Working Families Party Council candidates can stay on November ballot, Commonwealth Court rules

Three Pennsylvania appellate judges on Thursday rejected an attempt by Philadelphia’s Republican City Committee to remove two Working Families Party candidates from November’s ballot for City Council at-large seats.

The Commonwealth Court judges upheld an Aug. 11 ruling from Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Joshua Roberts, who refused to strike the names of Councilmember Kendra Brooks and her running mate, Nicolas O’Rourke, from the ballot because they submitted candidate statements of financial interest that were signed electronically and not with a pen or pencil.

The Republican City Committee appealed that decision on Aug. 16.

Commonwealth Court judges Christine Fizzano Cannon, Lori A. Dumas, and Stacy Wallace, in an opinion Thursday, agreed with Roberts that not physically signing the statements was an “amendable” defect that did not require removing the candidates from the ballot.

Charles M. Gibbs, an attorney for Brooks and O’Rourke, on Thursday dismissed the Republican appeal as “a cockamamie legal argument,” echoing language from a brief he submitted to the Commonwealth Court during the appeal.

Gibbs said the Republicans “were grasping at straws” because Brooks and O’Rourke used a system established by the city to electronically submit the statements of financial interests.

The legal wrangling drew increased notice to the stakes local Republicans face in potentially losing the at-large Council seats they have held for seven decades to the progressive Working Families Party.

Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter requires that two of the seven at-large Council seats go to candidates who are not members of the city’s majority party. Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-to-1 in the city.

» READ MORE: Critics are questioning the Working Families Party’s independence as it gains traction in Philly

Brooks won one of those two seats in 2019. She is now seeking a second term and the other seat is vacant because Republican David Oh resigned from Council to run for mayor.

Republican City Committee chair Vince Fenerty said he was reviewing the ruling with the party’s attorneys. The Republicans can appeal to the state Supreme Court.