55 Responses

1. PhillySteve-

   The report was crap. I said that his claim of voter impersonation was actually a case of the clerk giving the spouse the wrong voter card to sign. He misrepresented it.

   I know this type of clerical error is quite common. I’ve been given my dad’s and my brother’s card by mistake on different occasions, but I happened to catch it. When you have elderly poll workers and elderly voters with poor eyesight, this type of problem happens easily. But, it’s NOT voter impersonation.

2. Note: the article about his report was July 19, 2012

   Now, from reporting of Schmidt picked to be on parking authority, Sept 26, 2012:

   The reporting says that Corbett’s aides approached him several months prior (gee, that bogus report was also several month prior). What a coincidence.

   articles.philly.com/2012-09-26/news/34103741_1_schmidt-butkovitz-corbett

   “Gov. Corbett’s decision to tap City Commissioner Al Schmidt for the board of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, Republicans’ main source of patronage jobs, is a move with potential significance for the city’s Republican Party.

   Schmidt, 41, a leader of an insurgent faction of the Republican City Committee, said he had expressed interest in joining a state oversight board after Corbett was elected governor in 2010.

   Schmidt said Corbett aides asked him several months ago if he was interested in the six-member Parking Authority board, controlled by the GOP since then-state Rep. John M. Perzel engineered a 2001 state takeover of the agency.”

3. I also find it amusing that you claim no impersonation happened but the article you linked so says it did. The report though, when reading it, is not about voter id at all. it’s about the city has sloppy elections and how they can fix it. Like Milton Street apparently voting in the Dem primaries despite being registered independent. That seems to be pretty germane to the job of running elections.

4. so nothing. Yet another person’s reputation attacked by David Diano with no evidence.

5. Here is a link to the story, right here on PoliticsPA:
   http://www.politicspa.com/phila-city-commissioner-releases-voter-fraud-report/38298/

   Even though he claimed to the Daily News that his report was unrelated to the voterID law controversy, no one with a 3-digit IQ could believe it. Rob Gleason lapped it up, as though it proved the GOP’s claims for the voterID law. Commissioner Singer criticized it strongly contrary to your claim: “Even Singer has not attacked him”

   From the article:

   “Schmidt, the sole Republican member of the three-person body, said said his office worked independently on the report and did not involve the other two Dem commissioners.
   Democratic Commissioner Chair Stephanie Singer told Philly Clout said the report had only limited examples and years-old data.
   “I don’t know why he has put his name on a report like this, which seems like a stunt to manipulate the press,” she said.
   To combat the voting fraud he found, Schmidt suggested running an investigation of voting irregularities after each election, complete with a report for the public, and working with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to develop ways to identify voter registrations of non-citizens.
   State Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason issued a statement on the report Wednesday, calling its findings “beyond alarming.”
   This conversation isn’t about disenfranchising Democrats or Republicans; it’s about protecting everyone’s fundamental right to vote, and the fact that we now know just how rampant voter fraud could potentially be, all political parties should come together to protect the sanctity of our process,” he said.
   “The Commissioner’s report should silence all those partisans and pundits who have been saying that there are no cases of voter fraud. I hope all of them would read the report and join all those in favor of fair elections.”
   “

6. PhillySteve-

   1) He put out the report at a press conference (without showing to or running it by the other commissioners): AKA Grandstanding
   2) This was during the voterID controversy
   3) He misrepresented the report as supporting the need for voterID because of some cases of people voting as other people

   4) I read the report: Not a single case was the type of voter impersonation fraud: “voting as someone else” or as dead people that the law was pretending to fix

   5) The cases amounted to stuff like a wife voting as her deceased husband because the clerk at the polls had her sign the wrong page of the book and sign her husband’s card by mistake.

   6) There was one guy registered as “Joe Cheesesteak” who appeared to be some prankster voting. Removing his record from the system corrected this. This is no different than someone registering as Mickey Mouse and the clerk not catching it.

   The report clearly showed NO widespread pattern of fraud nor attempts to impersonate living or dead voters. Yet, he used the press conference to convey the opposite impression, thus supporting Corbett’s agenda. Then, shortly thereafter, he got onto the parking authority (which has been used/abused by the Republicans for patronage rewards). You can connect the dots yourself (it’s not hard).

