Last week, the Local reported on the arrival of a mysterious letter preceding Democratic-endorsed judicial candidates dropping out of a public forum hosted by the voter advocacy organizations Mt. Airy Democrats and Vote the Ridge. Since then, more questions have arisen over the letter’s origin.

The forum, held on April 3 and 7, was intended to allow local voters a chance to hear from judicial candidates. The groups say it is “especially hard” for voters to keep track of judicial candidates and narrow down their choices. 

According to Maurice Sampson, co-chair of Mt. Airy Democrats, a letter bearing the name of Bob Brady, chairman of Philadelphia's Democratic Party, was slipped underneath Sampson’s door. 

Within 48 hours of the two groups’ receipt of the letter, all but one of the candidates who agreed to attend the forum dropped out. Sampson said Brian Kisielewski was the only Democratic-endorsed judge to attend. 

Sampson identified the judicial candidates who backed out of the forum as Will Braveman, Amanda Davidson, Irina Ehrlich, Larry Farnese, Kia Ghee, Sarah Jones, Anthony Stefanski, Deborah Watson-Stokes, and Leon King.

The Local reached out to each candidate asking why they dropped out and whether or not they received the letter, but none responded. 

The letter, addressed, “Dear Endorsed Candidates,” described the two groups as backing Mike Huff for judge and opposing local ward leaders and City Councilmember Cindy Bass. The letter then read, “To avoid any conflicts with these Wards I am asking you to not attend anything with or correspond,” with Mt. Airy Democrats or Vote the Ridge.

Huff is running in the Democratic primary but is not endorsed by the Democratic party. He’s currently engaged in an ongoing legal battle to determine whether his residency allows him to run in Philadelphia. 

Brady told the Local, “I never sent a letter. It's not my letter. I never signed anything, and it's a forgery.” 

He added, “If someone forged my name, that’s against the law.” 

For his part, in a written statement to the Local, Huff said, “Mt. Airy Democrats and Vote the Ridge are volunteer organizations doing the hard work of informing and empowering their neighbors to vote, which is especially valuable in historically low-turnout elections such as this. 

“The Philadelphia Democratic City Committee should be focused on turning out voters — not silencing independent voices by instructing their own endorsed candidates to reject chances to engage communities, or by denigrating volunteer organizations in the process. 

It was my pleasure to attend the forum and speak with voters who want to learn about our judiciary. Judicial elections matter. These are the races that determine who interprets justice in our city. The real harm isn’t to any one campaign, it’s to Philadelphians who deserve transparency, accountability, and a judiciary that answers to the people, not party politics.”

Continuing the story

Michael Swayze, Mt. Airy Democrats' other co-chair, also doubts the letter came from Brady, saying it “does not seem to be Brady's style.” However, he wonders if someone working for Brady did, and if it still contributed to the candidates dropping out of the forum. 

Mt. Airy Democrats provided the Local with a sign-up sheet and emails the group says show the candidates planned to participate in the forum. Through emails and phone calls, Mt. Airy Democrats members said, candidates cited family reasons or previous commitments for dropping the forum, while others provided no reason. 

Michael Kleiner, a Mt. Airy Democrats member, told the Local, “We also made calls to confirm the candidates’ appearance. I called Kia Ghee and she was [in her car]. About half an hour later, her campaign manager called, saying Kia forgot they were having a big fundraiser but indicated he would circle back, and I said we had openings for April 7. He seemed interested. He never circled back, and I found no evidence online of a fundraiser.” 

Huff, a Municipal Court and Common Pleas Court candidate who attended the forum, posted the letter on Facebook writing, “I always thought judges were supposed to be independent and courageous.” 

In response to Huff posting the letter, Patrick Jones, the 59th Democratic Ward leader, said, “I'm just very concerned about the judicial candidacy of an attorney who would submit falsehoods to the public and imply they are authentic. I never thought the letter came from the chairman and anyone in their right mind would agree. But when an attorney uses fake news to manipulate the public for political gain, that's just highly irresponsible and dangerous given today's political climate. I wouldn't vote for Mike Huff for block captain, let alone judge.” 

Huff appears to have deleted the letter from Facebook.

Rebecca Poyourow, board president of Vote the Ridge and former member of the 21st Democratic Ward, told the Local that she has “no idea” who wrote the letter but thinks whoever wrote it was trying to throw off the forum. 

“When something is done in this fashion, it's very gaslight-y. It doesn't allow you to really know and so it leaves you guessing and second-guessing,” she said. “Somebody could have written it more to provoke a reaction from us, or to make this feel bad and at the same time, not distribute the letter to the candidates, but call them and tell them in some other way.” 

Poyourow emphasized that she is just speculating at this point but wants more transparency from the candidates as to why they dropped out of the forum. 

She added, “In any event, the effect was to blow up what was supposed to be a public forum to let people have a chance to hear from all the candidates in their own words, in a very low information race at a moment when we're trying to get more people involved and engaged.”

Contentious history between groups

Sampson was once volunteer members of the 22nd Democratic Ward in Mt. Airy under Ward Leader and Councilmember Cindy Bass. 

Sampson said, “We had a rather contentious relationship with her from the moment we were all elected. During COVID, she actually cut us out of participation and we ended up going to court, and the courts actually ordered her to continue to involve us. The courts made it clear you couldn't do that to people who were elected by the public.” 

Mt. Airy Democrats evolved from a group formerly called the 22nd Ward Open Caucus. During the last City Council general election, Sampson was among members who signed a letter encouraging support for Working Families Party candidates Nicolas O'Rourke and Kendra Brooks to fill the two minority party seats. The group’s intention was to replace the Republicans who serve in the minority seats with more progressive Working Families Party candidates. 

Sampson added, “The Party took umbrage with that, and we were ordered to recant our endorsements or be kicked out … The decision to do that was actually left to the ward leaders. In the case of 22nd Ward, Cindy Bass chose basically to expel all of us.”

The Local reached out to Bass but she did not comment. 

Looking ahead

With the candidates pulling out of the forum, Sampson called out the candidates and the Party, saying, “If the letter is a forgery, then Brady should have no problem [asking] candidates they endorsed to take advantage of every opportunity to speak to voters, including the request of the Mt. Airy Dems and Vote the Ridge ‘to meet with us to record a brief segment about their candidacy to be posted on our websites so voters can hear from them in their own words.’” 

He added, “Speaking for Mt. Airy Dems, all we want is to record what they have to say for the benefit of the voters.” 

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@Chestnuthilllocal.com

This story was updated  to identify Rebecca Poyourow as a former 21st ward member. and correct the date of the  forum.