A young politician dares to oppose the party's candidate.
Party pooper: Tony Payton hopes to dismantle the Democratic machine.
Four months after the May primary, the saga of the 179th District continues.
Tony Payton Jr., 25, was the lone Democratic candidate on the ballot.
Emilio Vazquez, backed by the party, was the write-in candidate.
Young upstart against powerful machine.
In an election that shows everything that's wrong with Philadelphia politics, the board of commissioners said Payton had won by 19 votes. An appellate judge said Vazquez had won the state House seat by 33 votes.
The 179th District runs across Roosevelt Boulevard from North Philadelphia up into the far Northeast, and is made up largely of white blue-collar residents and a growing African-American and Latino population.
The district, like the city, is overwhelmingly Democratic. Politics are fueled by who you know and how much money you have. Democratic ward leaders are dons. There are no independent or Republican candidates.
Bill Rieger, dubbed "the invisible man" by the media because of his low profile in Harrisburg, held the district's state House seat for nearly 40 years before finally announcing his retirement earlier this year.
Vazquez, who's lived in the community longer than Payton's been alive, was the party's pick. He was endorsed by several unions and the district's strongest ward leaders. But he was kicked off the ballot for failing to properly list his employer on his election forms.
Payton, a housing counselor and college student, had no money or party support.
Next week the commonwealth court will sort out the mess and decide whether Payton or Vazquez will represent the district in November's general election.
Two weeks after the primary the board of elections certified the election: Payton, 962; Vazquez, 943.
The board nixed the 52 write-in votes that Vazquez received in the 23rd Ward, 19th Division, for committee person.
Vazquez appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. He said the 52 votes should go to him for the state rep race.
He presented 20 affidavits from residents who say their votes were incorrectly recorded. He even bought in a voter who was a friend of the Democratic machine to testify on his behalf.
Since Vazquez doesn't live in the ward or the division, the judge ruled that counting the votes for an office for which he wasn't eligible would disenfranchise the entire district.
Under the "intent of the voter" ideal, the judge gave Vazquez the 52 write-in votes, and certified him the winner.
Article:
Independence Day
Article:
Can Philly.com Succeed With a Paying Audience?
Article:
Steven Wells: In Memoriam
Article:
A Few More Tributes to Steven Wells
Article:
Audio: A Snarling Poet
Article:
Chumbawamba Guitarist Boff Whalley Remembers “Seething” Wells
Article:
“You write to make an impact.”
Article:
Billy Bragg Remembers Steven Wells
