Back Channels: 2 city commissioner candidates promise change

City commissioner races are usually quiet affairs with predictable results.

Two of the three seats go to Democrats, one to a Republican. Since the mid-1970s, one of the Democrats has been Marge Tartaglione, now 78. She's the chairwoman of the agency, which is tasked with overseeing city elections, maintaining voter-registration records, and training election officials. Her co-commissioners are there to (1) elect her chairwoman and (2) shut up and stay out of her way.

Come November, there will still be two Democrats and one Republican. Tartaglione will likely be reelected, despite her $288,000 payout from the controversial DROP program and last year's resignation of her daughter and deputy, Renee, who was accused of politicking in violation of city rules.

But will Marge Tartaglione still run the show? Yes, if her current colleagues, Democrat Anthony Clark and Republican Joseph Duda, are also reelected. No, if voters opt for two strong primary challengers calling for reform.

And reform is the least of what this office needs. In fact, the nonpartisan watchdog group Committee of Seventy and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, which oversees city finances, have both called for the elimination of these elected positions.

A Committee of Seventy report says that city elections are run "relatively smoothly" but that commissioners "largely operate outside the public's view." Philadelphia, it notes, is the only one of the nation's 10 largest cities where "local elected officials run local elections."

A 2009 PICA study pointed out that Philadelphia spends a little more than $9 per voter on its elections, almost double the state average. It, too, noted the city's unique status: "Philadelphia's system of election administration is an anomaly among major cities. ... In the majority of cases, elections are run by a professional staff under the oversight of an appointed official."

Both PICA and Seventy cite city controller's audits raising questions about the commissioners' handling of payroll, revenue, expenses, and records.

After all those criticisms, and after the Renee Tartaglione controversy, what kind of scrutiny do the commissioners get? Virtually none. At a Council hearing on their budget last month, they got a pass. The commissioners were seeking more money but didn't show up to defend their request. And why should they if "oversight" means all of one question about postage?