7. Can you link a single time Schmidt said he supported Corbett’s VoterID law? Ever? I seem to recall that in his campaign he specifically promised to do a report like this.

8. PhillySteve-

   I didn’t say he “campaigned” for Corbett. Rather, he was a shill for Corbett’s voterID suppression law. Schmidt put out a piece-of-sh*t report of supposed voter fraud (that were pretty much all minor clerical errors, and not fraud).

   Singer’s been an advocate for putting more voter information online for years. Part of the reason she got elected in the first place was that she was putting information online that city should have been.

   Singer hasn’t complained about Schmidt? You must be deaf. She fought to get the commissioners meetings video recorded and posted, as well as reform the existing (expensive) transcription service, and ran up against Schmidt/Clark’s lack of desire for transparency.

9. I’ve never seen Schmidt campaign for anyone let alone Corbett. He created the website, which launched after Singer was removed as Chair, releases lots of information, and I’ve never heard anyone complain about him outside of you. Even Singer has not attacked him. If you are worried about a Commissioner being political, worry about the one who sent out an anti-Romney email literally right before the election.

10. PhillySteve-

    The problem with Schmidt is that he turned his back on his non-partisan and reform campaign promises and became a shill for Corbett with voterID (and “coincidentally” got appointed to parking authority). So, Schmidt sold out on the things he was elected to work on.

    Bluedog- (as I’ve stated several times) she refused to do the patronage hiring for the ward leaders and asked election workers for resumes, etc. She fought the voterID effort. She got voting instructions printed in Spanish, which is very important for voters for whom English is a second language. She’s made voting information more available electronically and I’m pretty sure the city commissioners website was redone or enhanced to support this effort. I bet Singer would be happy to provide you a list of her other accomplishments.

    Myles-
    It’s a shame that they are so careless in tossing signatures without proof.

11. DD:
    Just one parting question- other than taking credit for the sun rising and self promoting blather- what exactly has Dr. Singer “reformed” other than, most people’s view to now thinking she is another political phony and couldn’t get one thousand voters to support her (in her petitions no less). At least she has your vote in Delco. Four years wasted of the taxpayers money.
    Sheesh.
    The dog is done with this one.
    Peace.

12. I signed the petition on day one and they threw out my signature claiming it was forged. It was not! I’ll take a lie detector test! Will anyone else?

13. I like how it’s okay for Singer to become Chair with Schmidt’s backing but when Clarke works with Schmidt they are “in bed” with each other. Double standard much, Diano?

    Only thing you are right about is Deeley and Doc being allied, but everyone knows that.

14. Observer-

    I was merely pointing out my observation of Lee. I didn’t consider him running against Singer, as much as wanting to run/serve with Singer, instead of being someone like Clark, who crawled in bed with Schmidt.

    Blue dog-

    I’m not going to burn my sources. You won’t even back up yourself by posting your real name. One does not need to be an expert in Philly politics to connect the dots from Deeley’s campaign manager to Johnny Doc, as whistleblower has laid out in detail. Singer’s disfavor with Brady and some other ward leaders over her reform efforts is not a well kept secret.

    Whistleblower-
    Yeah, court over the phone doesn’t inspire confidence in the legal system. But, this case is so tedious, and filled with frivolous challenges, I can understand why the judge doesn’t want to get sucked in much longer with Hoy. He probably regrets not having dismissed the handwriting “expert” because now he has to deal with affidavits and/or testimony from the signers. Either this afternoon or tomorrow, the count will again be over 1000, and then it will be on Hoy’s side to appeal to commonwealth court to continue their losing streak and throw good money after bad.

