Larry Roberts withdraws Lally challenge
Retired state Rep. Larry Roberts filed but later withdrew a petition challenging the voter registration of Fayette County controller candidate Sean P. Lally, who is running against Roberts’ son Mark, the incumbent controller, for the Democratic nomination May 15. According to Lally’s attorney, Maria Balling-Peck, the petition was withdrawn Monday, less than two days after Lally received the one-page notification of the petition to strike Lally’s name from the rolls of registered voters in the county.
Balling-Peck called the move “just another torture to tie (Lally) up and try to burn more expenses and legal fees.” She said Lally did not receive notice of the Monday morning hearing until 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. Balling-Peck said she spent six hours on Sunday researching election law to defend the Larry Roberts petition, said she is amazed how everything occurred.
“This is mind-boggling. I’m scratching my head in utter bewilderment,” Balling-Peck said. She said she went to the courthouse at 8 a.m. and nobody in the courthouse was even aware of the issue. Balling-Peck said Larry Roberts arrived, and later withdrew the petition.
“I spent an entire day to protect Sean and not have him thrown off the ballot. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Balling-Peck said. She said Lally wasn’t even served properly or given adequate notice of the petition.
Balling-Peck’s prepared response states Lally wasn’t served properly, wasn’t notified of the reason of the challenge, and provides copies of Lally’s current voter registration card, driver’s license and other relevant documentation.
“I urge this commission to determine that this is nothing more than another futile attempt by Mr. (Mark) Roberts to remain unchallenged on the upcoming primary ballot,” the response states.
Lally, who successfully survived a challenge against his nomination petitions filed by Mark Roberts, said the Roberts camp has “an innate ability to make non-issues (into) issues.” Lally said the petition is simply “more mudslinging and more defamation of character.”
Larry Roberts said he filed the challenge because he did not believe Lally was registered to vote in Fayette County. “He produced a (registration) card and I have to assume it was accurate, so I withdrew the petition,” Larry Roberts said.
Larry Roberts said that Lally is also registered in the state of Ohio, meaning Lally can theoretically vote in two places at one time. However, there is no proof that he has done so. Larry Roberts also alleged that Lally is registered to vote in Allegheny County.
Balling-Peck said Lally has been voting in Uniontown for years, adding that the allegation that he is not registered in Fayette County was ludicrous. Lally confirmed that he did previously register to vote in Ohio, where he had a secondary residence, but said he never voted there. “I think Mark is hiding behind the shield of his father and I think the problem is this is a last-ditch effort by a candidate who is not the best for the job,” Lally said.
Lally said it is ironic that Larry Roberts is bringing up such an issue. Three years ago, Michael Ciampanelli, a 20-year-old carpet installer who lived with Roberts’ nephew in New Salem, alleged that Larry Roberts paid him $100 to enter the state representative race, to weaken the chances of challenger Timothy S. Mahoney by splitting up the vote.
“Larry Roberts was the one that put (Ciampanelli) in the race and now he wants to talk about voter registration?” Lally said. Lally said he has a copy of his voter registration from the Fayette County Election Bureau, and it is dated Oct. 24, 1997.
“I received a one-page document at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. It was just a joke. They’re trying to derail a positive, clean campaign. I never brought up anything publicly about Mark Roberts,” Lally said. “I don’t even know what the allegations are. They wanted me to remain in the dark.”
Lally said he was served the petition shortly after he arrived home from a party for Fayette County commissioner candidates Sean M. Cavanagh and Vincent Zapotosky. “I went upstairs and changed out of my suit and then went downstairs and was handed the paper,” Lally said.
The one-paragraph paper, signed by Larry Roberts and dated April 28, states the letter is to inform Lally that a petition to strike Lally’s name “from the general and district registers of electors of Fayette County will be presented to the Fayette County Registration Commission, Commissioners’ Office, Fayette County Courthouse, 61 East Main Street, Uniontown, Pennsylvania Monday, April 30, 2007 at 8 a.m.”
Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, said it is her understanding that the challenge, which was withdrawn, alleged that Lally was registered to vote in another state.
Lint said the three Fayette County commissioners serve as the Fayette County Registration Commission. Unlike challenges for candidacy for office, Lint said challenging someone’s voter registration can be done anytime. However, Lint added that this is the first case of someone challenging someone’s voter registration she has seen, and she is unsure of the procedure.
Lally said the latest Roberts camp maneuver is harassment.
Mark Roberts previously filed and lost a challenge and appeal attempting to have Lally thrown off the ballot challenging Lally’s nomination petitions.
Last month Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Joseph F. McCloskey affirmed a prior order filed by Fayette County Common Pleas Court Judge Steve P. Leskinen that allowed Lally to remain on the ballot despite the challenge of irregularities and deficiencies in Lally’s nomination petitions.
After four days of lengthy testimony, Leskinen struck 148 of the 436 signatures Lally turned in to the election bureau on 15 petitions. In his opinion, McCloskey affirmed all decisions of the trial court, which held that Lally had 288 valid signatures, or 38 more than the 250 required to seek the office.
A major challenge to Lally’s petitions was the fact that he signed an affidavit on the petitions as the circulator, but did not personally circulate all that he signed as circulator. During testimony, Lally said he did not personally circulate all the petitions he signed as the circulator, but said he did not think he was doing anything wrong because he gave the petitions to people that he trusted to circulate. Election law, enacted in 2001, requires the person who signs the affidavit as circulator to obtain every name on the petition.
Last week it was revealed that Lally filed for bankruptcy in 2003. Ironically, Roberts filed for bankruptcy in 1998.