Editorial for October 25, 2007 edition:


Four more for O’Neill

Voters in the 10th Councilmanic District have an OK choice and a very good choice when they go to the polls on Nov. 6.
Democrat Sean McAleer, a charter school administrator making his first run for public office, is an affable guy whose campaign consists mainly of criticizing the incumbent, Republican Brian O’Neill, without offering any truly bold ideas of his own that would translate into a clear reason for change.
Mr. O’Neill, with 28 years of service under his belt, is a great fit for the district who takes the right position on many issues: He promises to sponsor legislation in January that would close loopholes in city law that allow many corner bars to evade the citywide smoking ban. Unlike his opponent, Mr. O’Neill believes the air belongs to everybody. He is a strong supporter of Fox Chase Cancer Center’s expansion plans and can use his long tenure to work with the state on associated traffic relief. And when City Council voted 16 to 1 to kick the all-American Boy Scouts out of their Center City headquarters for daring to be pro-heterosexual, guess who the lone dissenter was? Yep, Brian O’Neill. He is a councilman with principles — how’s that for an oxymoron? — who votes his conscience. Mr. O’Neill, perhaps Council’s most ardent fan of tax cuts, will continue to be a member of the loyal opposition party that will keep an eye on the next mayor, likely to be Michael Nutter.
He’s honest to a fault — even predicting publicly that his party’s candidate for mayor, Al Taubenberger, will lose the election. Any Republican councilman who continues to bring home the bacon and is as accessible as Mr. O’Neill is — and who has the guts to call John Street a "total disaster" — can’t be all that bad for the moderate-to-conservative 10th district. He deserves four more years. ••

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