Karen Brown booted from ballot

There will be no political come-back this year for Karen Brown, the Democratic committeewoman from South Philly who defected from her party in 2011 to become the Republican nominee for mayor.

Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Cunningham III today ordered Brown removed from the May 20 primary ballot.

Brown had been seeking her former Democratic committee post in the 1st Ward.  Cunningham ruled her run for Republican judge of elections in the 2013 general election made her ineligible to run this year as a Democrat, according to the Democratic City Committee bylaws.

Brown's candidacy touched off an unusually harsh battle in the ward, led by John Dougherty, head of the Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  The ward's political action committee sent out a mailer earlier this month, declaring Brown is "not to be trusted."

Three people running for committee posts with Brown were also removed from the ballot while five candidates aligned with her, including her daughter Meghan, stayed on the ballot.

Dougherty's attorney, Sam Stretton, said he may file an appeal to challenge the ruling keeping Meghan Brown, her boyfriend and another candidate on the ballot.  Stretton said a private investigator's surveillance raised questions about the residency of those candidates.

Brown lost 15 of the 16 challenges she filed against candidates aligned with Dougherty. Of those 15 challenges, nine were withdrawn and six were dismissed after an examination of the signatures on the nomination petitions filed by those candidates.

Brown's attorney, Linda Kerns, said she has 10 days to consider whether to appeal any of the rulings.