DN Editorial: Vote your future

TOMORROW'S primary election will determine the candidates for a number of offices, including governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. House and some state House races.

If that's not reason enough to vote, consider this: Just last week, Gov. Corbett announced that he will drop further appeals to a court ruling banning the state's voter-ID law, put into place two years ago. The death of this pernicious law is reason to celebrate, and the best way to do that is to get out and vote.

Here are our endorsements for governor and for city ballot questions. (The Committee of Seventy provides information on the full slate of candidates and races at www.seventy.org)

FOR GOVERNOR:

Under Corbett, Pennsylvania has regressed with policies that have inflicted widespread damage to education, health and the economy. We think Tom Wolf is the candidate, among a strong field, to beat Corbett and turn that around.

Wolf is a fresh face who offers much: He's smart, experienced and has academic, business and worldly experience. Among all the candidates, he is an actual job creator, having run his family business, sold it and then returned when it faltered to rebuild it.

Wolf's platform doesn't differ dramatically from the other candidates-he wants to invest in education, and would impose a tax on fracking to do so, and would accept the federal Medicaid expansion.

Wolf holds a doctorate from MIT., and served for a year as Ed Rendell's secretary of revenue.

FOR BALLOT QUESTIONS:

1. The first question: Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to confirm Council's power to . . . implement a Minimum Wage and Benefits Ordinance?

Mayor Nutter signed an executive order last week that would raise wages for those working for contractors doing business with the city. A ballot measure would be a more permanent change. It would require the wages to be a minimum of 150 percent of the minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour to $10.88. It would have a large impact on airport workers.

Vote: Yes

2. The second question would overturn the requirement that a city official would have to resign in order to run for a different office. At this point, the prohibition serves little purpose. No other candidates for public office must live under this restriction.

We don't see the "resign to run" provision serving a useful purpose in this day and age.

Shall The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended so that effective January 1, 2016, an elected official of the City may become a candidate for nomination or election to a different public office without first resigning from his or her current office?

Vote: Yes

3. The third question calls for the Charter to be to be amended to require Council approval of "certain contracts for one year or less for the purpose of providing legal representation and related services for indigent persons. . .."

It sounds harmless, until you start to think about it:

Why should Council get in the business of approving any city contracts?

We want the mayor, who is elected by all the people, to run this city, not City Council.

Vote: No