Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Council is sad at Evans loss and points fingers

City Council says Philadelphia will lose money now that Dwight Evans is no longer Democratic House Appropriations Committee chairman.

John Dougherty's positive take on the loss of State Rep. Dwight Evans' political clout wasn't exactly conventional wisdom in City Hall.


At City Council's Thursday meeting, Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco and Councilman Jim Kenney lamented the change. They also pointed fingers at members of the House's Philadelphia delegation who voted to replace Evans with Rep. Joseph Markosek of Allegheny County.

"We will suffer," Tasco said. "I don't want you to forget that it was Democrats who voted against Philadelphia."
She introduced a resolution crediting Evans as champion of the development and expansion of the Convention Center, among other things.

Kenney, a longtime Dougherty foe, all but called the members of the Philadelphia delegation who voted to replace Evans but wouldn't own up to it cowards. Political-watchers speculated that any where from four to nine members of the city's 24-member delegation were among the final 50 votes for Markosek. From the Philadelphia delegation, only Angel Cruz and Michael H. O'Brien acknowledged that they had voted for Markosek.

"At least two members of the state delegation admitted that they had voted against Rep. Evans," Kenney said. "At least they had the courage to put themselves out there and tell people what they did." - Miriam Hill

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.