Green Move to SRC Opens Seat on Council

Council president expected to call a special election.

Bill Green’s move to head the School Reform Commission means there is now officially an open seat on City Council. The Daily News reports that Council President Darrell Clarke “holds the power to call a special election for someone to finish the last year-and-a-half of Green’s four-year term.”

The Daily News reports that open seat could be used to solve a conflict in Northeast Philly, where incumbent state representatives Ed Neilson and John Sabatina Jr. have been redistricted into the same district, meaning one of them is about to lose office. Nominating one of them to the Council seat could head off an ugly election battle.

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the city’s Democratic chairman, is working on just such a deal. Brady yesterday said he spoke with Clarke, who would have to issue a writ for a special election 60 days before the May 20 primary election to get it on that ballot.

Clarke yesterday would not say if he would call a special election.

“If we can avoid a fight between two incumbents, that would be better for the party,” Brady said. “If we can avoid a family fight, we should do that.”