When Elections Don't Matter

The city Democratic Party doesn't always care what voters think.

by Holly Otterbein

Now a small group says the Democratic City Committee (DCC) treats its rookies the same way.

This winter, six residents of the 40th Ward, in Southwest Phila­delphia, decided to do an innocent enough thing: They ran for Democratic committee positions. None of them — Tracey Gordon, Than Lim, Donald Henry, Tony McCloud, Beverly Austin and Robin Aker — were committee persons at the time, and many were utterly fresh to city politics.

They say they wanted to make their community a better place. Gordon, for instance, who serves as president of the community group Southwest Concerned Citizens, thought she might able to lift the voter participation rate in her ward. At about 8 percent during nonpresidential election years, it ranks among the lowest in the city. Henry, meanwhile, wanted to see fewer young people getting into trouble.

"The ward doesn't place enough emphasis on finding something for the youth here to do," he says.

The city Democratic Party didn't share the group's zeal. In March, Steven Kaplan, an attorney for the DCC, filed ballot-petition challenges against all six.

"In some of these divisions where they filed challenges, there wasn't even another committee person running," says Damon Roberts, the group's pro-bono attorney. "These were good people they were challenging, too. Henry is president of the Eastwick Dynasty Dragons Youth Organization; McCloud owns a small business."

The DCC says that it took the fledglings to court because they didn't have enough legitimate signatures of registered Democrats to get on the ballot. (You need 10.) Gordon, however, remembers things a little differently. In her telling, Ann Brown, one of the two Democratic leaders of the 40th Ward, chided the group for running against existing committee persons.

"She told me, 'You didn't ask my permission to run,'" says Gordon. "Where in America do you have to ask to run for election?" (Brown denies saying that.)

Everyone in the group was either kicked off the ballot or withdrew from the race. Well, almost: On March 22, the Court of Common Pleas denied the DCC's challenge to Gordon. On Election Day in May, she won with 38 votes.

But on June 7, at the ward's first post-election meeting, deputy chair Gregory Moses suggested that the committee oust Gordon. He cited a bylaw to support his position:

"If at any time in the opinion of the majority of the entire ward committee, a member is unfaithful to the Democratic Party and the best interests of the party, or refuses, fails or neglects to work in harmony with the ward committee, the ward comm­ittee shall be empowered to remove said person from its membership."

The committee agreed, and unanimously voted Gordon out. A police officer — Brown says she called the cops ahead of time to make sure that Gordon went quietly — escorted her outside. Brown readily admits that her animus was motivated, in part, by Gordon's support of the five other outsiders who also ran for committee positions. Brown adds that when she got Gordon a job with then-Mayor John Street's Office of Community Services, Gordon lost it because she was "disruptive." Gordon says she was, in fact, laid off.

"She filed committee people against the ward," says Brown. "She tried to take over the ward." (The 40th Ward, it's worth noting, has a total of 102 available Democratic committee positions.)

Gordon asked for a copy of the bylaw she broke. That request was denied. She also phoned the DCC, Philly Democratic kingpin U.S. Rep. Bob Brady and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party about the meeting, but heard zip back.

"How can a ward go against the will of the citizens who elected me?" she asks.

Quite easily, it turns out: According to Jonathan David, director of voter services at the Committee of Seventy, it "may not seem right, but it's legal."

"Parties are essentially private," he explains. "It's a shame, though. They're turning away a person who wants to serve their community."

David adds that Gordon could appeal the decision, though "the party probably wouldn't change its mind."

Gordon says she'd love to appeal, but her questions about doing so have gone unanswered. She still doesn't even have a copy of the bylaw used to toss her out. She acknowledges that she might have better luck if she followed in the path of Philly Republican insurgents, who've threatened to sue over their struggles with the RCC. "But I don't have the money for that," she says.

Though Gordon and the group's plight might seem like small potatoes, it speaks to a larger, more troubling issue: If the DCC can so easily push out an elected committee person simply because she wanted to bring in new blood, how will potentially corrupt elements in the party ever be weeded out? After all, committee persons elect ward leaders, and ward leaders elect citywide leadership. Even worse, says Gordon, such a chokehold can encourage nepotism.

"The only reason the committee didn't stand up for me is because they're all getting jobs," she says. Though she won't give specifics, Gordon claims that Brown, who prior to her retirement in 2004 worked for Council President Anna Verna, routinely doles out patronage work to committee persons in the 40th Ward. According to the city's phone directory records, at least six of the ward's committee persons are on the city's payroll.

"I wish I had jobs to give out," counters Brown. "I've worked very hard in the past to find employment for my committee people, and I'm proud of that."

Gordon's recent experience with the DCC has her thinking back to why she ran in the first place — to improve voter participation — and if it's possible.

"The party is fine with no one voting. Then no one asks questions, and they can keep getting the same old people elected," she says. "They want to keep us quiet."

(holly.otterbein@citypaper.net)