- Just Equally Speaking….
- Eagles owe Philadelphia the 8 million it needs to keep libraries open
- who would like to see Verizon offer cable TV in Phila?
- Council Committee Passed the Freeze
- Carol Campbell Passes Away
- My first trip to the public library
- Fight digital exclusion
- What if half of Philadelphia didn't have roads?
- You know, let's not even worry about the City Commissioners office messing up voter registration processing
- Bold ideas to fix the budget
Aardhart's Slate
Submitted by Aardhart on Sat, 04/28/2007 - 2:00pm.
I'm putting together a list of candidates that I plan to vote for. This is mostly for my own use, but thought I'd share it for discussion and disclosure purposes. I will update as I learn more or change my mind. I don't pretend anyone cares.
Mayor
Michael Nutter
5th District Council
John Longacre
At Large (5)
Marc Stier
Andy Toy
Matt Ruben
Derek Green
Blondell Reynolds Brown
Supreme Court (2)
Darnell Jones
Sheriff (1)
Michael Untermeyer
City Commissioner (2)
B. Blair Talmadge
Common Pleas Court (4)
Ellen Green-Ceisler
Angeles Roca
Register of Wills
Only one candidate in primary. I won't vote.
Superior Court (2)
Municipal Court (2)
Traffic Court (3)
Clerk of the Court
Ballot questions:
BALLOT QUESTION #1
Bill No. 070112: Casinos Ballot Questions
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to prohibit Council from taking
any action that would permit licensed gaming within 1500 feet of a residentially zoned
district, an Institutional Development District, or certain residentially-related uses, and to
prohibit the Department of Licenses and Inspections from issuing any license or permit
authorizing licensed gaming within such areas?
Yes.
BALLOT QUESTION #2
Bill No. 060617: Eliminating Resign to Run Rule
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended so that, effective January 1,
2008, City elected officials may become candidates for nomination or election to any
public office without first resigning from their City office?
Yes.
BALLOT QUESTION #3
Bill No. 060581: Creating a Youth Commission
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create a Youth Commission,
with members between the ages of 12 and 23 years of age, to be responsible for
advising the City Council and the Mayor regarding issues affecting children and youth in
order to ensure that children and youth have a voice regarding policies and decisions
affecting them?
Yes. I'm waffling on this.
BALLOT QUESTION #4
Bill No. 060682: Professionalizing the City Planning Commission
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the six appointed
members of the City Planning Commission shall include an architect, an urban planner,
a traffic engineer, an attorney experienced in land use issues, and two representatives of
Philadelphia community groups that participate in land use issues?
Yes
BALLOT QUESTION #5
Bill No. 060684: Extending the time for the City Planning Commission to
make recommendations to City Council
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide that the City Planning
Commission may extend for up to 45 days the time period within which it must provide a
recommendation to Council on pending legislation affecting zoning, the City’s physical
development plan, land subdivision, or authorizing the purchase or sale of real estate?
Yes
BALLOT QUESTION #6
Bill No. 060699: Creating an independent Zoning Code Commission
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation,
appointment, powers and duties of an independent Zoning Code Commission which
would recommend amendments to the Philadelphia Zoning Code to make the Code
consistent and easy to understand, and to enhance and improve Philadelphia’s city
planning process while encouraging development and protecting the character of
Philadelphia’s neighborhoods?
Yes
BALLOT QUESTION #7
Bill No. 060849: Asking Philadelphians to urge the U.S. government to
redeploy American troops out of harms way in Iraq during 2007
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to state the citizens’
views regarding the mission served by U.S. troops in Iraq and that the citizens of
Philadelphia urge the United States to make year 2007 the time to redeploy U.S.
troops out of harm’s way in Iraq?
No. It doesn't belong in the city charter.
CITY BOND QUESTION 8 (Bill No. 070021)
Should the City of Philadelphia borrow $129,695,000 for and toward: Transit; Streets
and Sanitation; Municipal Buildings; Parks; Recreation and Museums and; Economic
and Community Development?
Yes.
