Two candidates for prothonotary survive appeals
The nominating petitions of two candidates for Fayette County prothonotary have survived appeals in Commonwealth Court, and a third has been remanded back to Fayette County for a hearing.
Four Democrats are vying for prothonotary in the May 21 primary. They are Nina Capuzzi-Frankhouser, Pamela Hudson, Robert “Ted” Pritchard and Paul Shipley. Pritchard filed objections to the nominating petitions of the other three candidates in March, and three Fayette County judges struck down the objections. Pritchard looked to the appellate court to reverse those rulings.
In decisions handed down by Commonwealth Court Judge Anne E. Covey on Thursday, the rulings on Capuzzi-Frankhouser’s and Hudson’s nominating petitions were affirmed, denying Pritchard’s objections.
Covey vacated Fayette County Senior Judge Gerald R. Solomon’s decision to deny Pritchard’s objection against Shipley, and ordered a hearing on the matter.
Solomon originally denied Pritchard’s objection because he said it was not filed in a timely manner, explaining that the objection was not considered filed until he paid the fee, which was done well after the deadline to file objections. According to a written statement prepared by Pritchard, all three of Shipley’s nominating petitions are defective because they “contain an affidavit where the notary’s signature was concealed by the notary stamp, making the notary signature not visible unable to read which make the notarization defective.”
The hearing regarding Shipley’s nominating petition is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday before Solomon.