15. @david diano
    Keep up the good reporting. The bullying will start now. Your getting closer to the truth. They usually start trying to discredit people because they know your right. How about the Judge not even holding court in person. Lmfao. He held chambers on phone. Probably because he couldn’t look anyone in the eye. I’m sure he got promised Kevins family court job if Kevin wins. If If If If

16. What is with a Delco cyber troll DD being a Mr. now-it-all about Philly politics. Seems like petty gossip mongering and cliff notes pseudo legal babble laced with childlike sneering innuendo and “some guy told me” sources.
    David should try running in Philly for office and show us how it is done right rather than being an shrill apologist and flack for lazy and arrogant Singer and Payton phony progressives.
    A heartfelt apology for being sloppy and taking for granted the electorate would be a good start for Dr. Singer.

17. David Diano – this comment by you is interesting in light of the circumstance that both Lee and Singer have been shown to engaged in such sloppy work gathering signatures and supervising the gathering of signatures:

    “I met Lee at some event in Upper Darby last year. My impression was that he and Singer had a good working relationship and would get along with him well if both were commissioners. He seemed like a nice guy.”

    The citizens of Philadelphia are lucky neither will be a choice this year!

18. Steve-
    “Literally every independent person who has been in the courtroom for petition challenges has said that any of the other judges would have knocked Singer off the ballot last week.”

    Really? How many “independent” people showed up? How many did you talk to?

    I agree the petitions should have been handled by direct door-knocking and a street list. That’s the way I’ve always done it, and recommended it done. However, one of the thrown out signatures was from a neighbor in one of the circulator’s own building who said he was registered when asked and signed. When later confronted by the circulator (after the challenge), he admitted that he lied and thought he was “helping”. Of course, this neighbor was an idiot and the circulator was pretty pissed off at him. But, the circulator had not acted in bad faith, the signer did. That signature was rightly rejected.

    There were some petition events (attended by the other commissioner candidates as well as judges and mayor candidates), which were mostly okay as they were attended by committee and politically involved registered voters.

    The expert “rejected” the signature of the candidate, and all her staffers/circulators. Singer had to bring in her own aunt, Andy Toy, the wife of candidate Diaz, and many others. The guy was dead wrong in his assertions in every case (and more affidavits by signers are being filed in court tomorrow). So, it’s pretty clear he sucks at his job (unless his job is to go along with what Hoy wants him to do, then he’s great at his “job”). It’s not “slander”, it’s observation and empirical evidence that his work is being thrown out now. (Also, I’m not sure, but I think there is/was some motion regarding his qualifications.)

    “If one of the things thrown out based on expert testimony is brought it, it brings into question everything that was kept in based on the experts.” YES, this why even more of his testimony IS going to be rejected (hopefully all of it). The judge really has no choice when it’s the “expert” against the actual signers testifying.

    I don’t know why Gordon is running or what her current relationship is with Singer. I certainly haven’t advocated for her, and I’m not aware that Singer has endorsed or supporter her.

    I met Lee at some event in Upper Darby last year. My impression was that he and Singer had a good working relationship and would get along with him well if both were commissioners. He seemed like a nice guy.

    You seem to agree with me about Clark. As for Schmidt, he supported that VoterID nonsense with his bogus report. So, he’s certainly not a good advocate for voter rights and doesn’t deserve to be a commissioner. I’ve been at Singer’s events and I’ve yet to hear her talk about herself. It’s always about voter rights and informing committee members about their rights (and how they can elect new ward leaders).

19. Diano doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Literally every independent person who has been in the courtroom for petition challenges has said that any of the other judges would have knocked Singer off the ballot last week. She did a sloppy job. It looks like she relied on asking for signatures at events. That’s not a bad idea if you want to file 3000 signatures. It’s a bad idea if you want to file 1500. If David Diano has actually circulated petitions before, he would have known that.

    Way to slander a professional, also, Diano. Do you know the expert? Can you cite cases where his work has been thrown out before? The fact that you are not a lawyer is pretty telling. Is he really going to throw out any of that work? Once you throw out one, all of them come into question. It’s a mess. The law only works if there is consistency. If one of the things thrown out based on expert testimony is brought it, it brings into question everything that was kept in based on the experts. Given 1,100 were challenged and only 490 were thrown out, more were kept in than knocked out. So she’d save some of the 490 and risk losing 600. Looks desperate to me.