BALLOT QUESTION #9
Bill No. 060576-A: Urging the Board of Revision of Taxes to Retain the
current Percentage-based method of real estate valuation instead of
moving to a Full Valuation reassessment system.
Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to add a provision stating that
the citizens of Philadelphia urge the stopping of real estate tax assessment increases
which would result from the Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes’ use of a new
method of figuring tax assessments called “Full Valuation”?
No.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
I care! ;) And we at the
I care! ;) And we at the Longacre campaign thank you for your vote.
Feel free to contact me if you would like a window sign to help show your support.
--------------------------------------------------
Staff member of Longacre for 5th Council District.
Longacre Website
Vote for Credibility -- Vote for Ross #28
Hello,
I noticed your list and I absolutely wish to be included among your choices for the Court of Common Pleas. The merits of my candidacy have been discussed on YPP and the Friends of Elvin Ross are waging a serious campaign to add credibility to the bench by offering me up as the one who walks among the people -- and the one who will remain commited and accountable to the people beyond May 15th. For your reference, the campaign website is www.elvin4judge.com and I will personally respond to any questions you have regarding your pending decision.
All the best,
Elvin Ross #28
Elvin, I'm hoping that there
Elvin, I'm hoping that there are more threads on the judge races in a few weeks and I hope you participate in those threads. I have some reservations about the amount of your legal experience and relative lack of trial experience, but will look at other threads before I choose who to vote for.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
hey Aardhart!
Take a look at my blog before you make your decision about who to support for the Court of Common Pleas.
slate changed
I heard good things about you and tentatively decided to vote for you. I added your name to my slate.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Phila Bar Assoc ratings
I cut and pasted the following from the Philly Bar Assoc. for my reference. I don't think it is copyrightable or else it is fair use or an implied license or something. I don't think I need to remove it, but won't fight about it too much.
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Judicial Commission: Current Ratings
The following judicial candidates, listed alphabetically, were found NOT RECOMMENDED for election to the Court of Common Pleas:
Rosa Ryan Not Recommended
Gerard P. Shotzbarger Not Recommended
The following judicial candidates, listed alphabetically, were found RECOMMENDED for election to the Court of Common Pleas:
Linda Carpenter Recommended
Gregory A. Coleman Recommended
Robert P. Coleman Recommended
Alice Beck Dubow Recommended
Michael Erdos Recommended
Joyce Eubanks Recommended
Ellen Green-Ceisler Recommended
Thomas Martin Recommended
Beverly Muldrow Recommended
Joseph T. Murphy, Jr. Recommended
Thomas M. Nocella Recommended
J. Scott O’Keefe Recommended
Angeles Roca Recommended
Marvin Williams Recommended
The following judicial candidates, listed alphabetically, were found NOT RECOMMENDED for election to the Municipal Court:
Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde Not Recommended
The following judicial candidates, listed alphabetically, were found RECOMMENDED for election to the Municipal Court:
Joyce Eubanks Recommended
Sean F. Kennedy Recommended
Joseph T. Murphy, Jr. Recommended
Joseph J. O'Neill Recommended
Diane R. Thompson Recommended
Joseph C. Waters, Jr. Recommended
Sandjai Weaver Recommended
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
NOW Endorsements
Here are Philadelphia NOW's endorsements, in case a feminist view of the candidates is useful to any of you as you make up your mind. We are not endorsing in the mayor's race, as our leadership and membership are irrevocably split.
City Council At Large - Blondell Reynolds Brown, Bill Greenlee, Caryn Hunt, Marc Stier
City Council District Races - Vern Anastasio (1st); Maria Quinones Sanchez (7th); Cindy Bass (8th); Marian Tasco (9th)
Court of Common Pleas - Linda Carpenter, Ellen Green Ceisler, Beverly Muldrow, Angeles Roca
Municipal Court - Joyce Eubanks, Diane Thompson
Superior Court - Ann Lazarus (PA NOW endorsement, as it's a statewide race)
Kathy Black
Personally supporting Chaka Fattah for Mayor
I'll consider these.
