Bill asks elected officials to quit before city race

State and federal elected officials eyeing a run for city offices could soon be required to resign before becoming a candidate.

City Councilman Jim Kenney introduced an amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter on Thursday that would apply to such candidates as a congressman running for mayor.

Should the proposal pass, the decision to change the charter would be left up to voters in November.

Kenney said the change would "level the playing field." Currently, those who hold city offices must resign before seeking any public office. Six years ago Kenney tried to push a charter change that would allow city officials to remain in office while running for another office. But voters shot down that effort.

Zack Stalberg, president of political watchdog group Committee of Seventy said the board will take a look at the proposal before taking a formal position.

Stalberg said there are problems with the current "resign to run" law because it puts Philadelphia at a disadvantage, adding that it discourages people from running for city and state offices.

Kenney said that officials who are able to keep their offices while seeking city offices are able to use the office to raise campaign funds outside of local campaign limits, receive free publicity and a paycheck.

"If you want to run for an office in Philly whether it's Mayor or City Controller or Sheriff, you have to make a leap," Kenney said. "We have to make a leap, to give up your job. That's a big leap."

Would this proposal have anything to do with Kenney's rumored 2015 Mayoral run?

"I don't know what I'm doing," Kenney said. "I'm doing [the legislation] well enough in advance so [that argument] has less validity."

Contact Jan Ransom at 215-854-5218 or Ransomj@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @Jan_Ransom.