    As for Singer herself, I’ve been to events with her. She talks and talks and talks about herself the entire time. As for hiring professional staff? Dennis Lee, Tracey Gordon, and the lady who sent the wrong election date to 900 people are not professional. That’s amateur hour. Heck, Dennis Lee and Tracey Gordon apparently are running against her.

    You are also incorrect in saying the other commissioners do nothing. I’ve never seen Clark, but I’ve been to events where Schmidt has attended and his staff have been handing out registrations. The one time he did talk it was just about the office.

    The stuff whistleblower is saying is just insane conspiracy theories. A L-98 Truther?

20. C O R R U P T I O N.
    I N T I M I D A T I O N.
    C O E R C I O N
    R A C K E T E E R I N G
    N I G H T W O R K

21. Observer, Bluedog and Robbie-

    I’ve helped in petition challenges in the past, signed petitions, circulated petitions, attended seminars on the topic at political conventions, and spoken with several lawyers about this subject before as well as during this case. I don’t need to know how to build a car to drive one or understand how it will move when I work the pedals and turn the wheel.

    Observer- It was definitely an error not to spend more time gathering signatures to create a larger “buffer”. This was roughly the same number of signatures she gathered last time, and the assumption was made that they had over the necessary 1000. THERE ARE more than a 1000 valid signature and many of the challenges (like questioning Singer’s own signature) are frivolous and the judge should have called out the opposition for this for wasting the court’s time.

    Most of her circulators were herself and campaign staff. Hoy questioned the very signatures of every circulator. I think one circulator was a doorman, who had people he’d run into signing (with some people who turned out not to be registered). This did lead to the bulk of the invalid signatures due to the random nature of the signers.

    Bluebell-
    Philly Dem party is rife with corruption and political influence. I support Singer because she is not for sale and wants to run the office professionally and not give preferential treatment to Ward leaders and the politically connected. She, unlike her co-commissioners, spends a lot time going around the city and speaking to groups about their rights as voters and encouraging registration. Commissioner Clark doesn’t even vote (and might be the ward leader of ward he doesn’t reside in?). Singer was also behind the new Spanish language voting guides.

    Robbie-
    The article is premature. As of last week, judge was supposed to take additional testimony from people who signed the petition that Hoy and his lackey had claimed were signed “In the Hand of Another(IHA)”. That got delayed until Wednesday. Due to the way Singer’s team is handling the rehabilitation of those signatures, it worked out that the judge had to complete an initial ruling to accept the reconsiderations. It’s more of a technical point, as I think he should have handled them first, and ruled second, but this wound up being the agreed upon sequence.

    Robbie, don’t care if you’ve been in front of a judge or under his robes. There is no question that the people who signed did so themselves, rather than the current implications by Hoy’s objections that the circulators or other agents wrote/altered the signatures. The testimony of the signers will bear that out and put Singer back over 1000.
    This should occur sometimes Wednesday when the judge receives the follow-up testimony.

    The reason I KNOW how it’s going to come out is because I KNOW there are more than 1000 good signatures. Also, the pattern, practice and recent history of the Commonwealth Court favors Singer on the items in question.

    It was pointed out that Judge Johnson is from family court. The Commonwealth judges are more familiar/experienced with these matters and lean toward the rights of the signers. Johnson erred by putting the burden of proof on Singer’s side and denying/ignoring relevant testimony from the circulators. The consistent (and unnecessary) testimony of the signers verifying their signatures has clearly demonstrated the unreliability of Hoy’s “expert” as well as Johnson’s judgement in continuing to rely upon this “expert”.

22. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20150331_Judge_strikes_City_Commissioner_Singer_s_name_off_the_May_19_ballot.html

    This article must be a series of typos, because there is no way David Diano could be wrong. I mean, he has never tried a case in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He has never tried an election law case in any court. He isn’t even a lawyer. But many courts have at least qualified him as an expert witness in election matters, right? Wait, he is recognized as an election expert by nobody but himself? So how could he be wrong in acting like he knows enough to make predictions on how a court will rule in an election law matter?

    The judge will deny Singer’s motions (they are common and similar to a person drowning grabbing any lifeline), and Commonwealth Court will uphold the trial court’s decision.

