Brady asks top court to take his case

Lawyers for Philadelphia mayoral candidate Bob Brady asked the State Supreme Court today to jump ahead of a lower court and decide whether Brady can remain on the May 15 Democratic primary ballot.

"We want the Supreme Court to take jurisdiction over this thing so we can get it done and decided," lawyer Stephen Cozen said in an interview.

The case currently sits in Commonwealth Court, where an appeal was filed this week by six supporters of mayoral candidate Tom Knox's. They want to overturn a lower court's ruling that keeps Brady on the ballot.

Paul Rosen, the Knox supporters' lawyer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

In the petition, which was filed today, Cozen said the high court should take the case not only because of its urgency but because the other side had "raised questions regarding the integrity of the judicial process." Cozen attached copies of news articles in which Rosen and Knox were quote as claiming that the original ruling amounted to special treatment for Brady.

Commonwealth Court scheduled oral arguments for April 10 in Harrisburg, according to Cozen's petition. But that's too slow, Cozen contended, because a decision would be unlikely till mid-April, a month before the primary.

"We don't think Mr. Knox should get away with holding the voters hostage while he drags this thing out to Mr. Brady's detriment," Cozen said in an interview.

Knox and his supporters contend that Brady should be bounced from the ballot for omitting city and carpenters union pension data from his financial interest statement, a form required of all candidates. The lower court judge rejected the city-pension claim and said Brady could amend his form to include the carpenters pension.

The State Supreme Court is empowered to reach down and take control of a lower-court dispute by exercising its "plenary jurisdiction" powers as overseer of the entire state judiciary. The court has told Knox's lawyers to respond by next Wednesday to Brady's motion.