Milton Street stays on ballot, judge says

T. Milton Street Sr. is on the ballot, and it looks like he'll stay there for good.

A Commonwealth Court judge ruled in his favor yesterday, denying a petition arguing that Street should be removed as a City Council at-large candidate for failing to gather 1,000 legitimate signatures.

Milton Street - Mayor Street's brother and the uncle of fellow Council at-large candidate Sharif Street - was jubilant when told of the ruling yesterday afternoon.

"I think I made a pretty good argument. I'm thinking maybe I should go to law school," said Street, who represented himself.

The case turned on the technical matter of whether one of Street's signature-gatherers registered using the wrong address. The court found that there was no intent to deceive petition-signers, and thus refused to strike the signatures gathered by that petition-gatherer.

"The legal argument didn't matter, this was strictly politics," said lawyer Jeremy Walker of the court's decision.

Walker represented Samuel Harris, the West Philadelphia resident who sought to remove Street from the ballot. Walker said an appeal was unlikely.

Sharif Street was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokesman for his campaign said that Sharif Street "prays for" his uncle "and hopes he finds some peace and serenity in his life."