    But I’m just a lawyer who has been in front of Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dozens of times over many years, how could I know more than the untrained and inexperienced David Diano?

23. What law school did David Diano go to anyway? I’d be interested to hear how many Courts ( other than a defendant) he has appeared in. He seems to bloviate a lot about legal and political stuff that he is clearly making up or sounds way over his head.
    What’s the deal with all the hyper personalized dirt & slander about people you say you don’t know- but you throw because “someone mentioned to me”…
    Anyway, why do David and Singer want to be a part of a party and the people they so sneer at and despise?
    Singer should make a graceful exit and try again next time.

24. Diano jumps to the bait so easily. It really sounds like he has some extra skin in the game and is the “brains” behind Singer’s defense and media operation, such as it is. This whole petition nonsense is especially distasteful when you consider that Singer and her Chief Deputy Lee can’t put together a thousand honest signatures? Weren’t they the Election Watchdogs? Who were the paid circulators that she used – sounds like a Tony Payton Petition Party (another “good” government star). The telling thing here is that whether it is a little less than a thousand or a little more than a thousand, if she had spent as much time and effort coordinating her petition effort and connecting with voters, she would have had well in excess of 1000 signatures…Maybe Diano should counsel her to not be so lazy and arrogant in her next election for Democratic Committee Person! Stephanie – your 15 minutes is up!

25. Bluebellbluedog-

    I haven’t gotten a dime from Singer, but rather have contributed to her campaign previously. She was doing voter database stuff before I was and has her own custom system.

    I don’t know about the particulars regarding Hoy’s “expert”, but the way this goes is.. campaigns ask around: “Hey, does anyone know a handwriting expert?” Then they get a short list of names and call them, not knowing if they are any good/credible/honest. Clearly, there are some who will say whatever the hiring lawyer wants them to say.

    I never heard of Hoy before this case, but someone mentioned to me that he used to be the go-to guy for having tickets reduced/thrown out at Traffic Court. I guess it was easier than chasing ambulances.

    As for Singer abusing the office… if that were the case, Johnny Doc and Brady would be funding her campaign, instead of trying to tear it down, to replace her with their own shill.

    As for Sestak, he’s been on walk-about. He just sent a stupid email about how he spend $67.56 for some shoes that he wore out, and asking for $6.75 or $67.56 in donations.

26. I thought Singer was sanctioned for ethics violations for misusing her office. Pretty pitiful that Singer can’t accept personal responsibility for rotten signatures. I am betting she used paid circulators. I am also guessing the comment is right that she tried to hire the expert she now claims is incompetent.
    Other than self-promotion,self victimizing and attending chicken diners, what exactly has Singer done to be the goddess of progressive “good government”?
    Me I have no dog in this hunt.

    Smells like she is a “client” of delco’s prize cyber troll Diano. Waiting for him to tie this to Sestak.

27. I have been through this process and, even though do not agree politically with Stephanie Singer, I have a great deal of empathy for her distress.

    In my experience, what appear to be valid challenges, initially, fade on closer examination.

    My experience in Commonwealth Court was positive and it is an objective fact that Commonwealth Court Judge was most, most patient in hearing hours of mind numbing detailed testimony on minutia that, neverthess, was critical. While maintaining total control of the courtroom, I found her to be respectful to all parties and witnesses. I feel I should draw our attention to an excellent public servant since there are so many judges who fail. I refer, of course, to the less than exemplary Penna. Supreme Court.

28. Update: Monday’s court date got moved to Wednesday, so that’s when the count will go back above 1000.

29. Anonymous lawyer-

    The Harrisburg case was reported on in the paper. It hinges on a single legal point (that sounds rather clear, given the fact that the candidate notarized his own petitions). Does the violation of notary law invalidate the petition notarization?

    As for the Singer case, I’ve seen the petitions and was able to read many that they claimed were illegible, as well as valid signatures they claimed were not so. I know the case is bogus and that Singer will prevail.

    Whistleblower has independently confirmed what I’ve heard from several other sources. The presence of Deeley’s campaign guy shows who is behind this and how much they are controlling this frivolous lawsuit.

