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Legal wrangling ensnarls felon’s ballot spot in New Castle election
By Jeanne Starmack
NEW CASTLE, PA.
Gary Mitchell believes he’s changed.
The retired New Castle native, who runs a ministry called Rebuilding of Life, believes he should be allowed to sit on city council despite a 2002 felony drug conviction. He won in the Democratic primary, along with two other candidates, and is a Democratic candidate for one of three seats open in the November election.
New Castle resident John Altman, the lone Republican candidate for city council, disagrees that the felon should be allowed on the ballot. State law prohibits him from holding office, he says.
But he had no standing, he says, to challenge Mitchell’s candidacy in the May Democratic primary. State law does not allow a challenge to a candidate in an opposing political party, he said.
But he told Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge John Hodge on Tuesday that he has standing now.
Judge Hodge heard arguments on whether Altman really does have such standing. Because he can participate in the November election, Altman said, he can challenge Mitchell’s right to be on the ballot.
Mitchell’s attorney, Shawn Sensky, said the county district attorney or the state attorney general must bring the legal action that would remove a candidate from the ballot.
The Lawrence County district attorney has refused to pursue action against Mitchell, saying it’s legally proper to do so only after a candidate is elected, not during an election, Altman said. After such a refusal, a private citizen does have the right to ask for a candidate’s removal, Altman contends.
He doesn’t have the district attorney’s refusal in writing, however — Altman said they spoke over the phone. He also said that the state attorney general told him simply to ask the district attorney for guidance.
Because he doesn’t have it in writing, the district attorney’s response can’t be entered into the record for the court to consider.
Judge Hodge, who said he wants to make sure justice is served in the case, asked county solicitor Thomas Leslie how Altman could fix his petition for removal.
“It does not indicate no remedy of law, so it’s clear there’s no legal standing,” Leslie told Judge Hodge.
Leslie was at the hearing to represent the county board of elections, which is also named in Altman’s petition. He maintains the board had no legal standing to keep Mitchell off the ballot.
Judge Hodge said he will consider the issue for a ruling later.
Leslie said after the hearing that if Judge Hodge decides Altman does not have legal standing, he could allow Altman to amend his petition with evidence that the district attorney and the attorney general refused to pursue legal action to remove Mitchell from the ballot. Or, he said, he could dismiss the petition without prejudice, meaning Altman would have to start over if he wanted to refile it.
Once the issue of standing is resolved, Judge Hodge would consider whether Mitchell should be removed from the ballot, Leslie said.