The Republican Party of Philadelphia endorsed Daphne Goggins, who is a black female candidate that has not worked since 2010 due to self-described mental illness. She has been supported by taxpayer-funded disability payments. She says she is fit to be Mayor of Philadelphia, because her cabinet will do most of the work for her. -GEG
- Philadelphia Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for
mayor, Daphne Goggins, suffers from anxiety, depression and bipolar
disorder, she told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
- Goggins,
the first black female endorsed by the Philadelphia GOP, hasn’t held a
paid job since 2010 and supports herself financially through federal
disability benefits.
- Goggins said she will
give up her disability benefits if she wins her election. She said she’s
fit to serve as mayor of the sixth-largest city in the United States
because her cabinet would do most of the work for her.
- Goggins said her mental illnesses shouldn’t prevent her from serving as mayor but also said late Arizona Sen. John McCain should have stepped down from the Senate because of his “brain problems.”
The
Philadelphia Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for mayor, Daphne
Goggins, hasn’t worked a paid job in eight years due to anxiety,
depression and bipolar disorder, she revealed during a phone interview
with The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Goggins became the first
black woman to receive the endorsement of the Philadelphia GOP on Feb.
13, but her endorsement swiftly came under fire after one of her primary
opponents, Billy Ciancaglini, said she hasn’t held a paid job since 2010 and has been relying on federal disability benefits to support herself.
The revelation prompted party chairman Michael Meehan
to organize a meeting Monday with ward leaders to reconsider the
party’s endorsement of Goggins. The disability benefits she receives are
meant for people unable “to perform any job in the national economy,”
Meehan said. “I think the mayor’s job is one in the national economy and
is a sticking a point.”
The ward leaders voted 29 to 18
on Monday against reconsidering Goggins’ endorsement, solidifying the
Philadelphia GOP’s support of her in the lead up to the May 21 primary.
Goggins, who
is a ward leader herself, kept her colleagues in the dark prior to
Monday’s vote regarding the conditions that qualify her for disability
benefits. Goggins said in January she suffers from fibromyalgia, a
musculoskeletal pain disorder, but told reporters Monday that isn’t why she collects disability.
‘I truly believe that God disabled me’
Goggins,
a 56-year-old single mother of three, revealed to TheDCNF on Tuesday
that mental illness is what’s kept her away from the paid workforce
since 2010.
“The reason I was actually disabled is mental
illness,” Goggins said in a phone interview. “I take a chance in saying
this because I may lose some voters.”
“Bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety is what I treat for,” she said.
Goggins said her mental illnesses materialized after she stopped snorting cocaine in 2005.
“When
I first got clean from snorting cocaine and being a functioning addict,
I realized that my job was to stay clean,” she said. “As the years went
on I saw the issues that I had. Then I got the breast cancer. Then the
diabetes came along. I actually fell into a coma last year because I
took the wrong medication.”
“I went from making $60,000 a year to living off of $600 a month and food stamps,” she said.
Following
the publication of this story, Goggins clarified to TheDCNF that the
above figure represented her income in 2005. She said she stopped
collecting food stamps in 2010 after she began to collect disability but
declined to share her current monthly income, which she said is higher
than $600 a month.
Read full article here…
