Big day in Delco politics

It’s a big day in Delco politics.

In Chester, two Democrats who won election in November will take their seats on Chester Council.

Portia West and John Linder managed to break the Republican stranglehold on the council. It’s only the second time that’s happened since 1906.

Bipartisan rule arrives back in Chester today.

Meanwhile, in the county seat in Media, all eyes will be on Mario Civera as he takes the oath office this morning to join County Council.

Civera rolled to a big win in November with incumbent Republican Jack Whelan.

It was expected that Civera would by this time have shed his other job, as a state rep for the 164th District.

It hasn’t turned out that way. Civera says he’s been approached by members of both parties asking him to stay on in Harrisburg for an expedited budget process starting early in the spring session.

Civera will thus hold two down two jobs, something he indicated in the campaign he would not do.

He will not accept his $49,000 salary for the county job, instead opting for his $105,000 state rep paycheck.

Upper Darby Democrats are livid that Civera plans to hold down both positions, at least for the immediate future.

And while bipartisanship is taking hold in Chester, it is still merely a rumor in Media.

With the election of Civera and Whelan, County Council remains an all-Republican affair, just as it has since the Home Rule Charter was adopted back in the early ‘70s.

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