Allegations of election impropriety leveled by Mahoney and Cavanagh
A state representative on Thursday accused a would-be opponent for his seat of forging the names of dozens of people on his petitions to get on the ballot.
Rep. Timothy Mahoney, D-South Union, came to an election board meeting with blown up copies of Michael Cavanagh’s election petitions and 27 affidavits from people – including a Catholic priest and a lawyer – who said they never signed them.
“We’re talking about election fraud … about people getting their identities stolen. We’re talking about people’s names being forged. We’re talking about a priest’s name being forged. We’re talking about an attorney’s name being forged. We’re talking about widows’ names being forged,” Mahoney said.
Cavanagh of Uniontown hotly contested the allegation that he forged signatures on any of his petitions, and leveled allegations of wrongdoing at Mahoney.
“I guarantee you, as God as my witness, if there are fake signatures on there, I didn’t sign them,” Cavanagh said, noting that he never heard of a problem with his petitions until the meeting.
Cavanagh alleged that last year, Mahoney signed his name on circulator affidavits of petitions to put a referendum about school consolidation on the ballot – even though other people had actually circulated them.
Mahoney said he followed the instructions given to him by election bureau personnel.
Both men asked the board to refer their respective allegations of election-related impropriety to District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. for investigation.
The board, comprised of Commissioners Al Ambrosini, Vincent Zapotosky and Angela M. Zimmerlink, moved to forward both sets of allegations to Heneks, who said he would review the matters and determine if either were appropriate for investigation by a grand jury he intends to convene on other matters.
Mahoney said that when he looked at Cavanagh’s petitions, he noticed similar handwriting, which prompted him to call his attorney. He said he was told to either hire a private investigator or hire a handwriting expert. Mahoney did the former, and hired Lee England. He said England talked to dozens of people who said they did not sign the petitions, submitted by Cavanagh in the April primary.
“These are 27 affidavits from 27 people who don’t mind getting involved in a court proceeding for identities being stolen, for their identities being forged,” Mahoney said, giving the board and media a copy of them.
He noted that Cavanagh signed as having circulated the petitions himself, so the forged names were his responsibility.
Cavanagh acknowledged after the meeting that he did sign the affidavits, but said he did not circulate all of his petitions.
“People are afraid to sign circulator affidavits because they get harassed by politicians all the time,” Cavanagh said. “If anyone would have brought to my attention that my petitions had invalid names, I would not have filed them.”
Although Cavanagh filed to run for the seat, he was thrown off the ballot because of a prior felony conviction related to insurance fraud. He tried unsuccessfully to appeal the removal to the state Supreme Court.
Cavanagh, who had asked to be on the agenda but was not placed on it, said that Mahoney needed investigated because he signed 42 circulator affidavits that were attached to his petitions to place a school consolidation referendum on the ballot last year. A judge ultimately booted the referendum, noting that Mahoney wanted it to be advisory, and the election bureau does not have the authority to do that. Mahoney was proposing to consolidate the administrations of the county’s school districts and create one countywide school board.
Cavanagh said that Mahoney acknowledged not personally circulating the petitions, but attached affidavits he sighed that were copied from his nominating petitions.
Mahoney said that he was told by Sheryl Heid, election bureau solicitor, and Larry Blosser, election bureau director, what he needed to do. Heid, who read from the election code, said that in the case of referendums, it is acceptable to sign circulator affidavits if the signer knows who circulated the petitions.
However, Cavanagh said, the signed affidavits were copied from nominating petitions – which are filed so someone can run for election.
“As long as we’re in the mind to refer stuff to the DA, I think he needs referred for fraud,” Cavanagh said.
After Cavanagh asked the board to refer his allegations against Mahoney to Heneks, the board discussed how best to handle the matter.
After more back-and-forth between Mahoney and Cavanagh, Mahoney ceded.
“I’ll recommend my stuff personally go to the DA,” he said.
After the meeting, Mahoney said he was confident that he had done nothing wrong, and unafraid to have Heneks look at Cavanagh’s allegations.
“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said.
Cavanagh also asked the board to clarify the process of putting a referendum on the ballot, which they agreed to do. Blosser was directed to get the process in writing, and present it at a board meeting to be scheduled in the coming months.
(Editor’s note: Copies of Cavanagh’s petitions can be see online with this story at HeraldStandard.com.)