Skip to content
Politics
Link copied to clipboard

A seat on Traffic Court, a most prized city post, now has a downside

The most sought-after elected office in Philadelphia isn't mayor, City Council, sheriff, or state representative. It's Traffic Court judge. Thirteen candidates ran for one seat on the bench in 2011. In 2007, 15 people scrambled for three open spots.

The most sought-after elected office in Philadelphia isn't mayor, City Council, sheriff, or state representative.

It's Traffic Court judge.

Thirteen candidates ran for one seat on the bench in 2011. In 2007, 15 people scrambled for three open spots.

The post does not require a law license, and none of the Traffic Court judges has one. It pays $89,000 and is likely a job for life.

To win requires support from the city's Democratic ward organization, money from the region's construction trades, and luck. Candidates who secure the top spot on the ballot - it is awarded by lottery - are almost guaranteed a seat on the bench.

But these days, the job has a downside: It also means you may be investigated by the FBI. Agents have raided homes, offices, and businesses of two current judges and one former judge.

At least three of the judges have testified before a federal grand jury. Investigators are believed to be asking if money or favors were exchanged for lower fines or acquittals.

In December the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, Ronald D. Castille, said an investigation he ordered determined judges were improperly talking to political operatives - apparently about fixing tickets. He called the practice long-standing and pervasive.

Insiders do not use the term ticket-fixing; reducing a fine or tossing a case is called "adjudicating" a ticket.

Castille replaced Traffic Court Administrative Judge Michael J. Sullivan with a former federal prosecutor, Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary S. Glazer.

Glazer is hinting at proposing stiffer qualifications to become a judge, which would end what traditionally has been a reward for party loyalists with no legal background.

Traffic Court, with its 115 patronage employees, operates in a gray brick building at 800 Spring Garden St. It is the only traffic court in the state - elsewhere traffic violations are heard by magistrate courts.

Long lines form each morning at cashier's windows, and hard wooden benches in each courtroom fill with defendants contesting tickets for moving violations. The most common involve running a red light, driving without insurance or registration, and speeding.

It is the court most familiar to the average person - hundreds of people appear each day. And it is not just a ticket. The outcomes can radically increase the cost of insurance and determine whether someone loses a license.

"The impact is real. Are they able to drive, or not drive" - which can mean the difference between a job and no job, Glazer said.

The judge sits behind a lectern, a city police officer typically serves as the prosecutor, and the defendant stands before the judge. No microphones amplify sound or record the proceedings.

Since 1991, the court has processed more than 5.7 million tickets, generating $11 million for the state and $8 million for the city in 2011.

Sullivan remains on the bench and is hearing cases. There are seven elected judges, but the court has been operating with only four.

Court veteran Thomasine Tynes is on medical leave. Willie Singletary, elected in 2007 after winning the top spot on the Democratic primary ballot, has resigned after allegedly showing photos of his genitals to a court worker.

The newest judge, former ward leader Christine Solomon, was also elected after winning the top ballot spot in the primary.

"It's very important, particularly in a crowded field," said Matthew Myers, a Democratic ward leader in South Philadelphia. "There is a certain percentage [of votes] in that position that is automatic."

Solomon flunked a required judicial education course in December but passed it on her second try. Solomon, 59, won her seat in November after leading a field of 14 candidates in the spring Democratic primary. Earlier, she won first ballot position.

Solomon, Sullivan, and Michael Lowry rose out of the city's Democratic ward organization. Solomon led the 53d Ward in Oxford Circle, Sullivan the powerful 39B Ward in South Philadelphia. Lowry's father was a ward leader in the Northeast.

Tynes was part of the political organization headed by former City Council President Joe Coleman. Bernice DeAngelis, a former administrative judge still on the court, was an ally of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo.

Sullivan, Lowry, and Robert Mulgrew also have close ties to the city's powerful building-trades unions.

Sullivan has been a member of Operating Engineers Local 542, the 6,000-strong union whose members drive trucks, operate cranes, and run equipment on job sites. State records also list him as the manager of the Fireside Tavern near Oregon Avenue.

Local 542 continues to be a source of income for Sullivan, according to his mandatory financial-disclosure form, though how much he receives and whether it is salary, pension, or other payment is unclear. Neither the union nor his attorney replied to calls seeking comment.

Judges are allowed to earn outside income.

In his 2005 campaign, Sullivan touted his influence as a ward leader - and the close relationship of ward leaders with Traffic Court - in an interview with the Public Record, a newspaper and website that serves the city's political insiders.

Sullivan said his opponents "don't know the system like I know it. I know it in and out and front and back. I've spent many hours in Traffic Court with my constituents."

Sullivan's predecessor as 39B Ward leader, Joseph A. Howlett Sr., was also his predecessor on the bench. Howlett passed away in December 2004, and the next year Sullivan ran for and won the empty Traffic Court seat.

"Being involved in the political biz just put him in a better position," Myers said.

Sullivan spent about $200,000 to win election. Of that, $100,000 came from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers or other political committees allied with union head John J. Dougherty.

Sullivan was elevated to administrative judge early in 2011, a post that gave him control over court hiring.

Dougherty also played a key role in the election of Mulgrew, a former Local 98 employee, to Traffic Court in 2007. Local 98-connected political action committees gave $160,000 of the $253,000 raised by Mulgrew.

A second party-endorsed candidate, Lowry, also won, spending a modest $38,000. He is a former aide to State Rep. Michael McGeehan, whose district runs along the Delaware River in Northeast Philadelphia. McGeehan is also heavily funded by Local 98.

The third endorsed candidate in 2007, Sandra A. Mills, lost to the man who won the toss and got the top of the ballot that year: Willie Singletary.