PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In a rare show of hostility between Philadelphia City Council members, Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson blasted one of her colleagues at last Thursday’s meeting, for misrepresenting a bill she's sponsoring.
One of Richardson’s first actions as a Council member was introducing a bill to give preference points for city jobs to public technical high school graduates — a bill that died because veterans protested it would water down their preference points.
However, with staffing shortages in every city department, Richardson revived the bill, only to have veterans renew their protest. Richardson, though, doesn't think veterans are acting on their own. In an unusual public statement, she accused another councilman of whipping up the opposition.
"I disavow the tactics that have been used against me related to this bill," Richardson said.
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"I would never, I would never, treat another person and particularly another colleague in this manner. There’s a better way to be a colleague and I hope in the future that is displayed."
While she didn't say a name, Councilman David Oh gave away the game when he raised his hand to respond. He simply repeated the argument that veterans view preferences as a zero-sum game, even though — as Richardson noted — there are eight kinds of preferences already in the city code, of which veterans are just one.