How hot a political cauldron is casino gambling in Philadelphia?
So hot that the president judge of Common Pleas Court disqualified all 106 of his judges from handling a key casino case scheduled to get under way this morning.
The result is that Ward F. Clark, a senior judge from Bucks County, will preside over the court challenge that could help decide the face of the Philadelphia riverfront.
Clark, a Republican, was appointed yesterday to decide whether citizens groups had successfully gathered the 20,000 signatures necessary to get an anti-casino zoning referendum question on the May primary ballot.
The ballot measure would bar casinos from being built within 1,500 feet of any home, school, or place of worship. The referendum could effectively void the decision of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to license SugarHouse Casino in Fishtown and Foxwoods Casino in South Philadelphia.
Attorneys for SugarHouse filed the anti-referendum suit on Thursday in Common Pleas Court, contending there were widespread flaws in the petitions.
Common Pleas Court President Judge C. Darnell Jones II in turn asked the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts for an out-of-county judge, citing the need to ensure that whatever the decision, it would not appear to be tainted by politics.
"It isn't just the political aspect, but it certainly is a part of it," said Jones, who said he considered whether city judges might live near a casino site or have received political contributions from casino investors or their lawyers.
Jones, a Democrat, is running for a seat on the state Supreme Court. As a candidate, he said, he would not have presided over the casino case - and thought that all city judges, because they are elected, "likewise would be in that pool."
"This was the best way to do it," said Jones, who said he also considered the "significant time commitment" a judge would need to review so many signatures. More than 27,000 have been filed.
If the 20,000-signatures minimum is upheld, nine City Council members still would have to approve putting the measure on the ballot.
Jones' caution underscored the political furor recently stirred by casino opponents, and the political nature of the judgeships. All are elected, and they depend on support from party organizations and individual ward leaders to win office.