    Tomorrow, the count will be back over 1000. Additionally there will be scores of legal errors/objections that will go Singer’s way in commonwealth court, should the Deeley campaign… umm.. the “plaintiffs”… decide to pursue it.

30. Dave Diano talking out of his @ss. Again.

31. BTW, interesting petition challenge story in Harrisburg city council race.

    Local gadfly, Alan Kennedy-Shaffer got 249 signatures (100 needed). Apparently, he notarized all the petitions himself. Well, it seems there is a rule in notary law that you can’t notarize stuff that’s in your own personal interests.

    If this is the case, and judge agrees, then all 249 signatures will get thrown out.

    Note: Alan is a lawyer, so this would be an especially ironic self inflicted wound.

32. Philly Steve-

    I stopped by the court house Wednesday evening (which was supposed to have been the last day) and saw a few hours of how the proceedings were conducted as well as copies of the petitions. Many of the challenges were without merit, and the judge erroneously allowed the challengers a “second bite of the apple” when voters were found, by letting them claim new problems like handwriting of date, even though they weren’t part of original challenge.

    They must have 100 challenges that depend on the “theory” that the circulator altered/wrote for the voters. However, these supposed alterations aren’t in the same handwriting, so it couldn’t be the circulator. The same handwriting expert who made these false claims is being revealed for the fraud/shill/incompetent he is by all the petition signers who keep showing up in court and verifying their own signatures. This creates a preponderance of evidence that their “expert” doesn’t know his @ss from a hole in the ground. Fortunately, this revelation has not required submitting a picture of his @ss into evidence.

    The judge improperly put the burden of proof on Singer’s side to bring in the signers, rather than have the opposing council bring in people to testify they didn’t sign.

    Everyone I’ve talked to has said that the commonwealth court is far more lenient and considers voter intent over minor issues: like signing in the print section and printing in the signing section

    So, all of those types of challenges should go away as well.

33. Also philly Steve I think the level of corruption going on all over the city makes “everybody” hates her such a joke message. Yeah I guess if the city was well run and we didn’t have extreme poverty, failing schools then I guess it would mean more when establishment says they don’t want her…but as it is stoehabie is the only one in the commissioners office trying to open up the government for the voters to see what is happening

34. Also change this headline for crying out loud. She is not off ballot

35. Philly Steve – Stephanie has done a honest good job and has been targeted by the other pols in this town as a threat. Don’t believe the garbage you hear!

36. David Diano, you are going to be surprised when
    1. Singer is kicked off the ballot.
    2. The Commonwealth Court decides against her.
    3. Everyone else who comments mentions how this judge seemed more willing to accept imperfect signatures than other judges.
    4. Singer’s political obituary is written, and not a single person in Philadelphia has anything nice to say.

    Singer HAS embarrassed the office. She’s hired incompetent employees for her office, and then pretended they didn’t work for her. She’s used her office to commandeer the computers of civil service workers and office materials for political gain. She’s let her staffers run campaigns out of the office. Even plenty of solid progressives in Philadelphia are sick and tired of her nonsense.

37. Whistleblower-

    When Singer prevails in this challenge, let’s hope it sends a message to these money men that they can’t stop good candidates from getting on the ballot.

    I’m curious about the amount of man-power/money that has been expended by the opposition against Singer. I heard that Hoy and Deeley’s campaign manager practically crapped their pants every time Singer took one of their “illegible” challenges and came up with exact voterID # record number.

    They filed this entire challenge at the end of the day on Tuesday (17th) to minimize the time Singer’s team would have to respond to 1,150 items. I think that their expectation was that she wouldn’t have the time/man-power/resources to go through all of them in 48 hours. They were wrong.

    Singer is quite good with manipulating the voter data for searching, as she has been playing with voter databases for years. She was the one who sued the state years ago to get the price of the state voter files reduced from thousands of dollars to around $20. There were probably a dozen voters on their list that simply weren’t in whatever out-of-date database they used (like VAN), so they didn’t count on Singer having an up-to-date database. They were probably shocked when the voters turned up in the SURE system that weren’t in the system they used.

