City Council Overrides Nutter Veto, Hoping to Scuttle 'Resign-To-Run' Rule
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia City Council today overrode a veto by Mayor Nutter, moving forward with a plan that could lift the requirement that elected city officials must resign before running for a different office.
In his veto message to City Council, Mayor Nutter said the "resign-to-run" provision of the City Charter was worth preserving. He wrote that it ensures that "existing duties could be performed (by elected officials) without the very real distractions associated with engaging in a campaign for a new elected office."
"The framers of the Charter," Nutter wrote, "got it right."
But councilmembers were not persuaded, and they unanimously overrode the veto today.
The sponsor of the plan, Councilman-at-large David Oh, noted that state elected officials and those from other cities face no such provision, so eliminating it here levels the playing field for city officials.
"If we would elevate Philadelphia at least to the same level of every other political body in the state, I believe the mayor would be more effective in Harrisburg in getting the things we need here in Philadelphia," Oh said.
The override allows the question of removing the provision to be put to Philadelphia voters, most likely on the May primary ballot.