The so-called "case against the courthouse" ends today.

It’s election day. The candidates can stop flapping their gums. And voters can being exercising their franchise.

Unfortunately only one in five will bother to do so. Oh, wait a minute. It’s raining out this morning. Make that one in six, or seven.

That, probably every bit as much as the seemingly endless wave of violence that is sweeping out society, is our national shame.

In Delaware County, three seats on the County Council are up for grabs, as well as two seats on the county Court of Common Pleas.

These are important jobs. And it’s not as if the campaign, as it too often has in the past, has been conducted in almost total anonymity.
Democrat David Landau has made sure of that.

Landau, a longtime Nether Providence fixture, has been in the face of the powerful GOP for months, railing against one-party rule and what he calls a system of patronage and party politics that is rampant in the County Courthouse.

Now the voters will decide between Landau, along with his running mates John Innelli and Ann O’Keefe, and the Republican ticket, Andrew Lewis, Christine Fizzano Cannon and Tom McGarrigle.

This newspaper has endorsed Fizzano Cannon, Lewis and Landau.
But there’s something else I would like to say, after meeting and interviewing all six candidates. I hope McGarrigle wins.

Why? That’s easy. Tom McGarrigle probably better represents the average person in this county than anyone I can remember running for office in recent years. He’s not a lawyer. Nor a high-dollar businessman.

He runs his own business, a service station, as he has for years. And he’s not without his warts. He freely admits he’s had some tax problems in the past when the economy soured and his business was in danger. He also points out he’s paid back every penny he owes.

In short, if you asked me who I’d like to sit down and watch an Eagles game with, the answer would be easy: Tom McGarrigle.

Does that necessarily make him the best person to sit on County Council? Maybe not. Then again, neither does haranguing the powers that be with your "case against the courthouse."

Democrats have not elected anyone to County Council since the Home Rule Charter was changed in 1980.

Here’s a prediction. They won’t this year either. Yes, it will be a lot closer than it normally is, and there will be some nervous moments at GOP headquarters tonight, wondering if their recent stunning setbacks (anyone remember Curt Weldon?) will continue.

But tomorrow morning the front page of the newspaper will carry a headline of "GOP Sweep."

Oh, and one other thing. Mary Alice Brennan, the current county council member seeking a seat on the county bench, will be the county’s top vote-getter.

Bet the house on it. But not with a bookie. You might end up in front of Judge Brennan for a whole different reason.