Karla Cruel

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Karla Cruel

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2019

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

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Karla Cruel (independent) ran for election to the Philadelphia City Council to represent District 4 in Pennsylvania. Cruel lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Cruel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2019

See also: City council elections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2019)

General election

General election for Philadelphia City Council District 4

Incumbent Curtis Jones defeated Karla Cruel and Matt Baltsar in the general election for Philadelphia City Council District 4 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Curtis Jones (D)	88.6	27,041
		Karla Cruel (Independent)	8.1	2,461
	Submit photo	Matt Baltsar (L)	3.2	984
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	25

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,511
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Philadelphia City Council District 4

Incumbent Curtis Jones defeated Ron Adams in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia City Council District 4 on May 21, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Curtis Jones	74.0	16,042
	Submit photo	Ron Adams	25.8	5,588
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	38

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,668
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeannette Geter (D)

Campaign themes

2019

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released October 1, 2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Karla Cruel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cruel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m an attorney and an educator who grew up in West Philadelphia, and I’m running for office to bring true democracy to the people.

Before I started this campaign, I always thought that to best help people I should stay as far away from politics as possible. I became a teacher to make a difference by giving young people the tools to change their own future, and later became a lawyer to improve my own toolkit and empower people even more. Like many others, I associated politics with corruption and government with failure to meet community needs. But through studying the law and other experiences, I’ve come to realize that the reason that government has been failing us is largely because the people in power have been getting away with excluding the voice of the people.

Decisions made by leaders should always be guided by the people that they represent, and not just superficially. If we the people were part of the process from beginning to end, politicians would actually be accountable and processes would be transparent. In addition, we need to change our approach to problem solving and focus on the root of the issues rather than only dealing with the symptoms. It’s time to cure the disease instead of just taking pain medication.

I am not just asking for your vote; I am asking you to take a journey with me to become a city that models democracy for the rest of the country. Together, let’s form a more perfect union, establish justice for all and not just some, insure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare. Let’s help people exercise the power that has always been theirs.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I’m showing the people how to use their own power. My first priority is to make myself accountable to my constituents through total transparency - no more closed-door meetings with special interests.
• Gentrification is the result of bad governance. 23% of Philadelphia’s housing sales in 2018 were to investors, not residents; I’ll stop the losses of my constituents’ homes and neighborhood networks.
• I will help build a local economy that prioritizes people who actually live here, contribute to the tax base, and spend money in Philadelphia. That benefits the entire community, instead of just outside investors.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1. Stopping gentrification and ensuring that communities have a real voice in development. 23% of Philadelphia's housing sales in 2018 were to investors, not residents, and many of those were tax and sherriff's sales (which are disproportionately high in parts of my district). If we don't stop it, my neighbors will be priced out by the next municipal elections, and Roxborough and Manayunk will lose their neighborhood atmospheres as homes and community spaces are replaced by high rises. City Council needs to start treating us as people and neighborhoods with deep roots and connections to each other instead of as investment opportunities for outside interests.

2. Modeling a new approach to governing where all constituents are treated equitably. My office will be open and transparent about everything I do to in order to ignite the power of the people. I will involve actual community members - not just professional advocates and special interest groups - at all levels of decisionmaking.

3. Fair taxation and evidence-based spending. We need to stop ratcheting up the same regressive taxes and instead take a serious look at where all this revenue is going. We need a tax system that has everyone paying their fair share and is transparent and rational about where the money goes. We also need to encourage new and sustainable industries like legal recreational cannabis and renewable energy to not only build a new tax base but also create good jobs and help mitigate climate change.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2019 Elections

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