    I also heard that they were “upset” when voters came in and verified their own petition signatures. So, these assholes were “upset” that they weren’t able to cheat a voter out of his right to help nominate a candidate.

    You are right about the patronage jobs. I asked a ward leader once what his beef was with Singer. His complaint was that she handled the hiring of election day workers by asking for resumes and such, instead of automatically giving the jobs to the relatives of ward leaders. In his view, the ward leaders “earned/deserved” the “right” to have their relatives hired. They don’t seem to realize that the commissioner’s office is not supposed to be an extension of the city’s political arm.

    The irony is that if they managed to kick Singer off the ballot, she’d be the one commissioner running the election. 4 years ago, a special judge had to be appointed to oversee the election, as the commissioners were all on the ballot. But, if Singer were not on the ballot, she would not have a conflict of interest, and could stay on to run the show for the primary and the general.

38. It’s such an embarrassment to a great city. It’s chaos and intimidation when any normal citizen chooses to run for office against a non Doc endorsed canidate. Singer was successful. She managed to not embarrass the office and give out patronage jobs to unqualified “connected” people. Remind me again Why we should vote for Kevin Dougherty and Jim Kenney(oops I mean Johnny Doc)????

39. Liberal Thinker-
    There’s probably not a money trail. They get favors instead. They scanned and went over the signatures in Local 98 headquarters in Spring Garden St. Like everything else Doc does uses the members dues to play political games all day and night. Like buying TV air time to look like a clown. The good new is he can’t get elected in Philadelphia. Ward Leader doesn’t count a turtle could get elected Ward Leader

40. Also, who the heck cares who tried to hire which handwriting expert? I think readers would be much more interested in who is funding this highly expensive legal challenge against Singer (that is easily costing several thousands of dollars, probably tens of thousands). I hope there will be follow up on this. Rumor is that three random people show up to the Court everyday and then head to Sugarhouse. Who is really behind this dark money challenge? Deeley’s campaign manager is running the challenge in court. But who is funding it?

41. I can’t get enough of the way the media is covering this story. Here we are in Philadelphia where most incumbents forge thousands of signatures every election and Stephanie is getting heat for doing the process as it is supposed to be done. She should be touted as an example of bringing sanity back to Philly politics.

    It seems clear to me she will prevail and be that much stronger for it. Nonetheless, she’s an amazing woman and public servant who is cleaning up an office rife with patronage and corruption. Can’t wait to vote for her on May 19.

    Oh and by the way, Politics Pa should report on the fact that Lisa Deeley’s campaign manager is running the challenge. Already off to a nasty campaign on her part. Get some facts in there folks!

42. Whistleblower-

    The judge certainly did make a few bad calls, and some inconsistent ones that will go against him on appeal. I think he was too often swayed by the shill posing as a handwriting expert for the other side.

    However, he’s clearly begun to realize that Singer has enough signatures, because she’s already brought in a bunch of people specifically to testify and affirm their signature. (people like her own aunt, Andy Toy, and the wife of candidate Diaz) Let’s not forget, these asswipes challenged her own signature.

    The judge has sort of acknowledged his own earlier foolishness in dismissing valid signatures due to MINOR variations from the signatures on file. That’s why he didn’t kick her off the ballot, and is allowing her to rehabilitate signatures with witnesses on Monday. The writing is on the wall (and the petitions).

    Commonwealth court is even more accommodating to the intent of the voters/signers, so there is no way she loses there. So, what is going to happen is that she’s going to be over 1,000 sometime Monday, and the judge will rule in her favor. I doubt the judge wants to be overturned on appeal and his bad rulings exposed.

    At that point, Hoy’s REAL client (not the shills posing at clients) will insist on taking this loser of a case to Commonwealth court in Harrisburg on (a groundless) appeal. They will be soundly defeated there (probably with some admonitions from the court on their complete lack integrity) and forced to pay Singer’s legal costs. They don’t seem to care about the money, and are more interested in tying up Singer’s campaign and hoping to get some distorted press from the Inquirer.

    If there has actually been communication regarding the case with the judge, from the political forces opposing Singer, that would be serious.

