Philadelphia Council President Darrell Clarke always has heavy decisions upon his shoulders, and the past few weeks have been no different. The only thing is, I cannot remember the last time we witnessed (4) city council members all resign from their seats in a move that many of us believe will lead them to all toss their hats in the ring to run for Mayor in 2023.
I had the opportunity to speak with Joe Grace, spokesperson for Council President Clarke September 16th, and he gave me the inside skinny on what will happen next.
Joe Grace stated, “Council President Clarke, over the last six working days, has ordered, by signing Writs, for Special Elections to be held to fill four vacant seats in city council. Two district seats (people who represent a defined neighborhood district), the 7th district seat, vacated by Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez, who has resigned to run for Mayor. The seventh district is in North Philadelphia and parts of the lower Northeast, Kensington area, and the 9th district seat in Northwest Philadelphia, vacated by Councilwoman Cherelle L. Parker, the council majority leader, who also has resigned. Parker has suggested publicly that she is strongly considering a run for Mayor.
Then we have two At-Large seats that are now vacant because Councilmember Derek Green and Councilmember Alan Domb have stepped down from their Council seats. Councilmember Green has expressly said he’s running for Mayor. Former Councilmember Domb has said he is exploring a possible candidacy for Mayor.”
Joe Grace continued, “Last Friday, a week ago, Council President Clarke issued Writs to fill the vacancies in the district council seats vacated by Quiñones Sánchez and Parker under the theory that those district council seats need to get filled right away. They service constituents on a daily basis. Filling those seats is a priority. He ordered a Writ of Special Elections and delivered it to the City Commissioners, asking to hold a special election on November 8th, the regular general election day in Pennsylvania.
Yesterday, September 15th, the Council President delivered two more Writs to hold special elections again, on November 8th, to fill the At-Large vacancies created by Council members Green and Domb when they resigned. The reason we stated as to why this happened on two separate days as opposed to happening all on one day: Is the Council President now believes Council needs more of a full complement of members because not only do we have legislation to pass, but in the event of a Mayoral veto of legislation council feels is important, or any potential change to the Home Rule Charter, those two later things that I just mentioned, they require twelve votes. They require a super-majority in Council, under city law.”
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