Official refuses to resign from board

Lazor said she can be
objective while on the
elections board.

By MARY GRZEBIENIAK

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

MERCER, Pa. — Mercer County Commissioner Olivia Lazor refused fellow Commissioner Kenneth Seamans’ request that she resign from the county elections board for reasons of fairness.

Seamans pointed to Lazor’s comments supporting Republican commissioner candidates, which were published in a local newspaper. Seamans told Lazor at Tuesday’s chief clerk’s meeting, “It is my opinion you should resign from the election board.”

“I’ll let the courts decide on that,” replied Lazor, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election after four terms as commissioner.

Seamans, a Republican, said Lazor can’t be an objective member of the elections board after publicly stating she will support the two Republican commissioner candidates John Lechner and former commissioners’ Solicitor Lewis McEwen.

Lazor declined to support her fellow Democrats including incumbent commissioner Brian Beader, who is seeking re-election, and former commissioners’ chief clerk Kenneth Ammann, who had his job terminated by a vote of Lazor and former Commissioner Michele Brooks in 2005.

Though county commissioners make up the elections board, they are not allowed to serve on it during elections in which they appear on the ballot.

As a result, Beader and Seamans, who is seeking a Wilmington Township trustee seat, have been replaced on the elections board by Judge Thomas Dobson of Mercer County Common Pleas Court and County Fiscal Director John Logan.

Lazor remains on the board because she is not seeking re-election.

Lazor stated that in off years when commissioners are not on the ballot they routinely support and endorse other candidates. She said, for example, that she actively supported County Controller Thomas Amundsen’s candidacy while she was a member of the elections board.

Seamans said that was different because Amundsen wasn’t a candidate for commissioner.

He agreed that there is no legality that would prevent Lazor from remaining on the elections board while she supports Republican commissioner candidates. But he said he believes it’s “morally wrong.”

But Lazor said after the meeting that she would have no problem remaining objective. If there were an issue where she felt her personal feelings would interfere, “I would excuse myself.”

Lazor said she has discussed the matter with both Judge Francis Fornelli of common pleas court and Dobson and she said, “They see no conflict.”

She commented that her support of the Republicans “has to do with the character and maturity of the candidates.”

Beader declined to comment on her statements.

But Ammann said he takes offense because he has based his campaign on his character and maturity. “I challenge anyone to look into my background and character,” he said.

Beader and Lazor have often been on opposite sides of issues in the commissioners’ office.