Judge Rules Milton Street Can Stay on May 19th Mayoral Primary Ballot in Philadelphia
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mayoral candidate Milton Street has survived yet another challenge to his candidacy based on his residency.
Today, a judge ruled that Street will remain on the May 19th primary ballot.
Common Pleas Court judge Chris Wogan says Street's ballot challengers had not met their burden to prove that Street did not live in Philadelphia.
Attorney Kevin Greenberg, representing a local labor leader who supports state senator Anthony Williams in his run for mayor, argued that Street previously admitted during court proceedings that he had a common-law wife who lived in Moorestown, NJ.
But the judge noted that New Jersey hasn't recognized common-law relationships since 1939 and Pennsylvania hasn't since 2005.
Greenberg says he'll talk to his client about appealing to Commonwealth Court, and potentially the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
"If he wants to believe what Milton Street said," Greenberg told KYW Newsradio, "then he should have been off (the ballot) as a resident of New Jersey. If he didn't believe what Milton Street said, then he should have been off the ballot for knowingly filing a false affadavit when he was registered as an independent."
Street says his adversaries couldn't get in the door through several legal maneuvers, "so that was a desperate attempt to get in through the attic (laughs). It didn't work."
Street says he doesn't mind if they appeal because it'll bring him more attention.
