Councilman wants to end ‘resign to run’ in Philadelphia

A Philadelphia city councilman wants to take a serious look into why Philadelphia politicians have to give up their elected office to run for a new one.

 

 

Councilman David Oh says it’s not right that Philadelphia elected officials have to quit their jobs to run for a new position, while those in the state Legislature or Congress do not.

“It causes a bottle-necking of our elected officials,” Said Oh, a Republican. “Our elected officials tend to never seem to want to resign their positions to run for something else.”

This spring members of Pittsburgh’s City Council voted against having to resign their seats to run for other posts.

Oh says by not running for another job, Philadelphia loses networking opportunities.

“Which I’ve found is very disadvantageous for our city,” he said. “We need our folks out there running for statewide positions so that they meet other people from the state and are engaged with conversations in Harrisburg and other communities.”

Removing the restriction would require changing Philadelphia’s charter. Past efforts to do so have failed.

Oh said he is still studying the issue.