    PhillySteve-
    She got about as many signatures as she did last time, and in a similar way. The assumption was made that they had enough, like last time, and didn’t want to waste additional resources on petitions. (obviously it didn’t work out they way they hoped)

    While there are some legitimately bad signatures (people signing with wrong address or not registered), there are easily over 1,100 good ones. So, the “assumption” of enough valid signatures was correct, but it was low enough to put them in a vulnerable position.

    The size of the challenge is so large/unprecedented because it’s filled with so many bogus challenges (like Singer’s own signature) but also a failed attempt to dismiss all the pages of one of the circulators. That’s why the count is so high (and why the case is so bogus).

43. If Singer was really so great, she would have gotten more signatures. Both of her ex-staffers got more signatures than she did.

44. I agree with David Diano 99%. The only reason it isn’t 100% is he fails to connect the Philly Machine Judge. Singer will lose her case in Phila. Because the Judge although a Family Court judge lol was hand picked by Kevin Dougherty (machine). The scanning and checking of these signatures was held inside the bunker at Local 98 headquarters. Hired tech thugs by Johnny Doc. If people don’t believe that fool already had a friendly Judge lined up they ain’t been reading the newspapers. All one needs to do to know who’s behind it is read what Journalist wrote the article Chris Brennan. Johnny Doc has him on speed dial. Just google and u will see all Docs enemies at the end of this hacks pen. Any further questions I’ll be happy to respond. Where are the FEDS???

45. Fake Brendan-

    She does have a PhD. It’s Hoy who can’t count (or rather doesn’t want the judge to count) all the valid signatures.

    There were hundreds of signatures that Hoy’s team claimed were “illegible” or “not registered”. Well, Singer’s team has better eyesight (and integrity) and not only found most of these supposedly illegible/unregistered voters, but hit them with the actual SURE VoterID. This was precise proof that the name/address was legible enough. Even the judge was impressed.

    This also sped things up a bit, since you didn’t have to wade through 50 John Smith’s.

    The sad thing is the callous disregard for the voters who signed petitions, only to have someone like Hoy try to disenfranchise them, and force them to come to court to verify their signatures/identities.

    Also, the system is rigged against women who get married and change their names, but their voter record is out of date because it’s not automatically updated when they update drivers licenses (and non-drivers wouldn’t even get that advantage if it existed).

    Example: you’ve got a woman signing at an address, and her first name matches her signed voter registration card, but her last name is different. At the same address is a man of similar age and last name matching the one she signed. It’s pretty obvious that they’re married, and record is out of date. She is registered voter who signed a petition in good faith, but could be disenfranchised.

    There really needs to be some cleanup of the laws to handle this. The courts should be able to access DMV, marriage licenses and real estate ownership to aid in identifying these women.

46. Stephanie is a good woman and the ethics charge she has is for putting election results online which she should do. Good government should reign

47. I thought she has Ph.d in Mathematics? Huh?

48. Fritz

    She will be on the ballot. This asshole, Hoy, challenged Singer’s own signature, that of her campaign manager, the circulators, and even Singer’s own aunt (who came in to testify that her signature was her signature). Hoy has more balls than brains.

    Hoy has put forth one of the most “bad faith” challenges I’ve ever seen. The only way this could have been any more ridiculous would have been if the judge had been one of the signers and Hoy tried telling the judge his own signature didn’t match the one on file.

    As NONE of the signatures was forged or “IHA: In Hand of Another”, any the ones thrown out for that reason, will be put back in when those voters show up in court to refute the IHA challenges.

    So, the count will once again be above 1000 soon enough.

    The problem is that the political machine in Philly doesn’t want an office holder they can’t bribe/influence with board appointments or jobs for family members. So, they dug up a couple of shills to pose as the “plaintiffs”. No way those knuckleheads are paying the legal bills for this. Follow the money!

    The goal here is not to kick Singer off the ballot. (They KNOW she has enough valid signatures.) Instead, the goal is to tie up the campaign in court, even though they know she will win on the merits, both in Philly and on appeal in Harrisburg.

    It’s Philly dirty politics and dirty money.

49. Fritz, well said.

50. This woman is a joke! A fitting end to her reign of terror and ethics violations.