League of Women Voters violated election law, Lawrence board says

By Jeanne Starmack

The Lawrence County League of Women Voters is being fined $2,250.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The Lawrence County League of Women Voters faces a dilemma: register as a political action committee, which is against its bylaws, or be considered in violation of election law.

The Lawrence County Board of Elections voted Tuesday to tell the league to register as a PAC over two ads it ran before the November election.

County election officials and the district attorney contend the ads endorsed candidates, so the league was acting as a PAC.

The elections board’s solicitor, Tom Leslie, said the league’s support of an issue, that of forming a commission to study whether to change the county’s form of government, was also a political position. “They were trying to support an issue. They should have formed a PAC,” he said Tuesday.

The elections board also voted to fine the league $2,250 and to send the bill to the organization’s treasurer. It is giving the league until 4 p.m. Aug. 1 to comply, or possibly face prosecution by the county district attorney.

The ads the league ran urged voters to write in six names from seven candidates for the study commission. Eleven elected members had to be on it, and only five candidates had their paperwork filed in time to be on the ballot. The ads read: “Write in six on Nov. 6!” and listed the seven candidates’ names.

Marlene Gabriel, county director of elections, filed a complaint with the district attorney after the election.

District Attorney John Bongivengo wrote a letter to the league June 24, saying its failure to register as a PAC and to file an expenditure report are considered criminal offenses.

Bongivengo said in the letter and again Tuesday that he doesn’t want to prosecute unless he has to.

Bongivengo also said the election was legal.

The league “didn’t register as required — that doesn’t make what happened with the election or write-in candidates illegal,” he said. “It doesn’t rise to the level of having to set aside an election.”

Gabriel said the fines include $250 for missing a reporting period that was over Oct. 26; $250 for not filing an annual report by Jan. 31; and $1,750 for not filing candidates’ authorizations to add their names to the ads and to receive money on their behalf. The league will be fined another $250 in October if it still hasn’t registered and filed its expense report. “They’re accountable until they show a zero balance on their expense report,” Gabriel said.

Reached Tuesday after the board of elections meeting, league president Ruth Ray said the organization believes it did not act as a PAC. Ray had previously said that because the ads did not recommend six out of seven candidates, they did not constitute an endorsement.

She also said Tuesday that the league can promote issues. She said the league has promoted many issues, including for the county library system and zoning. “That’s basically what we try to do is make people aware,” she said.

She said, as she had previously, that the league cannot form a PAC because of its bylaws.