Council President Anna Verna's announcement of a Nov. 7 special election for the three vacant City Council seats seemed like good news for Florence Cohen.
The 88-year-old widow of late Councilman David Cohen would have a chance to finish the term of her husband, who died in office last fall at the age of 90.
But not so fast.
Because ward leaders will be picking the Democratic candidate for the at-large seat in lieu of a primary, Cohen must now hope that she is selected by the city's 66 ward leaders - a procedure that some are calling arbitrary and unfair.
Critics also worry that the selection will fall victim to political cronyism, robbing Philadelphians of a democratic election.
"I don't think [the nomination] is democratic," said Cohen, a graduate of Penn's Graduate School of Education. "People should have the right to vote for the candidate they want and not have party leaders pick for them."
She said that she and her supporters have been calling and mailing letters to ward leaders asking for their votes.
An aide to her husband for 17 years, Cohen said that she is running because she has a duty to him.
"It's a moral responsibility to continue what he was doing - what we worked for for so many years," she said.
Tony Radwinski, spokesman for Council President Anna Verna, said that Verna has the "highest respect" for Cohen.
Not receiving the nomination would be the end of the road for Cohen, who said that she won't run as an independent in the event she isn't selected.
"It's rough," Cohen said. "It's an uphill battle all the way."
The Cohen name may disappear from city politics completely, as Sherrie Cohen, Florence and David's daughter, has decided to pull out of the 2007 elections for an at-large seat in Council.
Sherrie Cohen ended her candidacy in an e-mail to her supporters last Friday, offering no explanation for the decision.
"She examined what the costs would be, and [they] seemed prohibitive," her mother said. "I'm sorry she felt that way, but that's the way she felt. It was a hard decision for her to make, but she thought it was in her best interests."
