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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Where's the Political Girls Club?

With District Attorney Lynne Abraham’s retirement at the end of this year, Philly will lose one of its highest ranking female elected officials. And as evidenced by the options at the polls today, she will not be replaced by a woman. Six men are vying to take over her job, five Democrats and one Republican.

 

In many ways, Philadelphia government still seems to be a boys club. To date, only one woman – former council member Happy Fernandez – has launched a serious major party campaign for mayor. In 2007, five candidates ran in the Democratic mayoral primary, all men.

 

Currently seven of the 17 members of City Council are women. And the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas Pamela Dembe is female. But otherwise the local political establishment is largely male. And there are few women rising in the political ranks to run for DA or mayor in the coming years.

 

Meanwhile, women are already running the show in other cities. There’s Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (a Philly native) or Mayor Sheila Dixon in Baltimore. Check out this list of the first female mayors.

Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 11:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Chris Brennan and Catherine Lucey
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.

Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election. Now that the battle is over, she has moved down to the City Hall bureau where she will report on the Nutter administration.

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Catherine Lucey
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