City GOP picks Wolfe as Council candidate

Philadelphia Republicans chose lawyer J. Matthew Wolfe, a former deputy state attorney general, as their candidate Wednesday night for a vacant at-large City Council seat to be filled in a May 20 special election.

Wolfe, 57, a GOP ward leader from West Philadelphia, will run against State Rep. Ed Neilson, the Democratic nominee. The seat became vacant last month when Gov. Corbett appointed Bill Green, a Democrat, chairman of the School Reform Commission.

Wolfe served as chief counsel of the state Department of Labor and Industry under Gov. Tom Ridge and as a lawyer in the Department of Transportation. He is an advocate for cuts in the city's business and wage taxes. He is married to Denise Furey, a financial services professional, and has two adult sons. - Robert Moran