by Stephanie Singer, City Commissioner of Philadelphia 

Here are some interesting numbers:
About 50% of registered Democrats in Philadelphia are women.
About 50% of Democratic Committeepeople elected in 2010 in Philadelphia are women.
About 36% of Democratic Ward Leaders are women.
About 16% of Philadelphia officials elected to citywide office are women

And how many women are listed on the website of the Philadelphia Democratic Party in leadership roles? As Bill Clinton would say, “Zee-row”.

The under-representation of women in the Philadelphia Democratic Party might just be a consequence of the lack of transparency and accountability that I wrote about last week. Last week’s message seems to have hit a nerve of some kind. Spokesmen for the party machine status quo are on the defensive, saying that they are simply following the party rules. Well, I’ve been reading the Democratic Party rules, and they make clear that the wholesale disempowerment of Democratic voters and Committeepeople in Philadelphia is in violation of national and state party rules for the conduct of local party committees.

Let’s start at the top. The National Democratic Party values transparency. The bylaws of the Democratic National Committee (Article 9, Section 12) specify that “All meetings of the Democratic National Committee, the Executive Committee, and all other official Party committees, commissions and bodies shall be open to the public, and votes shall not be taken by secret ballot.” So according to the rules of the Democratic Party of the United States of America, all official meetings of the Philadelphia ward leaders should be open to the public.

The State Democratic Party values accountability. The bylaws of the Democratic Party of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Rule VII, Section 1) specifies that the members of the Philadelphia City Committee are those elected in the Spring Primary Election in the year the Governor is elected. In other words, the members of the official Philadelphia Democratic City Committee are supposed to be the Committeepeople directly elected by the voters — not just the Ward Leaders. 

The Democrats of Philadelphia deserve transparency and accountability. The current system doesn’t serve the voters. Some people try to justify the status quo by saying that the party machine turns out Democratic voters, but that is hogwash. Over and over again, Democratic candidates lose statewide — for US Senate, for PA Governor and, devastatingly, for statewide courts — because the Democratic Party of Philadelphia fails to get the vote out in the November elections. Even the victories in the last two Presidential elections are more likely a result of the huge, modern, friendly Obama campaign organization than any homegrown party activity.

Luckily, we live in a democracy, and we can use the power of the vote to demand transparency and accountability. The next election in Philadelphia is on May 20.

Sincerely,
Stephanie

PS: Now is a great time to apply for an absentee ballot.