NOTE: This entry has been corrected. Phil Kerwick is facing a recall as Ward Leader -- Councilman Jack Kelly is NOT facing a recall petition. Our apologies.
It was clear by the end of the November election that Phil Kerwick's hold on the 35th 
Republican Ward was in danger. Kerwick, who ran for City Council at large, is an outspoken critic, often of his own party, and went against the GOP machine by throwing all his weight behind David Oh, who lost by a sliver to incumbent Jack Kelly. Party leaders even suggested that Kerwick was part of a last-minute smear campaign against Kelly for voting to evict the Boy Scouts of America from their city-owned property, based on the national party's exclusion of homosexuals. (Kerwick and the proud author of the anti-Kelly campaign both deny he was involved).
As punishment for the alleged smear attack, Kerwick was denied his all-important street money on election day, with party leaders saying they wanted to avoid any chance he would spend it on more fliers. Now he's facing a recall petition. A meeting to consider the petition against Kerwick is scheduled for Thursday, 7:30 p.m. at Loudenslager Post, 7976 Oxford Avenue.
Al Schmidt, executive director of the Republican City Committee, dismissed the notion that Kerwick was being punished for supporting Oh.
"The suggestion that this matter has anything to do with Phil Kerwick's support of David Oh last November is absurd," Schmidt said in an e-mail Thursday. "David was an endorsed candidate of Republican City Committee."
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