Darrell L. Clarke appears to have votes to become Council president

After months of wrangling, Councilman Darrell L. Clarke has secured the backing of 10 colleagues, meaning he likely will become the next Council president in the new year.

The 17 Council members won't take an official vote until after the Jan. 2 inauguration, but each of Clarke's supporters has signed a petition attesting to their intention to vote for him, according to multiple sources. Clarke also has a one-vote margin of error, as only nine votes are needed to win.

Clarke and Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco, the majority leader, have been jockeying for months. Councilman James F. Kenney was a late entrant into the race when Tasco did not appear to have enough backing.

Clarke has commitments from Council members Jannie L. Blackwell, Curtis Jones, Bill Green, William K. Greenlee and Wilson Goode. He also has the votes of four incoming freshmen Council members: Bobby Henon, Kenyatta Johnson, Mark Squilla, and Republican at-large Dennis O'Brien. Clarke would be the 10th vote.

Clarke, who represents the Fifth District, covering parts of Center City, Fairmount, and North Philadelphia, was reelected last week to his fourth term in office. He was a protege of former Mayor John F. Street, who also represented the Fifth District and was Council president under Mayor Ed Rendell.

Clarke rose to oversee legislative, housing, and economic affairs in Street's Council office.

Mayor Nutter, who saw several of his top first-term initiatives rebuffed by Council, had been backing Tasco, with Kenney as an alternative candidate. Nutter and Street have a famously contentious relationship, which may have accounted for the mayor's reluctance to see a former Street aide running Council.

The bond between mayor and Council president is crucial. They can frustrate each other's efforts or work in concert to get major legislation and reform accomplished. Rendell and Street had a famously productive rapport.

Green said he thought Nutter and Clarke could build a good partnership.

"I'm convinced that Darrell will be able to drive things so the mayor can be successful," he said.

Green also said he thought Clarke would "want to unite Council, not divide it."

"I honestly believe that Darrell is going to be extremely fair to everyone after this," Green said.

Clarke and Tasco did not return messages left Sunday night with their aides. Kenney also did not return a call.

Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald said he would defer comment until some sort of official announcement on the Council presidency was made.

The race to succeed current President Anna C. Verna has been playing a background role in much of the internal politics of Council as well as this month's general election.

Tasco is enrolled in the voter-reviled DROP pension program. Many Council candidates said they would refuse to back her for president because of her participation in the program. Nutter threw his election endorsements behind several candidates who said they would not rule out Tasco.

Two of those candidates - Squilla and Johnson - nonetheless have signed up to back Clarke.

John J. Dougherty, the powerful head of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, has been a Clarke supporter. Dougherty poured a significant amount of money and influence into the GOP at-large race, trying to knock off David Oh, the primary's top vote-getter and a presumed Tasco vote.

Oh had a 172-vote lead over Al Taubenberger on election night, and ballots still are being counted to determine the winner.