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
Chris Brennan & Catherine Lucey
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.
I think a little of Margie rubbed off that chair onto her. Where do they get these people.— TheShadowKnows- lol @tomB are you dating her dude? sounds like you are dating her. I worked for Al last year, because the Philly GOP went DEFCON 4 on him. Literally, left him off the official party ballot, spent money against him, etc. He's definitely not an old pol.— Northeaster
- Democratic Ward Leader = Democratic Machine! Does anyone think these "row office" type positions are won without support of the BIG DEMOCRATIC MACHINE? No conflict of interest there.— tlee
- After what I was reported yesterday, our system of voting needs to be closely examined. Without it, we are doomed.— stev
- Philadelphia is a "national laughing-stock for election irregularities".
On Fox TV maybe. Look at the other networks,look on-line,read the newspapers in other cities; nobody's talkng about Philadelphia.— PHILEXILE - I did vote for Singer because I thought she was a reformer, but she has been anything but, actually, she has been terrible - Great move. Can’t wait to vote against her in 2015.
— Fred Druding, Jr. - I saw the writing on the walls May 2011 and again on August 20 at her voter id press conference and visiting her office thereafter. Also, she wasn't the most ethical because she stated off on the wrong foot regarding campaign finance improprieties and hiring Ellen Chapman and Dennis Lee who demanded a $15K salary increase after being in the Deputy Commissioner position for less than 9 months.
By the way, I'm still waiting for the website with the tabulations of full election results from 2011 per Singer's promise.— Cleodine Velvet Jackson - Perhaps if Stephanie Singer was not so concerned about her designer glasses in stead of making sure the Black Panthers were not outside the polling place trying to intimidate voters or the other thug demoRAT judge of elections barring 75 minority inspectors from the polling place. Perhaps the Scretary of State needs to take away the authority of that office because can't seem to function like adults to ensure the integrity of the election process. It's an absolute disgrace.— Speak-truth-2-power
- I have been dubious about her since she chaired a meeting on Rittenhouse Square, and by paraphrasing the statements made by people testifying, managed to completely change the content and import of their statements and botch up the public record. It was heinous.— Zindorf
- This witch-hunt of Stephanie Singer is based on sexism. All she did that even would arouse suspicion was that she wanted to give an employee a raise. Well, guess what, the employee, who was black, was being paid less than his predecessor, who is white. If Stephanie was a man, nobody would even care. There is far worse going on in the "Mad Men" fueled world of Philly politics than anything she ever did. The men on the commission need to check their privilege.— Jordan Gwendolyn Davis
- Inappropriate comment. Should be taken down.— Jonathan Goodman
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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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