Solomon also received more votes than all but one City Council candidate and the top candidates for sheriff, register of wills, and city commissioner. In fact, the only candidates in November's city election to get more votes than Solomon were Mayor Nutter, Councilman Bill Green, Superior Court Judge David Wecht, and Commonwealth Court candidate Kathryn Boockvar.
Solomon similarly beat a field of 14 candidates in the party's primary last spring. Like any other dutiful judicial candidate who has any expectation of winning, she paid tribute to the party in the form of an "assessment" fee for Election Day support, which purportedly covers the printing of sample ballots and stipends for poll workers.
Solomon's prowess in garnering party support shows she has skills, even if they aren't very relevant to being a judge. But she's only the latest example of an elected Traffic Court judge who shouldn't have been on the ballot.
In 2007, Traffic Judge Willie Singletary made a speech that included a promise to give campaign donors special consideration on their tickets. The Court of Judicial Discipline did little more than tsk-tsk at Singletary. But now he faces a state Supreme Court review following an allegation that he showed a worker a photo of his genitals.
Need more evidence? The FBI recently raided Traffic Court in an investigation of whether politically connected defendants get favorable treatment. In an unprecedented move, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille subsequently replaced the court's administrative judge, Michael J. Sullivan.
The disarray in Traffic Court is what happens when the dominant political party in town keeps running unqualified candidates for judgeships just so long as they have paid their "fees." City party Chairman Bob Brady and the Democrats should show more respect for Philadelphians.
