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Nutter opposes Council bill restricting who can represent the poor

City Council wants more say in who is hired to represent those who cannot represent themselves.

Nutter: If it ain't broke . . . DAVID MAIALETTI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nutter: If it ain't broke . . . DAVID MAIALETTI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERRead more

A BILL APPROVED by a City Council committee yesterday faces opposition from Mayor Nutter because it places tighter restrictions on whom the city can hire to represent defendants too poor to afford a lawyer.

Introduced by Councilman Dennis O'Brien, the bill passed quickly out of Council's Law and Government Committee yesterday, goes for a first reading today and could pass by next week, creating a new set of rules for the hiring of legal counsel for the poor.

O'Brien earned a victory in May when Philadelphia voters approved a ballot initiative that revoked some of the mayor's power in awarding contracts for indigent legal counsel.

According to language in that original bill, three city organizations were exempt from Council approval - the city's Defender Association of Philadelphia, the Support Center for Child Advocates and Community Legal Services - all of which the city uses regularly.

Now, O'Brien wants Council to have the authority to review city contracts with the three organizations. He cites protecting individuals' constitutional rights as the impetus for this legislation.

"I do not believe that every contract should require City Council approval," O'Brien said yesterday.

"However, I do strongly believe that any contract dealing with an individual's constitutional rights is important enough to require Council approval. Furthermore, these contracts are of such importance that an exception to the charter was not only required, but in the best interest of the city."

Under current law, if the administration chooses to use the Philadelphia Defenders Association to represent the indigent, Council does not have to review that contract unless it deals with conflict-counsel services.

But the mayor's director of public safety, Michael Resnick, says O'Brien's new bill snarls the process.

"These three organizations are at the top of their field nationally, and any proposal they make for indigent defense or conflict counsel is consistent with their consummate professionalism, apt to be 100 percent sound," he said.

"With this bill, now all contracts for conflict-counsel services . . . are subject to the ordinance requirement."