PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council confirmed Seth Bluestein as a city commissioner on Thursday, filling the unexpired term of Al Schmidt.
When Republican Schmidt left to run the watchdog group Committee of Seventy, Mayor Jim Kenney chose Bluestein, Schmidt’s assistant, to replace him.
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Under the city charter, the seat required a minority party member. The mayor cited Bluestein’s 10 years of service to the commission, including the tumultuous 2020 elections in which Bluestein, like Schmidt, was subject to threats for defending the city’s votes.
That made no difference to Councilmember Kendra Brooks. She’s also a member of a minority party, the Working Families Party, and opposed Bluestein based solely on his party affiliation.
“We don’t need to continue giving power to a party chipping away at our democracy,” she said.
Brooks was the only member who voted “no.”
Bluestein said he’s happy to take this step forward as the commissioners get ready for an election with open Senate and governor’s seats.
“There’s definitely a lot of work ahead of us, and Pennsylvania’s once again at the forefront of the national election cycle,” he said.
Bluestein said the commissioners are still waiting for congressional districts to be finalized and, for the first time, Chinese language access to be implemented for city voters.
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