Wilmington City Council is still trying to oust James Spadola after he successfully won a lawsuit to keep his seat following a party switch.
Spadola was voted onto Wilmington City Council as an at-large member and a Republican, but when he switched parties and became a Democrat it left council without any minority party representation.
That prompted council to pass a resolution to remove Spadola because by rule, there must be at least one minority party representative on city council.
Spadola challenged council’s attempt to dismiss him in Chancery Court and won, with the court ruling the resolution exceeded council’s authority.
Now, Council is appealing to Delaware’s Supreme Court - a decision Spadola calls a mistake.
"So it's unfortunate that $200,000 later, we're back to where we started. But what the Law Department told council that they didn't want to believe for whatever reason. And now the city's going to be on the hook for even additional money," said Spadola.
He says the filing indicates members of council were uncomfortable with that determination, and the appeal went forward after internal discussion.
Spadola says council wasn’t transparent in making the appeal.
"There was no announcement about it. There was no meeting discussing the appeal. Even though the actual appeals on words says following internal discussion, whatever that means, and then I reached out to a couple of council members who didn't even know was being discussed let alone filed. So for me to be the one that had to announce it, that to me is the strangest one, the lack of transparency this time around," said Spadola.
Spadola notes the council’s own filing acknowledges the City Law Department concluded changing parties did not violate the city charter, and the city has already spent $207,000 in legal fees in this case.
