David Oh, remember him?

Several of us around these parts supported his agonizingly close election race for the second of two city charter guaranteed minority party seats for City Council At-Large. Basically in a razor-thin election for a guaranteed Republican seat, many of us argued for throwing some support for a smart former ADA "good-government" Republican with a strong record of standing up for equality under the law (read local NAACP endorsement, history of pro-bono legal aide work for recent immigrants, Log Cabin Republicans endorsement) against Republican incumbent Jack Kelly - who though by most accounts is a "nice guy" has been far from legislative workhorse. Kelly heavily outspent Oh and received strong support from both the local GOP establishment and interestingly some of the less progressive factions of the local Democratic Party establishment.

Anyhoo, that election ended up falling to Kelly in a city-wide race by a mere 122 votes and Kelly was recently inaugurated to Council for another 4 years. In the process of tallying votes up this nail biter of a race, Kelly's narrow win was attributed to concentrated absentee ballot efforts by both local GOP organizers in NE Philly and the IBEW's Local 98. Oh would have won based only on the votes cast on election day so the absentee votes are vitally important. Frank Keel, longtime Local 98 spokesperson, also became Kelly's spokesperson during the election.

In investigating those absentee ballots Oh came across a number of instances of seniors in a Veteran's Home who claimed to have never cast the absentee votes that were submitted in their name.

From the Inky:

Oh said he wants the Board of Elections to "correct" the process of collecting and counting absentee ballots, and punish anyone who falsified ballots. He also said he has the option of filing a suit in federal court.

"I think it's important . . . that we send a message to the people who tried to take advantage of the elderly and sick, that they will be pursued and prosecuted," Oh said. A reporter attempting to interview residents of the veterans home on Southampton Road was turned away last week. Administrators this week said residents could not be interviewed because of privacy concerns.

Joan Nissley, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said the same person from the home's residents council has assisted with ballots for the last three years, and any resident who wants to vote and needs assistance gets it.

"We are confident that no improprieties took place," Nissley said.

But Anthony Hill, director of the veterans' advocacy group Gathering of Eagles, who is also an Oh supporter, said he personally interviewed at least two people who said they did not vote, and others who were mostly unresponsive to questions.

"It's just disgusting to use the guys, who have worn the uniform, in that way," said Hill.

Well despite having conceding the election, Oh has stood by the allegations of voter fraud he turned up and has taken the Philadelphia Board of Elections to federal court over them.

"We found fraud in the absentee-ballot process, and it wasn't a little bit. It was a significant amount," Oh said. His suit asks the court to require election officials to produce detailed information about the handling of absentee ballots in the election.

"We want to uncover these details so the process can be fixed and the message sent that voter fraud is very serious," Oh said.

Besides showing that Oh is a class act, sticking to his guns against voter fraud even after Kelly has been officially sworn in, why should we care?

1. Because voter fraud anywhere, in any race, in Philadelphia should always be concern for progressives. It robs people of their ability to believe that their vote matters and encourages Philadelphian's often crippling cynicism about government and politics.

2. Because these are very serious allegations and the move to Federal Court indicates that neither the DA's office nor the Elections Board has responded appropriately to the seriousness of the charges. That has implications for progressives and progressive candidates going into the future well beyond this one At-Large Council race. Once again the Feds are fixing endemic corruption and ethical lapses at the local Philadelphia level.

3. It may well turn out some relatively big local GOP fish may be implicated in these voter fraud allegations. There has been some pressure from the local GOP on Oh to publicize the names in the suit and let them "handle it" internally. Oh, to his credit, has stuck to his guns and said it will all come out in court. He did send out an email on the subject that should raise the eyebrows of anybody concerned about "good government" in Philadelphia.

Dear Friends,

Some low-level political operatives committed voter fraud in the last election by targeting senior citizens and residents of care facilities. They apparently did so with the belief that no one would go after them because they are protected by powerful people. They were wrong. I am going after them.

On Friday, January 4, 2008, I filed a complaint in Federal Court. I know the identities of a few of the people who committed voter fraud. They include government employees and committee-persons. It appears they were able to commit voter fraud because the laws and regulations governing the absentee ballot process were subverted by persons working inside the Election Board and by the Election Board’s own failure to comply with state and federal law. That is the basis of my complaint and we shall pursue our claims diligently.

A pre-trial conference has been set. We will use the full power of the federal court to investigate these cases of voter fraud and election improprieties. As a former prosecutor, there is little doubt in my mind that the persons who committed these acts of voter fraud will readily testify against their co-conspirators and the persons who directed or encouraged them to do so.

As always, I appreciate your support. This time, we are fighting to ensure that every vote counts and that your vote truly does matter.

Thank you,
David

I think this is case we should all be interested in following for obvious reasons.

I for one certainly wish more local Dems showed this kind of determination to stamp out voter fraud wherever it rears its ugly head.