded even without a victim or witness. He also said Krasner should have appealed the decision to lower the bail to a judge, who is available 24 hours, seven days a week.
Dugan called Krasner a “co-conspirator” in Scott’s death, adding that the DA was shedding “crocodile tears” during a news conference on the case.
When Dugan lost the primary, turnout was an abysmal 16.61 percent.
“It’s our job to get that other 83.39 percent out to vote,” he said.
Dugan, who remains a registered Democrat, asked supporters to text all the people in their phone contacts, asking them to vote.
Wolford, a Temple Law School graduate, is an environmental attorney from Erie County who once worked in the Ridge administration. He is Highly Recommended by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He plans to visit Forest County on Thursday, completing visits to all 67 counties. He faces Democrat Stella Tsai. ••
