Philly elections official defends email blast for Obama

Philadelphia City Commissioner Stephanie Singer is catching flack for an email she sent to 2,000 people urging support for President Obama.

Singer says she may have misstepped sending the message from her campaign email account, but she did not step over the line for an officeholder.

Singer says she is first and foremost committed to electoral rights and the electoral process. Secondly, she said, she is a Democrat.

“It was very clearly, from the email, my personal opinion,” she said. “It was not coordinated with any campaign or any party.”

Singer stepped down as a Democratic ward leader when she was elected to her post as city commissioner, overseeing the Board of Elections in Philadelphia. She says that given the politically charged history of the post, and the reaction the email provoked, perhaps she should have been more cautious.

“As Louis Brandeis said, ‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant.’ I definitely will be thinking about it,” Singer said Friday.

The commission is made up of two Democrats and one Republican.