Don’t Forget To Vote on Tuesday

Time to see what the city’s creaky election machinery can do in an off-year primary election: Tuesday, Philadelphia voters—we’re presuming at least two—will go to the polls to decide the Democratic nominee in the city controller’s race. Since this is Philadelphia, Tuesday’s winner is all but assured of winning the general election, whenever that supposedly happens.

NewsWorks’ Dave Davies breaks down the race:

It’s a three-way race to be Philadelphia’s elected financial watchdog, but the nastiest stuff is being traded between two term incumbent Alan Butkovitz and two-time challenger Brett Mandel.

Mandel’s TV ad questions whether Butkovitz is responsible for Philadelphia’s school funding mess. An announcer says that “on Butkovitz’s watch, the school district’s 300 million dollar deficit forced neighborhood schools to close.”

But some of Butkovitz’s campaign messages have proved controversial, too. One mail piece features a large headline that reads, “Brett Mandel raised your property taxes.”

And, oh yeah, there’s a third guy in the race named Mark Zecca. Full disclosure: Mandel has been a contributor to the Philly Post. In any case, you might want to go to the candidates’ websites to see what they’re all about. Here’s Butkovitz, here’s Mandel, and here’s Zecca. Vote wisely.