Doc: No Johnny Come Lately
Score two in the victory column for John Dougherty, business manager of electricians' union Local 98 and a failed state senate candidate to fill the seat of felon Vincent J. Fumo.
Doc: No Johnny Come Lately
Marcia Gelbart
Score two in the victory column for John Dougherty, business manager of electricians' union Local 98 and a failed state senate candidate to fill the seat of felon Vincent J. Fumo.
First, Dougherty won election last week as leader of Philadelphia's 1st Ward.
Then, last night, a Dougherty ally, Ed Nesmith, was declared the victor in the bruising battle for leader of the 2nd Ward.
Here's the way it went down:
Nick Schmanek, an aide to City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who is decidedly not a Dougherty ally, went to Democratic Party headquarters on Walnut Street to appeal to a "contest committee" that Nesmith inappropriately declared himself the winner of the 2nd ward race after Schmanek and Nesmith drew an equal number of votes.
Schmanek lost the argument, unable to persuade the contest committee, which ruled that in the case of a tie, the right thing to do is to defer to the incumbent ward leader - handing victory to Nesmith.
Another display of democracy in action?
Oh, and if anyone's curious, here are the ward leaders who sat on the contest committee: Democratic Party chairman Bob Brady, Mike McAleer (he chaired the committee), state Rep. Frank Oliver, Shirley Gregory, state Sen. Shirley Kitchen, Ann Brown, Edgar Campbell - and Dougherty, appointed by Brady to sit in for City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Comments (22)
Palmer are you a Democrat or a Republican or DiCicco Puppet? Which one? Oh and your Division has always had a high voter turn out! and Go ask Nick who won!!!! Ask Nick if he thinks I lost!!!!— kpricebfb- DOC IS A WANNA B HE ALWAYS WANTED TO B FUMO HE COULD NEVER, EVER IN FACT........... COMMON ALL U HATERS SPEAK UP AND TELL THE WORLD HOW BAD FUMO WAS THANX FUMO FOR ALL YOU DID TO MAKE OUR CITY WHAT IT IS JUST THINK WHAT IT MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE IF NO ONE WAS WATCHING— topaj
- Actually Kevin, I won my race; you lost yours. And five who voted for Ed DON't live in the Ward; it's a fact— joelpalmer
- @MB In our ward (2) there are two committemen for each division and 27 divisions hence 54 people vote for the Ward Leader; in the primary my running partner and I got 70 % of the vote to 30 % for our opponents; we polle 231 out of 305 votes and out polled Arlen Specter in out Ward/Division— joelpalmer
- Grow up Palmer you lost However answer this questions face to face!! Did you know that Nick tried to get a committiewomen to vote for him on June 7,2010. One of the committiepeople you claim does not live in 2nd Ward you lost Grow UP!!!! Would ask someone to vote for you? Or are you a DiCicco Puppet— kpricebfb
- Unions gave us a 40 hours work week, and the Republican party used to be the liberal one. Things change and, just like the Republican party is now the more conservative party, unions are now mostly led by greedy, self serving people who are interested mostly in enriching themselves and the small group they surround themselves with. And, yes, union contracts are probably the biggest reason the city is in the poor financial state it's in. Just take a look at the percentage of the budget that goes toward those expenses -- assuming you can count that high -- as well as the multiple studies, from the Pew Foundation and others, that have found our public employees benefits to be well above even those of government employees in other jurisdictions, let alone the private sector.— SirEdward
- Papist - sad that you don't know how to write like an educated adult. Try using punctuation and avoiding run-on sentences. You're statement is narrow-minded and doesn't make sense. It's actually quite silly. You're clearly uneducated, and I'm guessing you're racist, too. Take a thorough look at the city's budget and get back to us with some less silly thoughts on how to solve the structural problems of this city.— Rosie10
- How many people actually vote in these ward elections?— MBowers
GANGS OF NEW YORK the movie at a local ward near you. Go Doc Go!- Rosie10, I'm surprised you can count that high, you have managed to form a completely dim witted view of the current state of our fair city. So am I to believe that it is the fault of organized labor for the deplorable state of our city. You dear lady are a tool, how about looking in the mirror, our problems exist because no one take responsibility for their own actions. Stop blaming labor, the people who gave you a forty hour work week, the weekend, overtime, safe working environments...........etc......., how quickly we forget. As far as libraries go I don't think they are used too often, close them, have you seen the Public School testing results? Art and culture is fine when things are going well, and they are not, so let the people who utilize those assets (suburban commuters) pay for their own pleasures. To fund public safety and transportation, let's stop paying for free cell phones and 2 liter bottles of coke. Problems solved without all the anti union fodder.— Papist
- "The usual suspects"— Smokey
- Hey “soundgrounded” if what you say is true, then why, I ask you, do so many candidates, especially those with advanced degrees, fork over boatloads of money to these "ward politicos" without a second thought? I believe, my dimwitted friend, that you are as clueless as a U.N. weapons inspector.— Papist
- I wish Bob Brady would just go away. Really - just leave. And take Dougherty with you. You guys are all about protecting the few and strangling the rest of us who live in this city. Unions are an anchor when it comes to government finance. Between outrageous salaries, pension benefits nobody else in the private sector has, free lifetime healthcare after working just 5 or 10 years for a city/state (no matter what age you retire at), and the horrible work ethic bred by unions - it's costing taxpayers way too much. Think of all the funding cuts we could restore (libraries, public safety, arts & culture, streets, transportation) if we could just pay union workers a salary and pension that's consistent with the private sector - Philadelphia wouldn't be so broke. I'm as liberal as they come - but I hate unions.— Rosie10
- Unions Suck— UnionsSuck
- Why would anyone vote for a creep like John Doc— irishguy04
- Why would anyone vote for a creep like John Doc— irishguy04
- It appears that Nesmith only got to a "tie" with the votes of five people WHO DON'T LIVE IN THE WARD. Perhaps the state Comittee will take another view of the vote— joelpalmer
- You may not care what the ward leader wants or whom s/he supports, but ward leaders and committee people often play a big part in running polling places in Philadelphia. Even if you don't care about the ward leader's opinions, I'm sure you care about how fairly and effectively the voting city's voting process is run. Next time Committee positions are on the ballot, just imagine you're hiring somebody to run your poling place.— SirEdward
- Run this dude out of the city on a rail.— yawns
Doc is still living in the past. Both of these wards supported him heavily yet he still got his behind kicked heavily. Ward politics matters to only those involved in ward politics - the rest of us could care less what the ward leader wants or who the ward leader supports.
Comment removed.
A summit of corruption personified. Reminds me of that famous picture of the card playing dogs!— teckie
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