Kelly, Oh battling for
seventh at-large seat

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

It can’t get much closer than this.
One week after the election, City Councilman Jack Kelly and challenger David Oh are running neck-and-neck for the seventh and final at-large seat.
In the unofficial final count from the machines, Oh led Kelly by seven votes, 60,366 to 60,359.
However, several thousand votes are yet to be counted. Most are absentee ballots, though there are a large number of provisional ballots, which are cast by people who insist they are registered to vote but whose names are not on the voting rolls. There are smaller numbers of military ballots and alternative ballots for the elderly and handicapped.
The ballots are scanned by machines on the sixth floor of the Board of Elections office at Delaware Avenue and Spring Garden Street.
Several hundred absentee ballots were unable to be scanned for one reason or another. Among those, Kelly has about 50 more votes than Oh.
The final, unofficial votes were scheduled to be announced as soon as Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Both sides have retained attorneys considered experts in election law. Oh has Gregory Harvey, while Kelly has George Bochetto and Scott Sigman, a former assistant district attorney and possible 2009 GOP candidate for D.A.. The final outcome probably won’t be decided for at least a week.
Oh, an attorney and ward leader from Southwest Philadelphia who campaigned largely on a theme of economic development, remains confident that he will beat out his fellow Republican for the seat.
"We had a very spirited contest for the machine vote. In the end, I had seven more votes than Councilman Kelly," he said. "I think the same thing will happen with the absentee ballots."
While Kelly was nervous as he watched the late machine votes come in from the Knowlton Mansion in Fox Chase, he knew he had a potential ace in the hole.
"We did very well with absentees," he said of pre-election preparation.
The top six finishers in the 12-person race were no surprise. The top five vote-getters were the Democrats. Challenger Bill Green surprisingly led the pack, followed by incumbents Jim Kenney, Wilson Goode Jr., Blondell Reynolds Brown and Bill Greenlee.
The No. 1 Republican, as expected, was Councilman Frank Rizzo. Oh and Kelly are more than 15,000 votes behind Rizzo. Republicans Patricia Mattern and Phil Kerwick were even further behind. The city’s Home Rule Charter reserves two at-large seats for the minority party, which has been the Republicans for 60 years.
The Green Party’s Jacinth Brown Roberts and Osborne Hart of the Socialist Workers Party were not factors.
Kelly, of Somerton, represented the 7th Councilmanic District from 1988-91 before losing a bid for a second term. He won an at-large seat in 2003 by finishing seventh. Oh was ninth, about 14,000 votes behind him.
Entering this race, Kelly was confident that his ties to the Northeast — where most of the city’s Republicans live — would carry him to a relatively easy victory. He had campaign fliers, billboards and newspaper advertisements touting his plan to make Philadelphia a no-kill city for animals.
Instead, he sweated it out on election night, leaving Knowlton Mansion at 1 a.m. not knowing whether he’d be serving another four-year term or leaving public office for the second time.
"I’m surprised, absolutely," he acknowledged. "I thought I would do much, much better than this."
Oh knew he would be cut from the sample ballots by some of the Republican ward leaders in the Northeast, but he made up the ground in Fairmount, Center City, South Philadelphia and elsewhere.
Despite the semi-coordinated effort to suppress his vote by local GOP ward leaders, the challenger held his own in the Northeast, finishing behind Rizzo and Kelly, but not by the wide margins in ‘03.
"I did better in Roxborough than before, but I made up most of my vote in the Northeast," he said.
Oh, who monitored election-night returns at McGillin’s Old Ale House in Center City, said he has seen what look like some improper absentee ballots cast in the 1st and 39th wards in South Philadelphia and the 66th Ward in the Far Northeast.
While Oh was hanging out at the oldest tavern in Philadelphia, Kelly was joined by Republican honchos at Knowlton Mansion.
Rizzo, who earned a fourth four-year term, was pleased with his showing.
"It’s great for a Republican to get seventy-five thousand votes in this town," he said.
Rizzo, son of former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, said he couldn’t recall a closer race.
"I’m not sweating it," he said of his easy victory, "but I’m here because I want Jack to win."
Rizzo said he would work with Oh if he ultimately wins the race. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com