17th District candidate withdraws

Republicans don’t have another candidate to run for the congressional seat.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

WARREN — A problem with the nominating petitions of a Republican running for the 17th Congressional District has led him to withdraw as a candidate.

The door is still open for Duane V. Grassell of Mogadore to refile petitions for the March 4 primary for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Niles Democrat. Kelly Pallante, Trumbull County Board of Elections director, said Grassell told her Friday he’s not inclined to seek the position.

Grassell acknowledged he told Pallante that. He said he’ll decide next week if he’ll file to run for the seat.

“I’m talking to some friends and I’m evaluating if I want to pursue it,” he said.

Without Grassell, Republicans won’t have a candidate in that congressional district race, said Mark Munroe, Mahoning County Republican Party vice chairman.

“I would hope he’d stay in the race,” Munroe said. “He’d file without any opposition. There is no back-up plan at this point.”

Being the largest county in the 17th District, candidates running for the seat file their nominating petitions with the Trumbull County elections board.

Grassell filed petitions Wednesday. Pallante said she and another elections board employee reviewed Grassell’s petitions and told him that it appeared there was a problem.

All nominating petitions include a declaration of candidacy at the top of the forms. The declaration includes a candidate’s name, address, political affiliation, date of the election and his signature, Pallante said.

In reviewing the petitions, Pallante told Grassell that all of the declarations of candidacy appeared to be copies. Copies of the declaration on each form are acceptable as long as the original one is also included, she said.

Elections boards have no choice but to disqualify candidates who don’t submit original declarations with nominating petitions under state elections law, Pallante said.

Grassell ignored Pallante’s advice about the declaration and turned in his petitions with 133 signatures. Congressional candidates need 50 valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Grassell called Pallante on Thursday and informed her that he found other petitions including the one with the original declaration. He asked if he could add that petition to what he filed, but that’s not permissible under state law, Pallante said.

“I should have known better,” Grassell said. “I was quite discouraged when I found out. I’ve put a lot of effort into it.”

But Grassell has options.

Grassell can file as a write-in candidate or circulate new nominating petitions for the congressional seat, said Pallante and Jeff Ortega, an Ohio Secretary of State office spokesman. The write-in deadline is Wednesday, and the filing deadline for candidates to get their names on the ballot is Friday. The latter is subject to certification by the elections board.

A recent advisory from the secretary of state states a person who files nominating petitions can withdraw them and refile for the same job as long as the filing deadline hasn’t passed or the elections board hasn’t invalidated the petitions, Ortega said. Neither occurred in Grassell’s case.

Grassell, a teacher in the Akron area, unsuccessfully ran for a school board seat in his hometown of Mogadore in 2003, finishing last in a three-person race for two positions.

Ryan filed Friday to run for his fourth two-year term in the U.S. House. He’s easily won his previous three general elections in a heavily populated Democratic district. The 17th includes portions of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties.

skolnick@vindy.com