Philly GOP threatens discipline for officials who helped put Green Party on November ballot

Philadelphia’s Republican ward leaders will vote Wednesday on whether to reprimand — or possibly expel — two party officials involved in helping Green Party candidates get on the statewide ballot in November.

Matt Wolfe, a Republican ward leader in West Philadelphia, and Michael J McLaughlin, the GOP chairman of the Fifth Ward in Center City, say they did nothing wrong by signing or circulating nominating papers for Green Party candidates earlier this summer.

Their goal, they maintain, was to help the GOP by helping to land candidates on the ballot who would potentially draw votes away from the Democratic nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and U.S. Senate.

Wolfe signed the papers, which are essentially petitions to allow a candidate onto the ballot; McLaughlin was one of three Republicans in the city who helped circulate the papers in an effort organized by street-level GOP operatives but not sanctioned by party officials.

» READ MORE: The Philly GOP ousted him for possible ‘ballot harvesting’ last election. He’s back to help them (and the Green Party).

While Democratic or Republican efforts to assist third-party candidates in hopes of damaging their rivals’ electoral odds aren’t uncommon, the Republican City Committee’s bylaws bar members from directly or indirectly supporting candidates on opposing tickets. Now both men have been summoned before an investigative panel to answer for their involvement.

“We already have our own candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and Senate,” said Vince Fenerty, the city committee’s chairman. “That at least violates the spirit of the bylaws.”

Party insiders say it’s unlikely the committee will take the drastic step of expelling either man when they convene Wednesday night at the United Republican Club in Kensington. “There’s not enough Republicans in the city to start kicking people out,” one quipped, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Still, the dust-up highlights the at-times fractious internal politics that have plagued the city’s heavily outnumbered Republican Party.

In May, the city’s Republican ward leaders voted to expel Billy Lanzilotti, then the Republican leader of the 39th Ward in South Philadelphia, after an Inquirer report implicating him in a potential “ballot harvesting” scheme during the May primary.

» READ MORE: Dozens of mail ballots are going to a GOP ward leader’s South Philly P.O. box, raising ‘ballot harvesting’ concerns

Lanzilotti was one of the three Philadelphia Republicans who helped circulate the Green Party nomination papers, gathering 111 of the 5,000 signatures the Green Party candidates needed statewide. His participation helped draw attention to the effort.

Wolfe, in an interview Tuesday, laughed at the idea that the resulting investigation is really about party bylaws or the principle of the matter. He dismissed the proceedings — initiated by an anonymous complaint — as “the height of ridiculousness” and “a distraction brought by petty, cowardly people.”

“My relationship with some of the ward leaders has been rocky over time,” Wolfe said.

A lawyer, he noted that years ago state Republican officials had urged him to take on former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader as a client when he was fighting for a spot on Pennsylvania’s ballot in 2004. He sees little difference between that and his decision to sign Green Party nominating papers this year.

“While it may have helped the Green Party achieve their goal of getting on the ballot, what I was doing was supporting the Republican candidates,” he said.

McLaughlin has repeatedly declined requests to comment on how he became involved in the effort to boost the Green Party. But his ward leader, Mike Cibik, who oversees Center City’s Fifth Ward, suggested the party’s investigation was a way for Fenerty and his allies to punish those within the city committee with whom they are at odds.

“Quite frankly, we ought to be looking at this issue of putting Green Party candidates on the ballot as helping the Republican Party,” Cibik said. “It’s a tactical advantage. Why would you crucify people for that? It’s politics 101.”

For his part, Fenerty flatly denies that personal grudges have played any role in his decision to convene the panel of seven Republican ward leaders who will investigate and then recommend Wednesday night whether Wolfe or McLaughlin should face punishment. He drew a distinction between Wolfe signing nomination papers — something the committee chair described as a “technical violation” of the party’s bylaws — and McLaughlin’s more active role in circulating the forms. But he said the committee was compelled to investigate both men because of complaints from other ward leaders.

“When I have ward leaders coming to me saying, ‘Yo, this happened. You’ve got to do something about it,’ I can’t just shrug my shoulders and say no,” he said. “There’s proof that they did it. There’s concern among the ward leaders. Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s my job to sort it out.”

Staff writer Chris Brennan contributed to this article.