I'll consider these. I don't want to support candidates that are hostile to feminism, but I can't really tell the criteria for these endorsements. The Philly NOW website (which kinda sucks) doesn't discuss what set these candidates apart from their rivals. (Why Cindy Bass and not Irv?) The judges are all female, which suggest that that might be the most important factor. I wish there was a three-tier rating similar to the PBA: Endorsed, good, and Santorum. If you know of any unacceptable candidates and post why, I would probably avoid them.
I have concluded that electing judges sucks. I am probably in the 99th percentile in knowledge and attention to these Philly elections (as probably are most YPP contributers, but there may be 5000 more knowledgeable people out there), and I have no clue about most judge candidates.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Aardhart, what about the youth commission?
It's the only ballot question that you didn't indicate a preference.
Personally, I support the initiative. You can read why by clicking here.
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Check out my blog!
I am currently working for Marc Stier and Ellen Green-Ceisler.
Vote Yes on the Youth Commission
Yes on this one...good idea. Thanks to Blondell Reynolds Brown for moving it forward.
Youth Commission
It's not the only one. #3 & #9. I also have a lot of slots in other races yet to fill. Thanks for providing input.
Committee of 70, in their endorsements, noted the question is inappropriate for the Charter. A "youth commission" could be more about warm & fuzzy feeling than anything productive, but I haven't learned much about it. Will the 21 members be paid? How much will the program cost? The cost would probably be relatively small, but I don't see a huge benefit, except for the students applying to college with it on their resume.
Why don't you cross-post your article on YPP and see what feedback we get on it? I'll probably vote in favor of it, but I'm not totally convinced one way or the other.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Where is the endorsement
Where is the endorsement information on Committee of 70's website?
I didn't know that the Committee of 70 was taking positions on ballot questions.
Here is some information from Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth:
Young people will apply directly to a new Youth Commission office. They will be recruited from schools, after-school programs, advocacy groups, community centers and other youth serving organizations. Each youth will complete a standard application which will be reviewed and considered for appointment. Recommendations will be forwarded to City Council and the Mayor. Each Council person will appoint one person and the Mayor will appoint 4 members to the Youth Commission.
What will the Members of the Youth Commission do?
In addition to regular meetings of the Commission, Youth Commission members will meet monthly with their appointing Council Members and/or the Mayor’s Staff. They will be able to hold hearings on specific issues and they will meet regularly with other youth groups to keep up with the needs and desires of the community in which they live.
Does the Commission have the Ability to Initiate or Vote on Legislation?
Youth Commissioners will not be able to vote on legislation. They will have the opportunity to write legislation which can only be introduced if sponsored by a City Councilperson.
How Much will this Cost?
We estimate that the Commission would have a budget of under $250,000 which would pay for two full time staff members (a Director and a Youth Empowerment Coordinator) and for all trainings, events, supplies and other expenses.
To answer your specific questions, I don't think the youth commissioners will be paid. It's a form of community service.
As for the benefit, I think it will give young people a voice in the political process. The youth perspective is not always heard in government and this will provide a bullhorn. It will also help engage young people in the political process and hopefully increase civic participation.
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Check out my blog!
I am currently working for Marc Stier and Ellen Green-Ceisler.
Yeah, OK
Page 6.
Yeah, I guess I'll support it.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Paid
I'm pretty sure you don't get paid for being on most commissions. I assume that the Youth Commission will be same way. I've gotten no checks since joining the Police Advisory Commission, though we do get dinner before our meetings.
www.whatever-it-takes.net
Not authoritative, but...
Cindy is a member of Phila NOW. As is Maria, I believe. I am on their mailing list because of some feminist work I was doing at law school, and NOW has been very active in helping fundraise for Cindy for a while.
They can talk about the actual process, though--I was not a part of it.
Jennifer
NOW Endorsements
We don't have money for a fancy website. We're an all volunteer, rather poor organization.
Here's the basic endorsement process: a candidate must ask for our endorsement; once they do, we ask them to fill our our questionnaire - a set of questions on our core issues (reproductive rights, pay equity, gay marriage, the ERA, etc.) and then other issues we have taken positions on; if the candidate agrees with all our core issues, we arrange for a small group interview, where we flesh out these issues, investigate their experience, other organizational and community work, etc. The interviewers then make a recommendation to the NOW Board and membership about whether to endorse.
