Singer's Attorney Hopes Post-Trial Motions Can Turn Around City Commissioner's Ballot Hopes
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a four-day legal challenge, incumbent Philadelphia city commissioner Stephanie Singer may not be able to save her own campaign for a second term in the office that runs the city's elections.
This morning, a judge was poised to remove her from the May 19th Democratic primary ballot.
As it stands, three petitioners who challenged Singer's candidacy may have successfully upended her re-election bid. Richard Hoy, an attorney who represents those petitioners, says she has not provided the minimum 1,000 valid signatures required to remain on the ballot.
"Right now she's lost," Hoy tells KYW Newsradio. "She's at 996, and the count is over."
Singer's campaign submitted 1,485 signatures, and about 1,100 of them were challenged.
(Some other candidates for city commissioner submitted three or four times that amount, including one who plopped down 9,000 signatures.)
Singer's attorney, Charles Goodwin, is hoping that post-trial motions can revive her candidacy. One of the motions he was expected to file challenges Hoy's handwriting expert. Each side spent 5-10 minutes on each petition line, and nearly an hour on one signature.
Hoy laughs at the notion his handwriting expert may be challenged since, he says, Singer's camp tried to hire the same expert but found out he was already taken.
Goodwin says he's not challenging their expertise or credentials, but rather the timeliness of the report the handwriting expert submitted.
If Judge Joel Johnson signs the order booting her from the May 19th ballot, Singer would still have the opportunity to appeal to Commonwealth Court.
