Wagners may lose another
Below, Chris Potter updates the feuding in the city's 19th Ward, where longtime Democratic ward chair Pete Wagner (the brother of Jack) is being challenged for the chairmanship by former council candidate Anthony Coghill. It would be a big deal in city political circles if he is able to get enough of his own people into the ward and make Coghill chairman -- he'd be the first person not named Wagner or Gigliotti not to hold the job in a generation.
But Coghill's sights are set on Pete Wagner, brother of Jack and longtime chair of the 19th ward. It's not clear Coghill has toppled his nemesis -- he'd need the votes of more than half of the committee people to supplant Wagner as ward chair. But there's no question Coghill has drawn blood.
On the one hand, Pete Wagner's son, also named Pete, lost in district 12. Pete the Elder's wife, Judy, also lost her post representing the female post in that district. Not every challenger was successful: Jack Wagner's wife, Nancy, barely held onto her spot in district 21 -- winning by just 4 votes. And in any case, not every committeeperson has declared an allegience to any ward chair. But in all, Coghill says, "I only need a couple loose votes, and the momentum is going our way."
In other committee news, former O'Connor/Ravenstahl operations director Denny Regan lost his Point Breeze committee spot 145-20 to Obama volunteer and Pitt medical school professor Saleem Khan. Elsewhere in the 14th Ward, former mayoral candidate (and Republican) Kevin Acklin was unopposed in his bid to join the Dem clan.