It is our experience that candidates who aren't in agreement with us on our core issues don't ask for endorsement.
Irv did not ask for our endorsement, though I don't doubt he supports our agenda and issues. Cindy Bass is an officer of NOW, a long standing, very active member, who, among many other things, organized a terrific NOW Conference last year. Endorsing her was an easy decision for us, because of her status with the organization, her commitment to our agenda, her political and community experience, and also because the main reason we have a PAC is to encourage and support more progressive women to run for office.
For judicial elections we have never endorsed a man. In Philadelphia judicial races, at least since we started our PAC a few years ago, there have always been a bunch of excellent women candidates to support, and we believe that we need a lot more women on the bench. We agree that trying to make informed choices for judges is very difficult, and it is one of the problems that first motivated us to start a Philadelphia NOW PAC. We have found that our members are grateful for the recommendations, and many other people follow them as well.
For other offices, we occasionally endorse men but only if they are members of NOW, or we've had working relationships with them, which is the case with the handful that appear on our endorsement list.
There are certainly some good men running for judge and other offices, but our resources are limited and we have chosen to limit our support to women candidates and occasional close male allies.
Kathy, thanks for the
Kathy, thanks for the information. Sorry for my comment on the website. Having the candidates spread out over 7 or 8 pages without groupings was kinda hard to navigate.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Michael Erdos
I have not pushed Mike at all on this site thus far because I am his campaign manager. However, I urge anyone who has not made up their minds on who to vote for to look into Mike Erdos.
Mike is a highly qualified candidate who has spent the last decade as a District Attorney, the last 4 of which he served as the Chief of the Public Nuisance Task force where he worked with neighborhoods and local politicians to help close down Nuisance bars and drug houses throughout the city. Before that he worked for both a leading civil rights organization and the leading reproductive rights organization in the country.
He has a host of endorsements from the AFL-CIO to the FOP to Planned Parenthood and Liberty City. Please find out more at www.electmikeerdos.com
OK. I'll edit later. ---- I
OK. I'll edit later.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Concerns about Mike Erdos
Actually, now that Dan UA raised the issue of the Public Nuisance Task Force and looking at the Erdos website, I'm pulling my endorsement. I've heard stories from people who know how bad some of the stuff they do is. People show up to court potentially to potentially lose their homes (on only a preponderance of the evidence standard without the right to a court appointed attorney), and the DAs, lawyers, and commissioner talk amongst themselves and not let any of the accused know what's going on. I'm impressed with Erdos's credentials, but worried about his background.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Having looked into Erdos
We heard some talk that he had been a more reasoned leader of that department than some in the past. However I share your and Dan's concerns about the systemic use of civil forfeiture to seize homes (a process that is NOT necessarily tied to charges or convictions for the alleged drug crime that provides the grounds for the seizure).
Erdos has a phenomenally impressive resume, but much of his 'progressive' work--on reproductive rights, etc--was pretty early in his career. I don't think he should be written off, but I would want some real accounting for how he views his work at the DA.
Jennifer
Yeah. Put it like this-
Yeah. Put it like this- from what I know- Erdos was better in that department than previous people there. But, it still is just a really problematic place.
Anyway, I think he would be a capable judge, his answers to questionnaires were good, and he is a smart dude (Yale Law, etc). It is just that if you are looking at small margins between people, it makes a difference to me.
I see
so attending an Ivy League law school necessarily means someone is smart? Hmmm.
Well,
not if the Ivy League law school is Penn! Yale, yeah, yeah it does.
Jennifer
Nah, it doesn't. But, it is
Nah, it doesn't. But, it is also the hardest law school in the Country to get into, and is where an incredibly disproportionate number of federal judges, Senators, Presidents, etc., come from.
I was only pulling your chain
but now that you mention it, while it wasn't the law school, the fact that Bush attended Yale doesn't exactly speak to the validity of making assumptions about people's intelligence on the basis of what school they get into. (YPP blog masters excepted, of course.)