Rudnick and Foster file to challenge Cindy Bass in Eighth District Council race

Two residents of Northwest Philadelphia have filed petitions to appear on the ballot in the Eighth District City Council race. This could set up a three-way race for the seat held by City Councilwoan Donna Reed Miller who is not seeking another term. Democrat Cindy Bass has already secured a ballot spot in the November 8th General Election.

Chestnut Hill resident Brian Rudnick says he turned in 967 signatures to the Philadelphia Board of Elections to run as a Green Party candidate.

Patch reports that Mt. Airy resident Jim Foster has also submitted petitions to run as an Independent candidate.

Monday, August 1 was the last day to circulate and file nomination papers for third party candidates.

Both men ran unsuccessfully for the Eighth District Council seat in 2007 and both play a role in local media. Rudnick is a regular video/photo contributor for the Chestnut Hill Local while Foster is the publisher of the Germantown Chronicle and Northwest Independent newspapers.

 

Brian Rudnick

Rudnick had been running over the summer as a write-in-candidate, but decided that he could be more effective if he appeared on the ballot. On his campaign website he states “One Choice equals No Choice.” As it stands right now, only Democrat Cindy Bass has secured a spot on the November 8th ballot. The Republican Party did put up any candidates this year.

Rudnick quick bio

*Contributor to the Chestnut Hill Local

*Librarian

*Attorney

*Former bookstore owner

 

Jim Foster

The City Paper quotes Jim Foster as saying “(Cindy Bass) is ‘not responding to anybody’s communication’ and therefore is ‘using the [current Councilwoman Donna Reed] Miller playbook.’ ” He spent the ten days prior to Monday’s deadline collecting signatures. It is not known how many names he submitted. City rules requires all district council candidates to submit a minimum of 750 names of registered voters in that district.

In the 2007 race, Foster dropped out of the race a week before election day. Heard in the Hall reported then that his depature was part of an agreement with another candidate to reduce the number of candidates challenging Councilwoman Miller four years-ago. “Rev. Jesse W. Brown Jr. and Jim Foster say they will sign an agreement that whoever gets at least two of three newspaper endorsements will be the Independent candidate. The other will waive the white flag,” according to Heard in the Hall 10/25/07.

Foster quick bio

*Publisher of the Germantown Chronicle and the Northwest Independent

*Operated the car restoration business West Johnson Classics

*Chaired the Financial Oversight Committee for the Chestnut Hill Community Association

*Served in the U.S. Marine Corps 1962-167

 

What to watch for next

Next Monday, August 8 will be the last day for any registered Eighth District voter to submit objections to nomination papers. If history is prologue, then it’s likely both candidates’ signatures will be challenged. In the Democratic primary race in March, five of the ten candidates’ petitions were challenged. The result was that Faye Dawson and Jordan Dillard were disqualified from the election.

If Foster and Rudnick remain on the ballot, Eighth District voters would see three candidates on the November 8th ballot.

Any Eighth District voter can run as a write-in-candidate by just saying so. But without strong support and financing attracting a large number of votes is difficult.

 

The last election

In the November 6, 2007 General Election in Philadelphia both Foster and Rudnick appeared on the ballot along with Donna Reed Miller and Jesse W. Brown

The 2007 results (pdf)

Donna Reed Miller (Democrat) 21, 131 votes / 75.27%

Brian Rudnick (Green) 1,126 votes / 4.01%

Jim Foster (Independent) 590 votes / 2.10 %

Jesse W. Brown (VJB*) 5,223 votes / 18.6 %

*VoteJesseBrown

Finally, NewsWorks came across a brief exchange between Rudnick and Foster sparring over whether Foster had an agenda running Germantown Newspapers Inc. Rudnick said then that he would have preferred Weavers Way to fill the void left by the demise of the Germantown Courier and Mt. Airy Times Express. If there is a debate, maybe these two guys could finish this debate as well.

Your thoughts

We’d like to know your thoughts about these two new entries into the council race.

If it becomes a three-way race, who are you more likely to vote for Bass, Foster or Rudnick?

What do you know about Rudnick or Foster that you think we should all know?

Why do you think Rudnick and Foster are running?

Do you think Cindy Bass or one of her supporters should challenge the petitions?

Now that Jim Foster is a candidate should he refrain from writing editorials in his papers?

If you had $100 to donate how much would you give each campaign?