YOUNGSTOWN Is Percy Squire eligible to be mayoral candidate?
The city's law department could be called in to determine eligibility of the candidate.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- He is not yet an official Youngstown mayoral candidate, but there are already questions about the eligibility of Percy Squire to seek that city office.
The city charter says all mayoral candidates "shall have been an elector of the city for five years." The charter fails to state if those five years have to be the previous five years before a candidacy for mayor.
No problem, Squire said.
The Columbus attorney, who last week changed his residency from the capital city back to Youngstown, grew up here and although it's been a few years, he has voted plenty more than five times in his life as a Youngstown resident.
"I construe it to say you have to be an elector for five years, which, of course, I have been," Squire said. "In general, election laws are construed in favor of making candidacies possible."
But others are not so sure.
Reviewing records: "You're tempted to say it should be the five previous consecutive years, but I can see how someone can argue that it's not," said Michael Sciortino, director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections. "If the petitions are filed, I'll see what my board wants to do."
Sciortino said his office is reviewing Squire's voting records to see how many times the attorney cast ballots as a Youngstown resident.
The review is not yet completed, but a preliminary board examination shows Squire changed his voting residency from Columbus to Youngstown in 1996, switched back to Columbus the following year and changed it to Youngstown again last week.
Squire and other candidates wishing to run as independents during the Nov. 6 election have until May 7, the day before the primary, to file nominating petitions with the board of elections.
If Squire files to run, the board would probably seek the legal opinion about his eligibility from the Youngstown Law Department because its staffers are the most familiar with the city charter, Sciortino said.
Other possibilities include seeking the legal opinion of either the Mahoning County Prosecutor's office or the Ohio Secretary of State's office, Sciortino said.
City Law Director Robert Bush Jr. said he has not reviewed case law on this issue nor formulated an opinion on it. Bush is an appointee of George M. McKelvey, who is seeking re-election.
Approach: If city charter provisions are "ambiguous, you use a common-sense, reasonable approach" to interpreting them, Bush said.
McKelvey, a Democrat, is the only candidate on the May 8 primary ballot. Donald P. Connelly is running as a write-in candidate. There are no Republican candidates.