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Felon certified as election winner
By jeanne starmack
new castle, pa.
A felon is being certified a winner in the Nov. 8 city council election despite another candidate’s efforts to stop that certification.
Gary Mitchell, who was convicted in 2002 of selling crack cocaine to undercover agents, will be certified the winner of one of three seats Nov. 28. The Lawrence County Board of Elections voted Monday to certify the election after a five-day window allowed for objections, said Ed Allison, the elections board director.
Mitchell was one of three Democrats who won three open seats on the council, shutting out a fourth candidate and the lone Republican, John Altman, 1,866 to 1,693 votes.
Altman took Mitchell and the board of elections to court twice, first to get Mitchell taken off the ballot and then to stop his certification. Altman argues that the third seat on council should rightfully be his because Mitchell is not qualified to hold office and never should have been allowed to run. The state constitution does not allow felons to hold office.
“It’s like somebody running who doesn’t live in the district,” Altman said Tuesday, a day after a Lawrence County common-pleas judge shot down his second attempt to get Mitchell thrown out of the election.
Altman likens the outcome now to a stolen election.
Mitchell says he’s changed. He has even asked the state to pardon him, but that has not happened and it might not for years, if ever, Altman pointed out.
Now, Altman wants to know, how does someone who isn’t qualified get on the ballot in the first place?
The board of elections maintains it doesn’t have the authority to prevent someone from running for office.
The first time Altman took Mitchell to court, which was in August, arguments centered on whether action to dismiss a felon from public office could be taken before he is elected. Judge John Hodge ruled that a court can decide the qualifications of a candidate, but a private citizen can file a court action only if the county district attorney and the state attorney general refuse to do so. He dismissed Altman’s petition to have Mitchell taken off the ballot because, he said, Altman lacked legal standing to bring the petition and that would continue to be the case unless he could prove the district and state attorneys were refusing to act. Altman had only an oral response from County District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa that he wanted to wait until after the election to unseat Mitchell. Altman said he has a letter from the attorney general saying his office will not get involved.
Judge Hodge left the door open for Altman to refile his petition, but Altman did not.
Tom Leslie, attorney for the county, was representing the board of elections in both court cases. He said Altman could have tried to prove to the court that the state and district attorneys would not consider Mitchell’s qualifications while he was still a candidate, and then the court could have conferred standing on Altman.
Altman, who represented himself in what he says is a rare case, said Tuesday he did not realize he could do that.
In his decision to allow Mitchell’s certification, filed Monday, Judge Hodge ruled there still are no grounds to give Altman legal standing to object to Mitchell’s sitting on council.
Lamancusa has told The Vindicator that if the state attorney general does not act to prevent Mitchell from sitting on council, he will.
But that likely doesn’t help Altman, because the certification cements Mitchell’s position on council. Once he’s removed, council has the right to appoint someone to fill the seat — likely a Democrat in the heavily Democratic city, Altman said.
He said he might ask council for the appointment. He also is asking state legislators how it could happen that someone who isn’t qualified to hold office could run in an election and shut out a qualified candidate.
“Can’t you just put it on the petitions that a convicted felon can’t run for office?” he asked Tuesday. “Just put it on the petitions!”