Stier Calls Casino-Free Court Challenge Ruling a Miscarriage of Justice

For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 8, 2007
Contact: Christina Michaels, 215-988-9555
 
 
 
Stier Denounces Court’s Rejection of 27,000 Signatures
 
 
Philadelphia, PA; Marc Stier, democratic candidate for City Council at Large in the Spring Democratic primary, denounced the decision of a Common Pleas judge to reject an anti-casino petition containing 27,000 signatures. Stier first put forward the idea of keeping casinos from residential neighborhoods by means of a referendum on a Home Rule Charter Amendment. Hundreds of people worked hard to collect 27,000 signatures on a petition that forces City Council to vote on putting the Charter Amendment on the ballot and reduces the number of votes needed to do so from 12 to 9.
 
Stier called the decision a “sickening miscarriage of justice” He added, “Three years ago, when I ran for State Representative, attorneys spent four days examining the 1200 signatures I filed to get on the ballot. Yesterday, a judge ruled that most of 27,000 signatures were invalid in a few hours. The Court did not seriously examine the evidence in this case. There simply was no way it could have done so in so in that short period of time.”
 
“I have no doubt that Casino Free Philadelphia will appeal and that higher courts will demand that due process be adhered to in the evaluation of these petitions,” Stier continued. In the meantime, the process we started will still be successful if 12 members of City Council vote to put the Charter Amendment on the ballot. All Philadelphians who care about our waterfront and our democracy should demand that they do so.”
 
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