Stephanie Singer ousted as City Commission chairwoman
The Philadelphia City Commission, the agency that runs elections in the city, just ousted its chairwoman, Stephanie Singer, one day after the general election. Commissioners Al Schmidt and Anthony Clark voted Wednesday morning to dump Singer and make themselves co-chairman.
Stephanie Singer ousted as City Commission chairwoman
The Philadelphia City Commission, the agency that runs elections in the city, just ousted its chairwoman, Stephanie Singer, one day after the general election. Commissioners Al Schmidt and Anthony Clark voted Wednesday morning to dump Singer and make themselves co-chairmen.
Schmidt, the lone Republican on the three-member board, was elected last November in the same reform movement that put Singer on the board. He made the motion Wednesday morning to remove Singer as chairwoman, saying it was time for "new leadership." Clark, the only veteran on the board, concurred.
Schmidt and Clarke have held growing concerns about what they see as unilateral power moves by Singer. In September, they clashed with her as she tried to give her chief deputy a raise and make other personnel moves. Two weeks ago, the commission's top lawyer refused to answer a question from Singer, saying he would not be "interrogated."
Schmidt and Clark joined in June in a series of measures to limit her power in meetings. They also clarified that Singer's election in January to the chairwoman's post could be undone with the votes of two commissioners. Singer had checked with the city's Law Department and found that to be accurate.
After the meeting, Schmidt said he had not conferred with Clark or Singer about his plans. He said he remained confident all three could still work together. Meanwhile, Singer said she was surprised by the move. She noted there had been conflicts between the commissioners over a variety of issues, including pay levels for her staffers. But she said she would continue her efforts to improve elections in Philadelphia.
"I'm here to serve the people of Phliadelphia," Singer said.
great move. she is a hot mess.— kornbread- Al Schmidt man, he's the sh## (meant in the positive sent)— Northeaster
- Wise move. Between the granting of a poll-watcher's certificate to a uniformed black panther, opening a polling place in a room with a giant Obama mural, multiple reports of democratic pollsters inside polling places w/out certificates, and minority inspectors being unlawfully ousted from polling places - a serious action needed to be taken to mitigate Philadelphia's place as a national laughing-stock for election irregularities.— Philadelphians for Ethical Leadership
- This is great news.— dutynco
- Singer's arrogance caught up with her. She made a pledge to the public that she wouldn't campaign at the same time that she ran an election. She violated that pledge, and now she's out of power.— featherman
- Schmidt happens!— mayfair_
- Good move. And an ethical one, which seems sadly rare from our city government.
— mmds - There is no voter fraud in Philly...in Philly it's caused "irregularities!"— thepaguy
- Singer is a complete mess. I could not imagine things could get worse and then they did.— PhillyBoy
- I thought that the Commissioner's office did an excellent job responding to voter issues yesterday. I worked in the 36th Ward, 35th Division and they were able to resolve issues with registrations and polling places. The situation with Stephanie Singer is sad. We will see how the new Clark/Schmidt bi-partisan team proceeds.— Mezike23
- right because ya know republicans have so much power in this city— Iknowyourider
- A lot of these comments are misinformed. Singer is a new-school reformer who is trying to change the Philly Dem machine; Schmidt and Clark are old pols connected to their respective party machines who do very little actual work. Singer actually earns her paycheck. They only made Singer chair in the first place so she would have to do all the work of the election and they could blame her for any problems. I think if the Inky investigates she'll find Singer did a good conscientious job and this is Philly politics at its worst.
— tomB - wrong. schmidt defeated the philadelphia GOP's man, joe duda. he is part of the movement to re-invigorate the city GOP after years of inertia and enervation under the meehan cabal
— hannibal barca - TomB -
That's Stephanie's narrative but it does not have the advantage of being true.
There are some people not cut out for public life; Singer is one of them.
Does she still have the math teacher gig to fall back on?
PB— PhillyBoy
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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