WALTER CAMPAIGN Candidate drops out of election

The ex-candidate says he had nothing to do with the petition problems.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Randy Walter's withdrawal as a congressional candidate won't stop an investigation into election falsification by some people who circulated his nominating petitions.
Because of the investigation, Walter of Canfield informed the Trumbull County Board of Elections on Friday that he is no longer a candidate in the 17th Congressional District race.
"I will not start my campaign with our request to be on the ballot being anything but above reproach, as they have been in the past," Walter said.
Controversy
Four Walter petition circulators --including his mother-in-law, Grace Hreno -- have admitted to elections officials they did not circulate petitions and/or falsified signatures, elections officials say.
Also, two people, who work for Walter's real estate development company, declined to answer questions by the Trumbull elections board about circulating petitions for him. The elections board referred those two cases to the county prosecutor for criminal investigation.
The election falsification investigation is not over just because Walter is no longer a candidate, said Kelly Pallante, county elections board director. "This won't stop the investigation," she said.
The 17th District includes portions of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties.
Walter submitted petitions with 3,460 signatures. He needed 1,844 valid signatures to get on the November ballot as an independent candidate to face U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Niles Democrat seeking his third term in the House, and Republican Don Manning of Cortland.
The number of valid signatures on Walter's petitions decreased because of various reasons including getting signatures of people who aren't registered voters, those who listed an incorrect address, printed their names, and forgeries.
Walter had about 2,300 signatures on his petitions that were acceptable, but elections officials were re-examining those documents. Elections officials anticipated that number to decrease, but said Walter would probably have enough valid signatures to get certified.
Walter said he had nothing to do with the petition problems, adding that his campaign did all it could to ensure that proper procedures were followed.
"We tried to collect about 3,500 signatures in three weeks so mistakes can happen," he said. "It's unfortunate. We gave it a shot. It's hard to [get enough valid signatures] when we only decided three weeks" before the May 1 independent filing deadline to run.
Reasons for dropping out
The petition controversy would have probably made it difficult to discuss "the real issues" in the campaign such as job creation, health care costs, education and reviving this area, Walter said.
Walter unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2000 as an independent, finishing third. He filed in 2002 as a Democrat for the seat, but withdrew before the primary.
He submitted petitions in 2004 to run as an independent for this post, but failed to make the ballot because he didn't have enough valid signatures.
Walter said he doubts he'd try to run for the job in 2008.
Walter is outspoken about political corruption in the Mahoning Valley and wants to restore people's pride in the area.
"We believe the things we say, and we want to be consistent with our statements," he said. Withdrawing "shows that we are consistent."
skolnick@vindy.com