Democrats back incumbents for City Council

The Democratic City Committee announced yesterday its decision to endorse all five incumbents in the race for the City Council's at-large seats. Council members Blondell Reynolds Brown, David Cohen, Wilson Goode Jr., James Kenney and Angel Ortiz will all seek re-election backed by the party's support.

The decision was initially slated for last week, but there was some question as to whether the party would offer endorsement to Ortiz or another candidate, Juan Ramos.

When the Democratic Policy Committee met on March 17, its recommendation to the general body was to endorse all the incumbents except Ortiz. That same day, the general body opted to wait 10 days before making a decision.

"There was some difference of opinion concerning another Latino," said Charles Bernard, aide to the Democratic City Committee chairman. "Ortiz was an incumbent, and the body voted that all five incumbents should be endorsed."

At the meeting yesterday, the vote proved in favor of endorsing all five incumbents. Supporters of Ramos requested a roll-call vote which was denied at the discretion of Bob Brady, chairman of the committee.

"If the roll call would have been taken today, I am very confident that I would have gotten the votes for endorsement," Ramos said. "But that's over with."

The incumbents certainly won the day, and probably a lot more. Traditionally, incumbents endorsed by the party are successful at the polls.

"It's very hard for challengers to break through the ranks of incumbency," Goode explained. This is especially true "while an incumbent Democratic mayor is up for re-election [when] the party generally likes to be conservative. It's a way of unifying the party."

Ortiz, meanwhile, seemed unphased by the endorsement delay, even though it was only his endorsement that was potentially endangered.

"The delay is good because it really clarifies the issues," Ortiz said. "This is not about a Latino seat, because there is no Latino seat in City Council -- I think that I have proved myself in that this [race] is not about ethnicity but about ideas."

The Democratic at-large incumbents all seem pleased to be in the company of their colleagues of the past four years.

"The beauty of the slate is that we all represent different constituencies in the city," Brown said. "It's a very diverse slate, which is healthy for the city... because we bring all of those different views to the table."

"We're all friends," Kenney said. "There are times I would hope they'd vote more on my side than with the mayor, though that's certainly their right."

Kenney's reference is to the rift among the Democrats on the council when it comes to factions that support or oppose Mayor John Street.

"There's a lot of talent among all of the incumbents," said Goode, a Street ally. "I believe that we can and will learn to work better together in the future."

The incumbent five will contest with 12 other hopefuls at the Democratic primaries on May 20. Five will then move on to the general elections in November.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.