Roberts should pay up
Fayette County Controller Mark Roberts had every right to challenge the signatures on nominating petitions filed by his lone Democratic primary challenger, businessman Sean P. Lally. That’s a right accorded to all candidates under the law; and from a purely strategic standpoint, if Roberts could have gotten 187 signatures stricken, Lally would have fallen below the 250 needed to remain on the ballot. Roberts could thus have eliminated the only competition he’s likely to face for re-election. But the effort fell short, as Judge Steve P. Leskinen threw out only 148 of the signatures on Lally’s petitions. To anyone who knows politics, this is no surprise. It’s a virtual certainty that anyone who takes a fine tooth comb to any candidate’s nominating petitions is going to find problems, such as cross-party signers, people who’ve signed more than one petition for the same office, addresses that don’t match up with the signer’s place of residence, or signatures that aren’t valid.
In many ways, this is the nature of the beast in Pennsylvania politics. How, for example, can the circulator of a petition know with absolute certainty that the person who agrees to sign matches the signature that is affixed? Or that the signer is a member of the candidate’s political party? Or that they actually live in the district in which the candidate is running? Barring full background checks on everyone who signs, there’s no way of guaranteeing complete accuracy. That’s why experienced candidates obtain way more than the minimum number of signatures. By doing so, they create a wide enough buffer that if their petitions are challenged and names are stricken, they’ll still have enough left to stay on the ballot.
In this day and age, with all the attention paid to actual and alleged petition irregularities – including those involving one-time candidate Michael Ciampanelli that mysteriously ended up on the desk of Roberts’ father, former state Rep. Larry Roberts, in 2004 – we’d think that all candidates would be more keen on learning the rules inside and out. Key among them is a provision that the person who actually circulates a petition must get them notarized as the signer, a shortcoming that surfaced in the Lally-Mark Roberts and Michael Ciampanelli-Larry Roberts cases.
While Mark Roberts was absolutely entitled to challenge Lally’s petitions, the incumbent county controller failed to act on the cost of doing business associated with requesting subpoenas for 360 people. State law unearthed by the attorney daughter of one of the petition signers subpoenaed by Mark Roberts revealed that each and every one of them who showed up is entitled to a $5 per day “witness fee” plus seven cents per mile for travel expenses.
Mark Roberts’ position now is that he’ll “happily” pay what’s owed, provided the person complied with the subpoena and was truthful on the stand. The law doesn’t give him the power to make the latter determination. Plus, the law says the first day’s reimbursement should be paid ahead of time for any subpoenas that are mailed.
All those hauled to court should demand their payment.